V-Ball team vies for RRAC crown

SAGU draws #5 seed, plays Friday

Lady Lions could earn NAIA berth with 3-0 weekend

WAXAHACHIE, Texas -- The Southwestern Assemblies of God University volleyball team finished the regular season tied in fourth place in the Red River Athletic Conference. They qualified for their 8th straight trip to the RRAC tournament, which takes place this weekend, November 11-12, in Brownsville, Texas.

Click here for complete RRAC Tourney schedule.

The Lady Lions will make the 516-mile “far trek” to the Rio Grande Valley on Thursday knowing they will need to advance to win the tournament to receive a berth in the NAIA’s 32-team national playoff.

Texas Wesleyan University (15-16, 5-4 RRAC), who drew the number 4 seed after a lengthy tie-breaker procedure, will be on the opposite side of the net against SAGU (18-12, 5-4 RRAC) on Friday when they meet in a 1:00pm quarterfinal. The Lady Rams defeated Southwestern earlier this season, 3-1, in Fort Worth. A year ago they faced one another in the RRAC tourney with SAGU winning a grueling match, three games to two.

Follow the action live!

All matches will be available for fans to follow on live video as well as a textual, play-by-play on LiveStats. Links to the webcast will be posted on-line in the tourney preview later this week.

Each match will be played at the Manuel Garza B. Gymnasium on the campus of UT-Brownsville and TSC, Texas Southmost College.

Should the Lady Lions, who drew the #5 seed, get past the Wesleyan Women, they will play in the semi-finals Friday night at 7:00pm against the regular season RRAC champion and host University of Texas at Brownsville (24-2, 9-0 RRAC). SAGU has lost the past six times these two have served it up.

UTB is currently ranked #2 in the NAIA, though both of their setbacks have come in the past three weeks.

In the other half of the bracket, #3 Our Lady of the Lake University (9-17, 7-2 RRAC) tangles with the #6 seed, University of St. Thomas (18-16, 5-4 RRAC), at 11am on Friday. The winner advances to play #2 Wiley College (18-7, 8-1 RRAC) at 5pm that afternoon.

The semi-final winners will proceed to the finals at 2pm on Saturday. If the UTB Scorpions win it all, whoever they play in the championship will also garner a bid for the NAIA playoffs. Provided SAGU upsets the Stingers, the tourney winner will receive a bid along with UTB, who automatically qualifies by virtue of their regular season title.

NCCAA Central Regional in Kansas

After the RRAC tournament, the Lady Lions could enter the Central Regional of the National Christian College Athletic Association if they do not advance to the NAIA playoffs. The regional will be played this year in Winfield, Kansas at the home Central Christian College.

That event will take place 375 miles north of SAGU during November 17-19. The regional winners will faceoff at the NCCAA nationals, December 1-3, in the Orlando area.

Contact: Mark “Link” Warde, Sports Information Director, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at 469-658-2847.