Rams off to St. Louis for national tourney

Cornell College's volleyball team is off to St. Louis, Mo., for its first trip to the NCAA Division III Championships.

Head coach Jeff Meeker's Rams (28-5) will face the Elmhurst College Bluejays (30-5) at 12:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 11 in the opening round of the 64-team tournament at Washington University in St. Louis.

Other matches in the eight-team region include Carthage (30-6) vs. Edgewood (21-13) at 3 p.m., Chicago (29-5) vs. UW-Whitewater (26-7) at 5:30 p.m., and Webster (19-12) vs. Washington-St. Louis (32-1) at 8 p.m.

The Cornell-Elmhurst winner will play the Carthage/Edgewood winner in a regional semifinal Saturday, Nov. 12. Semifinal times are 3:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. The regional final is Sunday, Nov. 13 at 4 p.m. A complete list of tournament pairings can be found at NCAA Volleyball Bracket.

"Watching the selection show (Monday morning) with the team was very exciting," Meeker said. "There are a bunch of great teams in the region and it will be a terrific weekend of volleyball. We are anxious for this challenge and believe that our best volleyball match is still ahead of us."

Cornell is fresh off a 25-18, 25-14, 25-21 sweep of Central in the championship match of the Iowa Conference Tournament Saturday night in Mount Vernon. The third-seeded Rams captured their first-ever IIAC title and earned the IIAC's automatic berth to the national tournament.

Elmhurst, ranked 17th in last week's AVCA Top 25 Poll, received an at-large invitation. The Bluejays fell in five sets to 11th-ranked Carthage in Saturday's championship match of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Tournament. The loss snapped a 17-match winning streak for Elmhurst, which finished third in the CCIW regular-season standings at 5-2.

The Bluejays are making their 16th overall appearance in the national tournament, and first since 2005. Elmhurst has reached the Final Four three times, winning national titles in 1983 and 1985.

Cornell carries a school-record 14-match winning streak into the tournament, posting a 42-6 record in sets played over the span. Cornell's last loss came against Elmhurst - 25-22, 25-17, 19-25, 25-18 - on Oct. 7 at the UW-Platteville Tournament.

"Elmhurst is a great team who has been playing great volleyball down the stretch," Meeker said. "We played them tough last month and are looking forward to matching up with them again."

The Rams were ranked No. 7 in last week's Central Region Poll. Elmhurst came in at No. 2 in the Midwest Region.

Cornell's postseason path included a 3-0 home sweep of Dubuque on Nov. 1, followed by a four-set semifinal win over No. 2 seed Wartburg in Waverly. The Rams recorded their 16th season sweep in the championship win over No. 5 seed Central.

Cornell fields one of the youngest team's in the tournament field, a lineup that saw five freshmen and a sophomore play key roles Saturday night. Sophomore Kathleen O'Connor, the IIAC's Most Valuable Player, is averaging 4.80 kills per set this postseason. Taylor Dicus, the IIAC Freshman of the Year, is hitting .353 with 4.20 kills and 1.30 blocks in three tournament matches.