October 30, 1997

MIDWEST CONFERENCE VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT BRACKET RELEASED

The pairings and brackets for the 1997 Midwest Conference Volleyball Tournament have been released by the conference's sports information office. Four-time MWC champion and defending league titlist Illinois College is the #1 seed from the South Division and six-time conference champion St. Norbert is the top seed in the North Division, each with perfect 4-0 records in conference action. Lake Forest, which competed as a member of the South Division this fall following the departure of Coe and Cornell from the league, is the #2 South seed (3-1) and Monmouth is the third seed with its 2-2 divisional record.

Lawrence University will serve as host for the 1997 tournament, which will feature all ten teams from the league in a double-elimination, seeded format. Monmouth will open tournament play against Carroll College (2-2, #2 North seed) in the championship bracket on Friday, November 7 at 2:30 PM. If the Scots win, they will play the winner of the Illinois College-Beloit/Knox match at 12:30 Saturday afternoon. Should the Scots lose their first game, they will enter the consolation bracket and face the loser of the Beloit-Knox match at 7:30 PM on Friday night.

Monmouth split its divisional matches this fall, defeating Grinnell and Knox and losing to Illinois and Lake Forest. The Scots did face their first-round opponent, Carroll, at last weekend's Knox College Invitational and lost in three games (12-15, 8-15, 14-16). Illinois College defeated Beloit for the MWC title last year and has won three of the last four tournaments. Monmouth won Midwest Conference volleyball championships in 1981 and 1982.

1997 MWC TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE (at Lawrence, Appleton WI)

Friday, November 7

12:00 PM - (1) Beloit vs. Knox / (2) Grinnell vs. Lawrence
2:30 PM - (3) Carroll vs. MONMOUTH / (4) Lake Forest vs. Ripon
5:00 PM - (5) Illinois College vs. Beloit-Knox winner / (6) St. Norbert vs. Grinnell-Lawrence winner
7:30 PM - (7) Match 1 loser vs Match 3 loser / (8) Match 2 loser vs. Match 4 loser

Saturday, November 8

10:00 AM - (9) Match 6 loser vs. Match 7 winner / (10) Match 5 loser vs. Match 8 winner
12:30 PM - (11) Match 3 winner vs. Match 5 winner / (12) Match 4 winner vs. Match 6 winner

3:00 PM - (13) Match 9 winner vs. Match 10 winner [5th place]
3:00 PM - (14) Match 11 loser vs. Match 12 loser [3rd place]
5:30 PM - (15) Match 11 winner vs. Match 12 winner [Championship]