Women’s Volleyball Draws Wesleyan (Conn.) in NCAA Tournament Opening Round
INDIANAPOLIS, IND.- Coming on the heels of its third-straight New England Collegiate Conference championship, the Eastern Nazarene College women's volleyball team earned its third-consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Lions will face No. 13 Wesleyan in the opening round November 10 in Middletown, Connecticut.
Eastern Nazarene boasts a 23-1 overall record and heads into the NCAA Tournament riding a 16-match winning-streak. The Lions finished the regular season with an unblemished 6-0 mark in conference action. Eastern Nazarene also compiled a 15-0 record at home this fall.
The two squads have met five times with the Cardinals owning a 4-1 lead in the all-time series. The last matchup between the teams was September 9, 2005.
Wesleyan owns a 23-3 record on the year and fell to Tufts in the NESCAC Tournament championship match. The Cardinals are ranked No. 13 in the latest AVCA National Poll and No. 1 in Region One in the latest NCAA Regional Rankings.
The top-seeded Lions defeated No. 2 seed New England College 3-1 in the NECC Tournament championship to clinch their third league crown.
Halle Julian (Whitman, Mass.) was named the NECC Tournament Most Valuable Player while Andrea Aceituno (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) and Telma Zelaya (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) earned all-tournament honors.
Eliana Baran (Beaumont, Calif.) was tabbed the NECC Player of the Year for the second year in a row. The sophomore ranks sixth in NCAA Division III with 4.55 kills-per-set this season.
Collectively, Eastern Nazarene leads the nation with 4.37 aces-per-set this year.
Andrea Aceituno (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) was garnered NECC Rookie of the Year accolades and head coach Derek Schmitt was voted the NECC Coach of the Year. Amya Altman (Butler, Pa.) joined Aceituno and Baran on the All-NECC Team.