Lewis’ fifth-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament is the longest active streak in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The Flyers earned an automatic bid into the 64-team tournament after defeating Indianapolis, 3-1, in the GLVC Tournament Championship match on Sunday afternoon. It was the Flyers’ fourth conference championship in the past five years.
The Flyers (26-4, 13-1 GLVC) defeated Missouri-St. Louis (20-8, 10-4 GLVC) in the semifinals of the GLVC Tournament, 3-1. Senior Danielle Mount led Lewis with a career-high 18 kills while hitting .557 with eight block assists in the semifinal. Classmate Lauren Seliga added 21 digs and 12 kills. UMSL is led by All-GLVC First Team middle hitter Weslie Gaff who had 10 kills and five blocks in the match. All-GLVC Second Team libero Carolyn Holstein led the Tritons with 24 digs.
Lewis’ win in the GLVC Tournament avenged a 3-0 defeat on Oct. 1 in St. Louis to UMSL.
Other first round matchups include No. 1 Hillsdale vs. No. 8 Southern Indiana, No. 2 Grand Valley State vs. No. 7 Northern Kentucky, and No. 4 Indianapolis vs. No. 5 Northern Michigan.
The winner of the Hillsdale/Southern Indiana match will take on the winner of Indianapolis/Northern Michigan. The winner of Lewis/Missouri-St. Louis will face the Grand Valley State/Northern Kentucky winner in the round of 32. The regional championship will be held on Sunday at 3 p.m. (CST).
Links to live stats, video and radio provided by WLRA can be found on LewisFlyers.com.
LEWIS' RECORD AGAINST THE FIELD: Hillsdale: 4-2, Grand Valley State: 12-23, Indianapolis: 40-11, Northern Michigan: 2-14, Missouri-St. Louis: 20-6, Northern Kentucky: 17-30, Southern Indiana: 27-9.
AT THE HELM: Fourth-year head coach Lorelee Smith holds a 121-21 career record, all at Lewis.
IN THE TOURNAMENT: Smith is 4-3 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. Lewis defeated Ashland and Indianapolis before losing to Grand Valley State in 2007. In 2008 the Flyers lost in the first round to Northern Kentucky. Last season Lewis defeated Ferris State and Saginaw Valley State before falling to Indianapolis in the Sweet 16.
THE BIG DANCE: This year's bid is the program's 11th bid to the NCAA Tournament. Lewis was the NCAA Division II Runner-Up in 1981.
CLASS ACCOMPLISHMENT: Lewis' fifth consecutive NCAA berth means this year's senior class is the second consecutive at Lewis to qualify for the NCAA Tournament each year of their collegiate careers.
GLVC HONORS: Rachel Ruedi was named the 2010 GLVC Player of the Year by a vote of the league's coaches. Lorelee Smith was named the GLVC Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season. Ruedi and Seliga each earned All-GLVC First Team accolades. Carly Perschnick took home All-GLVC Second Team honors while Danielle Mount earned All-GLVC Third Team accolades.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR, AGAIN: Ruedi's player of the year honor comes just a year after Stephanie Sagat earned the same award last season.
AS A TEAM: In GLVC matches only, Lewis led the league in digs (16.33) and ranked second in blocks (2.24) and kills (13.68) per set.
BIG MATCHES, BIG PERFORMANCES: Four Flyers picked the right time to set career records last weekend. Against Missouri-St. Louis in the GLVC Semifinals Danielle Mount tied a career-high with 18 kills while Hannah Koeneman tied a career-high with seven block assists. Against Indianapolis Carly Perschnick set a career-high with 19 kills and Rachel Ruedi recorded a career-best 59 assists. Mount also had a career-best eight block assists against UMSL and Indianapolis.
SELIGA'S CAREER MARKS: Lauren Seliga recorded her 1,000th career kill against Rockhurst on Nov. 5. She has 1,046 for her career and, 9th most in school history, and she is just the 10th Flyer in school history to reach 1,000 kills. She is also just the fifth Flyer in school history to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs.
ABOUT THOSE DIGS: Seliga ranks second in school history with 1,467 career digs. Seliga is on the heels of former teammate Lauren Hatter's (2005-08) 1,504 for first all-time in Lewis history. She needs just 38 to overtake Hatter as Lewis' all-time digs leader.
OH, AND HER SERVING: Seliga's 131 career aces ranks seventh all-time in Lewis history. With Seliga also ranking 10th in kills and third in digs, Seliga is one of only two individuals to rank in the top 10 in kills, digs and aces at Lewis. The other being Colleen Quinlan (1994-97).
GLVC HIGH: The GLVC's five bids to the NCAA Midwest Regional is the most in the conference's history.
RUEDI, RUEDI, RUEDI!: Senior setter Rachel Ruedi ranks third all-time at Lewis in career assists with 3,772. She came up big when it mattered the most on Sunday, recording a career-high 59 assists.
THE BEST EVER: Lewis' No. 8 ranking in the AVCA Top 25 Poll earlier this season was the program's highest ranking since the poll was created in 1986.
NATIONALLY SPEAKING: All-time, Lewis has been ranked 72 times on the AVCA Top 25 Poll.
NATIONALLY OF LATE: Lewis has appeared in 43 of the previous 44 AVCA Top 25 Polls dating back to 2007. The span includes a current streak of 25 consecutive appearances in the weekly poll.
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