Volleyball Notes: Bulldogs Open NCAA Tournament on Thursday

Truman Volleyball Postseason Notes

Match 32 (Live Stats || Live Video):
#1 seed Truman (28-3) vs. #8 seed McKendree (20-13)
Date: Thursday, November 20, 2014 (11 a.m. (CT))
Location: Allendale, Michigan (GVSU Fieldhouse Arena)
Series Record: Truman leads, 4-1
Briney vs. McK: 4-0 (+8 set differential)
This Season: Truman won, 3-1, on Sept. 20, 2014 (Lebanon, Ill.); Truman won, 3-2, on Nov. 15, 2014 (East Peoria, Ill.)

Social Media: @TrumanAthletics || #TSUNCAA || @TrumanVB
Additional Links: 2014 Schedule || 2014 Statistics

Opening Serve:
The Truman volleyball team puts its 28-win regular season, a Great Lakes Valley Conference West Division title, a Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship tournament title, and No. 23 national ranking aside and starts all over at 0-0 this weekend, as the Bulldogs head to Allendale, Mich., for the opening rounds of the 2014 NCAA Div. II tournament. The event begins Thursday at 11 a.m. (CT) for the Bulldogs, who take on GLVC-tournament runner-up McKendree in the Midwest regional opening round.

The Bulldogs and Bearcats will meet for the second time in six days, as Truman halted McKendree's three upsets in three days bid last weekend in East Peoria, Ill., with a come-from-behind 3-2 conference championship victory on Saturday (Nov. 15) afternoon. Neither team hit well offensively, but Truman junior right-side hitter Abby Heise led all players with 14 kills and hit .333, while senior outside hitter Allie Brak added 10 kills and 18 digs. The squads combined for 35 total blocks (17 for Truman), while the Bulldogs pushed the Bearcats into at least seven attack errors in all five sets.

This year's NCAA tournament appearance marks the 15^th in school history, with Truman posting a 23-14 all-time postseason record. This will mark the second straight trip to Grand Valley State for the Midwest regional, with the Bulldogs coming up short in a 3-1 loss to GVSU in last year's opening round as the No. 8 seed. Truman is looking for its first opening round victory since 2008, having dropped four straight. This will be the first time that Truman and McKendree have faced in the post-season, with 2014 serving as the maiden voyage for the Bearcats on the national stage.

Last weekend, Truman captured its first GLVC championship in just its second season in the league, as the Bulldogs defeated Southern Indiana (3-0), Missouri S&T (3-2) and McKendree (3-2) to bring home the league's top prize. The Bulldog bus brought home a pair of large boxes full of hardware, as, on Wednesday night prior to the tournament's opening day, Truman gathered the league's Player of the Year award (Brak), Libero of the Year award (senior Abby Moser), Coach of the Year award (Ben Briney), and GLVC West Division champion plaque. Brak and fellow senior Meghan Zimmerman also added all-GLVC first-team plaques, while Moser, junior Ali Patterson, and sophomore Kayla Bastian were recognized as second-team award winners. The conference championship was the eighth in program history and first since 2007 when the Bulldogs were members of the MIAA.

The Bulldogs are coached by Ben Briney, who has a 147-57 record in now his sixth season at the helm.

Media Coverage at the NCAA Tournament:
Full coverage of Truman volleyball is available online at TrumanBulldogs.com, including results, upcoming match information and weekly updates.

This weekend, the host sports information staff at Grand Valley will provide links to live stats and free live video for all seven regional matches.

Keep up with the Bulldogs by tracking in-match updates on Twitter (@TrumanGameDay) and by following both the department (@TrumanAthletics) and team (@TrumanVB) accounts. Fans are also encouraged to sign up for Text Caster and Newsletter updates on the TrumanBulldogs.com homepage.

K-9 Checkup:
The Bulldogs come into the NCAA tournament as the GLVC's No. 3 offensive and No. 2 defensive team in terms of hitting percentage, while leading the league in digs and sitting second overall in service aces.

