With two days of practicing remaining, the University of Southern Indiana volleyball team will be making its final preparations before heading to Romeoville, Illinois, to compete for a Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship and a berth in the NCAA Division II Tournament. The Screaming Eagles enter the GLVC Tournament, at Lewis University, with a 22-7 overall mark, 11-3 in the GLVC, and are the second seed in the tournament.

For the Eagles to advance to the semifinals on Friday, they will have to defeat Quincy University for a third time this season. USI enters its first-round match on Thursday with a nine-match winning streak against the Lady Hawks of Quincy.

In the previous two meetings with Quincy, the Eagles recorded 16.17 kills per game and a .338 attacking percentage. Defensively, USI has dominated the Lady Hawks this season, posting 18 digs per game and holding Quincy to nine kills per game and a .074 hitting percentage.

Senior outside hitters Shannon Wells (Merrillville, Indiana) and Kristina Kavanaugh (Montgomery, Indiana) led the Eagles in their two 3-0 victories over the Lady Hawks. Wells is averaging 5.5 kills, 4.5 digs, and 1.0 service aces per game as well as a .369 attacking percentage against Quincy this season. Kavanaugh has recorded 3.67 kills, 3.5 digs, and 1.5 service aces per game as well as a .436 hitting percentage against the Lady Hawks in 2002.

On the season, Wells leads the Eagles with 4.6 kills, 3.91 digs, and 1.19 service aces per game. She leads the GLVC in kills and service aces per game and is third in the league in digs per game.

Setting up the attack for USI is junior setter Kim Boehmer (Cincinnati, Ohio). Boehmer is third in the GLVC with 12.45 assists per game and needs 39 assists to break her and USI's single-season record (1,271).

If the Eagles are victorious on Thursday, they will play the winner of the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville/University of Indianapolis match on Friday. The GLVC Championship is slated for a 2 p.m. start on Saturday.

Thursday's match is slated for a 2:30 p.m. start and Friday's semifinal round, if the Eagles should make it, is scheduled to start a 5 p.m. The Eagles are 5-5, since 1989, in GLVC Tournament matches and have reached the GLVC Championship round the last two seasons. USI is 6-3 against the GLVC Tournament field this season.