Volleyball NCAA Tournament Preview: Action Starts Thursday

(Pittsburgh, Pa.) - On Monday, November 11, the Carnegie Mellon University volleyball team received an at-large bid to the 2013 NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship. The tournament will begin nationwide Thursday, November 14, with the Tartans playing at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The Tartans will play in the third game of the day against the 10th-ranked University of Mount Union Purple Raiders at 5:30 p.m.

This is the second time the Tartans have received a bid to the NCAA Championship tournament under head coach Kim Kelly and the third bid in program history. The Tartans finished their regular season play with a record of 25-9 while placing third at the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship. 

Leading the Tartans in kills for the season is junior Ali Celentano (Mission Viejo, Calif./JSerra Catholic) with 406 kills averaging 3.47 kills per set.  Senior Senna Parsa (Bellevue, Wash./Newport) is second in kills with 366 and 3.13 kills per set. Sophomore setter Emily Lawlis (The Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands College) adds to the offense with 813 assists on the season averaging 7.97 assists per set. Freshman Emily Newton (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Chadwick School) split action with Lawlis at the setter position during the UAA Championship and averaged 5.08 assists per set in the three matches.

Senior defensive specialist Ali Nichols (Portland, Ore./Jesuit) has 492 digs on the season, leading the defensive back for the Tartans. Blocking has been a key to the Tartans' recent success as they tallied more than 20 block assists in wins over NCAA tournament contenders New York University and Washington University last week. Leading at the net is freshman Jackie Gibbons (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township) with 97 total blocks while freshman Casey Salandra (Carol Steam, Ill./St. Francis) tallied 13 block solos during the UAA Championship.

After finishing 30-4 during the regular season as champions of the Ohio Athletic Conference, the Raiders earned an automatic bid to the championship marking their fourth trip to the NCAA tournament in five seasons.

A leading player for the Raiders is senior Taylor Webb, an outside hitter from Geneva, Ohio, with 352 kills on the season, averaging 3.17 kills per set, and a .292 hitting percentage.  Another standout for the Raiders is junior libero Lauren Mastroine (Orrville, Ohio) who has 723 digs and 42 service aces on the season.  The Raiders are also tall at the net, ranking 11th in the nation with 2.38 blocks per set and 273.5 total. Sophomore Kara Berger leads the team with 132 blocks while junior Sara Brown has 108. Finally, junior setter Sarah Schleich (Westfield Center, Ohio) has recorded 703 assists on the season averaging 6.11 a set.

The winner of this match-up will move on to play the winner of Penn State Behrend (22-8) and Calvin College (29-1), who is currently ranked second in the nation.