WEXFORD, Pa. (Nov. 3) – The Waynesburg University women's volleyball team officially learned their playoff fate Monday morning as the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) released the pairings for the 2008 playoffs.
The fifth-ranked Yellow Jackets (10-19, 6-8) will travel to Greenville, Pa. on Tuesday, Nov. 4, to battle number four Thiel (14-17, 8-6) in the opening round of competition. The match is scheduled to get underway at 7 p.m.
Jacket head coach Stephanie Benkowski commented on the Tomcats and their strengths.
“They play the entire match consistently,” Benkowski said. “They're solid.”
The Cats are led by junior outside hitter Abbey Kiger, who leads the team in kills (403), kills per set (3.95) and service aces (28).
“They have a go-to player who is very good,” Benkowski said of Kiger. “She's very good with the ball.”
The previous two times the teams met, Thiel picked up a 3-1 victory back on Sept. 18, and followed that with a thrilling 3-2 win on Oct. 8. For a Waynesburg team that has steadily improved as the year has gone on, Benkowski doesn't believe that any dramatic changes need to be made to pick up a postseason win.
“We've made minor adjustments, but it's going to come down to our five seniors really performing on the court,” Benkowski commented.
The winner of the match will move on to face top-seeded Westminster on Friday, Nov. 7. Benkowski believes that a win over the Tomcats after two tough regular-season losses to Thiel would give her team a big shot of confidence heading into a potential match with the top-seeded Titans.
“It will make us a lot more confident, being that [Thiel] beat us twice. We could have beaten them, we had the opportunities to do it and we didn't do it,” Benkowski said. “It would give us more confidence if we get to Westminster.”
In other first-round play, sixth-ranked Grove City will face third-ranked Washington and Jefferson. The winner of that match will move on to play number two Thomas More at Westminster College, which will host the semifinals and finals of the tourney, on Friday.
