It is simple for the University of Southern Indiana volleyball team; win its last three matches. Three straight wins will assure the Screaming Eagles of the right to host the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament as the top seed for the second time in three seasons. The advantage for the Eagles is that they play their final three matches at the friendly confines of the Physical Activities Center.
USI will start its quest with a match Tuesday night against Kentucky Wesleyan College. The Eagles defeated the Panthers, 3-0, in Owensboro, Kentucky, last month and have been victorious in 15 straight matches with KWC. Since 1989, the Eagles are 27-1 against the Panthers.
The Eagles have been on fire as of late. USI enters Tuesday night's 7 p.m. match on the heels of a nine-match winning streak and a 3-0 win over its nemesis, Northern Kentucky University. The Eagles sit atop the GLVC Standings with a 9-2 conference mark, 20-6 overall.
Leading the way for the Eagles is senior outside hitter
Shannon Wells (Merrillville, Indiana) and junior setter
Kim Boehmer (Cincinnati, Ohio). Wells leads the Eagles, as well as the GLVC, with 4.53 kills and 1.22 service aces per game. She also is third in the conference with a team-high 3.88 digs per game.
Boehmer is coming off a performance against Northern Kentucky in which she recorded 52 assists and led USI to a .366 attacking percentage. For the season, Boehmer is third in the GLVC with a team-leading 12.41 assists per game and has led the Eagles to a .268 hitting percentage.
Senior outside hitter
Kristina Kavanaugh (Montgomery, Indiana) and sophomore middles
Natalie Atzinger (Louisville, Kentucky) and
Leeanne Gross (Decatur, Indiana) also are contributing to USI's success. Kavanaugh is averaging 3.68 kills per game against conference opponents while Atzinger and Gross have combined for 2.81 kills per game and a .319 hitting percentage in 2002.
The Eagles, who have clinched a berth in the GLVC Tournament for the fourth straight season, will wrap up their 2002 regular season schedule Friday, November 8, and Saturday, November 9, as they host Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Saturday's match against UMSL is Senior Day for the Eagles. Tomorrow night's match against KWC is Student Night at the PAC.
