October 31, 2007 NJCAA D-I REGION VI VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT PREVIEW #1 Barton County # 2 Hutchinson #3 Seward County #4 Garden City The Seward County Community College volleyball team begins double-elimination competition at the Region VI Volleyball Tournament on Sunday, Nov. 4 at the Hutchinson Sports Arena in Hutchinson, Kan. Following a three game victory over Cloud County the No. 3 seeded Lady Saints enter tournament play in familiar territory. Since 1995, the Seward County volleyball program has made 13 straight trips to the Region VI semifinals, including nine appearances in the Region VI Championship match. This season the Lady Saints are coming off a third-place regular season finish and have won 29 matches (29-13 overall), the most since 2003, while featuring the top player in the Jayhawk West Conference, freshman Dan Yang. Yang, the Jayhawk West Conference M.V.P. and Freshman of the Year, and the Lady Saints will start tournament action on Sunday against three-time defending Region VI Tournament champion Hutchinson Community College. The Lady Blue Dragons will have the advantage of playing on their home court at the Hutchinson Sports Arena, which is the same location the Lady Blue Dragons picked up a victory over SCCC earlier this season 30-27, 30-21, 30-16, in front of a Sports Arena record 1,350 fans. Tournament No. 2 seed Hutchinson (24-15) also defeated the Lady Saints in Liberal at the SCCC Invitational 30-26, 28-30, 15-10. The two teams battled last season in the Region VI Tournament finals, when Hutchinson defeated SCCC for their third straight tournament championship. Since 2004, the Lady Saints are 0-11 against Hutchinson. The other semifinal match features the tournament top seed and No. 7 nationally-ranked Barton County Community College (34-7), who takes on No. 4 seed Garden City Community College. Garden City advanced to the semifinals with a victory over No. 5 seed Colby Community College (30-26, 34-32, 30-20) on Tuesday evening in Garden City. The Lady Cougars defeated Garden City twice this season, once in non-conference tournament action and also at the Perryman Center in Garden City, Kan. This weekend’s Region VI Tournament will showcase 14 of the 20 players named Jayhawk West All-Conference, including 12-of-14 First and Second Team selections. The Lady Saints faced Barton County once this season in their regular season finale where they were defeated in five games (30-28, 17-30, 15-30, 30-16, 14-16). The Lady Saints are 2-8 against Barton County since 2004. Seward County dropped a four game match to Garden City in the SCCC Kick-Off Classic in August, and later defeated the Lady Broncbusters in a three game conference sweep at the Green House in Liberal. Since 2004, Seward County has recorded a 9-3 record against Garden City. NJCAA D-I REGION VI TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE: November 4-5, 2007 @ Hutchinson Sports Arena (Hutchinson, Kan.) Sunday – 1:00 p.m. No. 1 Barton County vs. No. 4 Garden City Sunday – 3:00 p.m. No. 2 Hutchinson vs. No. 3 Seward County Sunday – 5:00 p.m. Loser of Barton/Garden City vs. Loser of Hutchinson/Seward Sunday – 7:00 p.m. Winner of Barton/Garden City vs. Winner of Hutchinson/Seward Monday – 3:00 p.m. Loser’s Bracket Final Monday – 5:00 p.m. Championship Match Monday – 7:00 p.m. Championship Match “If Necessary”