Leading the charge is GLVC Player of the Year Allie Brak, who is averaging 4.18 points per set and is hitting .233 on the outside. She is the team and GLVC leader in kills per set, and for her career is just the seventh player in school history to surpass 1,500 career kills. Also on the outside is sophomore Kayla Bastian, the Bulldog leader in overall kills (350) and No. 2 ranked player on the team in points per set at 3.73. She is hitting .228 overall and is adding 3.27 digs per set.

In the middle, the Bulldogs rely on a pair of juniors – Ali Patterson (2.32 k/s, .313%, 1.34 b/s) and Emilee Walters (1.47 k/s, .216%, 0.79 b/s) – while the right-side slot is held down by junior Abby Heise (2.41 k/s, .282%, 0.75 b/s).

Truman's two specialist starters are both seniors, as Meghan Zimmerman (10.81 a/s, 3.36 d/s) and Abby Moser (5.03 d/s) look to continue their climbs up multiple Truman record book career charts. Junior Sidney King has been a defensive specialist substitute much of the season, as she is averaging 1.78 d/s playing back row.

Against GLVC teams this season, the Bulldogs are averaging nearly 14 kills and 20 digs per set, while turning away 2.4 blocks per set at the wall.

Opponent Quick Glance:
McKendree
One of the GLVC's hottest teams, McKendree used a late-season run and a pair of key upsets in the conference tournament to reach the NCAA Div. II tournament for the first time in school history as an at-large bid. The Bearcats made it count in the last year the region receives six at-large bids, grabbing the No. 8 slot and overtaking Findlay (Ohio) and Missouri-St. Louis in the final week of the regular season.

The Bearcats can put the ball away at a high rate, as the GLVC's other purple and white squad averages 13.83 kills per set. However, the team has committed 762 attack errors on the year as well, giving the team a .208 hitting percentage overall. McK is averaging 2.1 blocks per set and 15.3 digs per set.

McKendree's offense runs mostly through three primary hitters – freshman OH Arela Williams (3.35 k/s; GLVC Freshman of the Year), sophomore MH Sophie Fairman (2.82 k/s, .326%, 1.03 b/s), and junior OPP Lauren Apetz (2.32 k/s, .260%), while the 6-2 formation gives both sophomore Aubry Dickmann (5.65 ast/set) and sophomore Breanna Howe (5.21 ast/set) equal chances to run the offense. Senior libero Abby Hanger leds the squad's back line, averaging 3.30 digs/set on the year.

Nickie Sanlin took over as the program's head coach mid-season after previous head coach Lisa Orlet left the program. She is also McKendree's men's volleyball coach and has served on the women's staff sicne 2012.

NCAA Midwest Regional Preview (Full Bracket – PDF):
The Great Lakes Valley Conference received the recognition many expected it would get come Selection Sunday this season, as the Bulldogs were one of six conference squads to qualify for the Midwest regional.

The top half of the bracket features all GLVC programs, as the Truman/McKendree winner will face either No. 4 seed Rockhurst (26-4) or No. 5 seed Indianapolis (19-10) in Friday's semifinal at 4 p.m. (CT). On the bottom half of the bracket, quarterfinal contests featuring No. 7 Lewis against No. 2 Ferris (Mich.) State and No. 6 Missouri S&T against No. 3 Grand Valley (Mich.) State will close down Thursday's slate, with those winners set to square off at 6:30 p.m. (CT) on Friday.

The regional championship will serve it up at 6 p.m. (CT) on Saturday evening, with the winner advancing to the Elite Eight on Dec. 4 against the winner of the Southeast regional. Wingate (N.C.) (31-2) and Armstrong Atlantic (Ga.) (28-2) are the top two seeds in that region.

And I Would Walk 500 Miles, And I Would Walk 500 More…:
Since the Bulldogs were forced to hit the road for the NCAA tournament's first three rounds, Truman will be playing its 22^nd road/neutral match of the season on Thursday afternoon. The squad has had great success away from home this season, as, even counting the opening weekend's 2-2 trip to Texas, the Bulldogs are 19-2 overall and are hitting .232 as a team.

