SAGU hosts V-Ball Regional, Thu-Sat

Lady Lions play 3 matches on Thu-Fri

Tourney winner qualifies for Orlando Nationals

WAXAHACHIE, Texas  --  The reward of months of training and their college volleyball team’s performance will be put to the test over the next few days at Southwestern Assemblies of God University.

The National Christian College Athletic Association, with 113 institutions, begins its post-season to determine a Division I champion.

SAGU plays host to the Central Region volleyball tournament during November 15-17.

The winner receives an automatic berth at the NCCAA’s Nationals in Orlando in two weeks.

Four of the 12 teams in the region will participate in a two-day round of pool play, with everyone playing three matches.

The top two teams will advance to Saturday’s 1:00pm championship. All contests are best-of-five series and are available for fans to follow on LiveStats. 

McMurry University (16-9), from Abilene, Texas, is the #1 seed in the field. They are new members of the NCAA’s Division II and are in the nine-team Heartland Conference.

The War Hawks got off to a 10-4 start this fall. They enter the tourney having won three of their past four matches. The Hawks excel at defensive digs, ranking 2nd in the region, and making 16.8 per game.

McMurry went 4-0 against teams from the Red River Athletic Conference, including a 3-2 triumph over Our Lady of the Lake University. They split with Dallas Baptist University during the regular season, winning on the road.

DBU (19-8) originally was going to host the NCCAA Central Regional. After finishing second in Heartland with an 11-3 mark, they are currently playing in their conference tourney. The Lady Patriots have the second best record in the region.

The top team in the region during the regular season has been Colorado Christian University.

From the Denver suburb of Lakewood, they are NCAA Division II members in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. They would have competed in this region had they not ousted Metropolitan State University (Denver), 3-2, at the RMAC tournament on Tuesday.

The Lady Cougars (23-8) have won 10 of their last 13 matches.

Mid-America Christian University (16-14), from Oklahoma City, is from the NAIA and the Sooner Athletic Conference. The #2 seeded Lady Evangels (2-10 in SAC) vaulted to a 15-7 beginning, though they have toiled of late. MACU have dropped seven-of-eight since.

Mid-America has, by far, the most imposing frontline. They register over three blocks per individual game. Their 511 total blocks towers over the second best team at rejections, McMurry, who has 321.

SAGU’s (17-15) third-seeded Lady Lions’ 17-15), from the NAIA and playing their final season in the RRAC, will take on MACU on Thursday night at 8:00pm.

They swept them, 3-0, in August, and topped them, 3-1, at home on October 8. Four of the seven games between the two teams have been decided by five-points or less.

The winner of the opener holds an advantage, increasing the odds of a berth in Saturday’s final. While SAGU is the third seed, they tote the highest hitting percentage of the foursome. Their .212 accuracy is slightly above McMurry’s .208.

The fourth seed, Crowley’s Ridge College, is located in northeast Arkansas along the narrow 250-550 foot high, 150-mile ridge named after a European settler, Benjamin Crowley.

Located in Paragould, a city of 26,000, CRC carries an 11-13 mark into the tourney. The Lady Pioneers are members in the NCCAA and have been in the Association of Christian College Athletics (ACCA) in the past.

CRC dropped their final two matches, 3-2 to Philander Smith College (Ark), and to Oakland City University (Ind), though they have enjoyed another successful season.

The Lady Pioneers have the most impressive servers in the entire region, a strength that could be the difference for 'Team Green.'

The regional opener on Thursday evening pits McMurry and Crowley’s Ridge at 6:00pm.

All four teams (seeding in parenthesis) will play two matches on Friday;

12:00pm
Crowley’s Ridge (4) vs SAGU (3)

2:00pm
McMurry (1) vs MACU (2)

6:00pm
Crowley’s Ridge (4) vs MACU (2)

8:00pm
McMurry (1) vs SAGU (3)

Seven of the region’s Top 10 Hitters will be in action at the Sheaffer Center, including two of SAGU’s attackers. (see list below)

Southwestern, 23-18 last year, advanced to the NCCAA Nationals in 2011. There, the Purple Pride posted a 1-3 mark against teams from Ohio, California, Colorado and Indiana.

This year’s Nationals are set for November 29 through December 1. The event will be held in a southern suburb of Orlando, at Kissimmee's Civic Center.

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

Top 10 Hitters of the NCCAA’s Central Region

Statistics do not include last week's matches. These were posted in the most-recent NCCAA Report.