Oilers to Compete in Crossover this Weekend
Mizuno Midwest Region Volleyball Crossover Website
The University of Findlay volleyball team will participate in the 2015 Mizuno Midwest Region Volleyball Crossover Tournament on Oct. 17-18. The nation's largest collegiate volleyball tournament will be held at the Great Lakes Center in Aurora, Ill.
The event will feature 16 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) volleyball teams, 16 institutions representing the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) and, for the first time in 2015, four programs from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC).
The Oilers enter the event as the No. 2 seed from the GLIAC. They will face No. 5 Wisconsin-Parkside (12:30pm) and No. 6 Missouri S&T (6:30pm) on Friday. The team will then battle No. 2 Lewis (2pm) on Saturday. All times are Eastern.
Findlay enters the tournament on an 8-match winning streak. They are 14-3 on the year and sitting just outside the top-25 of the national poll. They have been led by an efficient offense that leads the GLIAC and ranks second nationally in hitting percentage at .312. Senior Julie Lyons leads the GLIAC and ranks sixth nationally with a .437 hitting percentage. Sophomore Nickyla Garverick ranks second in the GLIAC and tenth in the nation in hitting percentage at .414.
Junior Hannah Tong leads the team in kills with 236 and is followed by freshman Amanda Winner (187), Garverick (149), Lyons (137) and senior Andrea Roach (100). Freshman Hailee Olson leads the GLIAC in assists with 737 and senior Becca Shoemaker leads the Oilers in digs with 205.
The two-day tournament will feature 54 matches conducted on nine courts at one of the top volleyball facilities in the country. The event, designed to increase competition between teams from the two leagues in the NCAA Division II Midwest Region, has previously been held in Indianapolis, Ind. and Lansing, Mich.
The GLIAC will face the GLVC in 42 matches with each league facing G-MAC teams six times each. The Crossover consists of nine matches happening simultaneously in each of three sessions over the two-day event. The conference that boasts the best combined record at the end of the event will earn the Crossover traveling trophy, which has been in the GLVC's possession the past five years.
The GLIAC claimed the event's first title in 2008 with a 27-12 record, only to retain it the following year with a 24-21 mark. In 2010, the GLVC earned its first Crossover win with a 23-22 effort only to take the next two seasons in 2011 (29-19) and 2012 (28-20). In 2013, the two conferences tied 24-24, but the GLVC earned the event win based on a game record tiebreak. Last year, the GLVC controlled play throughout to keep the trophy by a 37-11 margin.
The GLIAC, founded in 1972, consists of 16 league members from Michigan and Ohio and has been a leader in the advancement and promotion of intercollegiate athletics for men and women for more than 40 years.
The GLVC is a 16-member NCAA Division II conference with members in Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri and Wisconsin and has been combining athletic and academic success at the NCAA Division II level since 1978.
The eight-member G-MAC earned active NCAA Division II member status in July of 2013, when they began competition as the 24th active NCAA Division II conference.