Patterson Named CoSIDA Academic All-District:
In addition to her success on the court, marked by back-to-back appearances on the GLVC all-conference squad, junior Ali Patterson was selected to the 2014 Capital One Academic all-District squad for District Four, announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

Patterson was just one of seven players selected to the Midwest region Academic all-District first-team, as the Lee's Summit, Mo.-native was one of four honored from the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The junior middle blocker, who is averaging 2.32 kills and 1.34 blocks per set this season, carried a 3.80 grade-point average into the year as a Mathematics major.

This is the first Academic all-District nod for Patterson, who becomes the first Bulldog volleyball player to earn the award since Molly Sinclair in 2010. In total, Patterson becomes the 15^th Academic all-District selection in program history, and is the first middle blocker since Cassy Felkerson was named to the team in 1999, 2000, and 2001.

As a member of the first-team from the district, Patterson will advance to the Capital One Academic all-America team ballot, where first-, second-, and third-team Academic all-America honorees will be selected later this month.

'Dogs Up Two in AVCA Coaches' Poll:
The Nov. 17 version of the AVCA top-25 coaches' poll moved the Bulldogs back up two spots to No. 23, after the squad captured the GLVC championship last weekend. Truman is the only GLVC squad in the top-25, while region-mates Ferris State (No. 17) and Grand Valley State (No. 18) join the Bulldogs in the poll.

As a program, Truman has now been in the top-25 179 total times, which is 15^th-place all-time in Division II for total weeks ranked.

'Dogs Listed Amongst Nation's Elite:
Three Bulldogs find themselves individually in the top-30 of different national leaderboards entering conference tournament week across the country.

Junior Ali Patterson ranks 4^th in Div. II (1^st in GLVC) in blocks per set at 1.34, while senior Allie Brak ranks 28^th in Div. II in attacks per set (11.18). Senior Meghan Zimmerman is 30^th in the nation in assists per set at 10.81.

Meanwhile, all three Bulldog seniors are among the nation's active career leaders in a variety of charts, as senior Allie Brak ranks sixth of all active Div. II players in career kills (1,517). Senior specialists Zimmerman (504) and Moser (501) are 5^th and 7^th respectively in active career sets played, with Zimmerman ranking 5^th among active Div. II players in career assists (4,539) and Moser sitting 5^th in career digs (2,381).

Up Next:
Should the Bulldogs defeat McK in the Midwest regional's opening round, the squad would face either Rockhurst or Indianapolis at 4 p.m. (CT) on Friday (Nov. 21) afternoon.

Fans are encouraged to follow the Bulldogs on twitter (www.twitter.com/TrumanAthletics) or via the official athletics website (www.trumanbulldogs.com) for the latest information regarding the national tournament.

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Players Mentioned

#12 Kayla Bastian: OH; 5' 10"; Sophomore; Fond du Lac Fusion

#14 Allie Brak: OH; 5' 11"; Senior; TVA

#8 Abby Heise: OPP; 6' 2"; Junior; Jacksonville Networks

#2 Sidney King: DS; 5' 5"; Junior; Rockwood Thunder

#3 Abby Moser: L; 5' 5"; Senior; Rockwood Thunder

#9 Ali Patterson: MH; 6' 2"; Junior; Invasion

#11 Emilee Walters: MH; 6' 2"; Junior; Capital Volleyball Academy

#15 Meghan Zimmerman: S; 5' 9"; Senior; Premier Volleyball

Players Mentioned

#12 Kayla Bastian
: 5' 10"; Sophomore; Fond du Lac Fusion
: OH

#14 Allie Brak
: 5' 11"; Senior; TVA
: OH

#8 Abby Heise
: 6' 2"; Junior; Jacksonville Networks
: OPP

#2 Sidney King
: 5' 5"; Junior; Rockwood Thunder
: DS

#3 Abby Moser
: 5' 5"; Senior; Rockwood Thunder
: L

#9 Ali Patterson
: 6' 2"; Junior; Invasion
: MH

#11 Emilee Walters
: 6' 2"; Junior; Capital Volleyball Academy
: MH

#15 Meghan Zimmerman
: 5' 9"; Senior; Premier Volleyball
: S