FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Albanese, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Media Relations

Official GLVC/GLIAC Crossover Tournament Page

SOMERS, Wis. (Oct. 16, 2014)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside volleyball squad will face a pair of familiar foes this weekend at the seventh-annual Mizuno GLVC/GLIAC Crossover Volleyball Tournament held at the Great Lakes Center in Aurora, Illinois.
 
The Rangers begin the tournament on Friday afternoon with a match against Saginaw Valley State University at 2:30 p.m. while facing both Northern Michigan University and Michigan Tech University for the second time this season on Saturday. The Rangers and Wildcats square off at 10 a.m. with UW-Parkside and Tech hitting the court at 4 p.m.
 
About the Crossover: The seventh annual Mizuno GLVC/GLIAC Crossover Volleyball Tournament, the nation's largest collegiate volleyball tournament, pits 16 schools from the Great Lakes Valley Conference against 16 teams from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with each squad playing three matches over the weekend.

The two-day tournament will feature 48 matches conducted on eight courts at one of the top volleyball facilities in the country. The event, designed to increase intraconference competition between teams from the two leagues in the NCAA Division II Midwest Region, has previously been held in Indianapolis, Ind. and Lansing, Mich.
 
The conference that boasts the best combined record at the end of the event will earn the Crossover traveling trophy, which has been in the GLVC's possession the past four years. The GLIAC claimed the event's first title in 2008 with a 27-12 record, only to retain it the following year with a 24-21 mark.  In 2010, the GLVC earned its first Crossover win with a 23-22 effort only to take the next two seasons in 2011 (29-19) and 2012 (28-20).  This past year, the two conferences tied 24-24, but the GLVC earned the event win based on a game record tiebreak.
 
Crossover History: UW-Parkside went 3-0 at the Crossover Tournament in both 2013 and 2012. The Rangers notched 3-0 wins over University of Findlay and Malone University last season while downing Lake Superior State University 3-1 to close the tournament. In 2012, the Rangers claimed 3-0 wins over Tiffin University, Malone, and Walsh University.
 
About the Rangers:  UW-Parkside (11-7, 6-5 GLVC) heads to suburban Chicago as the eighth-seed in the GLVC, entering the competition having won five of its last six matches. The Rangers recent run includes a trio of three-set sweeps in addition to two five-set wins on the road after trailing 2-0.
 
UW-Parkside snagged the opening set but eventually fell 3-1 to the University of Indianapolis in a tightly contested affair on Oct. 10. The Rangers dropped the final two sets by 28-26 and 26-24 scores but rebounded the following day with a three set sweep of Saint Joseph's College to close out a three-match homestand.
 
The Green and White were back on the court on Monday night, rallying from a two-set deficit to knock off Northern Michigan (15-25, 20-25, 25-19, 25-22, 15-13). The Rangers owned an early 5-1 lead in the decisive fifth set before the Wildcats charged back, tying the set at 10-10. The teams traded points until a Lisa Gregerson kill and a NMU attack error gave the visiting Rangers the set and match win. The kill was Gregerson's 16th of the night to lead the Rangers while Allyn Krenz added 11. Meghan Conley had a team-high 22 digs while Sonja Burnson had six blocks.
 
Jackie Langer leads the Ranger offense, averaging 2.9 kills per set while Rebecca Roembke adds 2.7 per set. Megan Pekarek averages a team-best 8.2 assists per set while Burnson averages a team-leading 1.1 blocks per set. Jessi Mainczyk and Victoria Walsh average 3.7 and 3.0 digs per set, respectively while Roembke leads the team with 13 aces.
 
Langer, Roembke and Pekarek are the only three Rangers to appear in all 68 sets this season while Meghan Conley has played in 63 sets and Lauren Hickson has appeared in 62.
 
About the Cardinals: Saginaw Valley State University (10-6, 7-4 GLIAC) heads to the Great Lakes Center riding a three-match win streak. The Cardinals dropped a 3-2 decision to Findlay on Oct. 3 before edging Hillsdale College 3-2 the following day. SVSU tallied a pair of three-set road wins last weekend, rolling Ashland University on Oct. 11 and Lake Erie College on Oct. 12.
 
Kelsey Ferla leads Saginaw Valley in kills, averaging 2.8 per set with Makenzie Frodle adding 2.6 per set. Kelly Vellucci chips in a team-best 9.3 assists per set while Brooke Tiller paces the squad with 4.0 digs per set.
 
About the Wildcats: Northern Michigan (10-7, 10-1 GLIAC) heads to Aurora looking for its first non-conference win, having come up empty handed in its first six non-league contests. The Wildcats saw their four-match win streak come to a halt on Monday, unable to close out a two set lead in a 3-2 loss to UW-Parkside.
 
Northern Michigan will face Rockhurst University on Friday afternoon before taking on Parkside again on Saturday morning.
 
Lisa Studnicka leads the Wildcat offense, averaging 3.2 kills per set while Meghan Seymour serves as the primary setter, averaging 7.5 assists per set. Alex Berger anchors the team defensively with 5.8 disg per set while Kayla Chosa has 60 blocks on the season.
 
About the Huskies: Michigan Tech (8-9, 6-5 GLIAC) heads into the GLVC/GLIAC Challenge having won two of its last three. The Huskies rolled Urbana University on Oct. 6 and Tiffin on Oct. 10 by identical 3-0 scores before falling 3-2 to Ohio Dominican University last Saturday. Tech trailed 2-0 against Ohio Dominican before battling back to tie the contest at 2-2. The Huskies were unable to keep pace with the Panthers in the fifth set, falling 15-8.
 
The Rangers and Huskies met in the season opener on Sept. 4 in Houghton, Michigan with visiting Parkside prevailing 3-1 (25-23, 24-26, 25-17, 25-18).
 
Lauren Emmert leads Michigan Tech in kills with 168 on the season (2.6 per set) while Rachel Pohlod leads the team in assists (8.9) and Jacqueline Aird leads the team in digs (4.8 per set).
 
GLVC Preseason Prognostications: UW-Parkside was picked to finish sixth in the East Division in the 2014 GLVC Coaches' Preseason Poll, released on Aug. 26 by the league office. The Rangers collected 58 points in the rankings and was four points shy of fifth place McKendree University. Defending champion University of Indianapolis was picked to win the East Division followed by Lewis University, University of Southern Indiana and Bellarmine University. In the West, Truman State University claimed the top spot followed by Rockhurst University, University of Missouri-Saint Louis and Missouri University S&T.
 
Road Warriors: UW-Parkside's opening seven matches were all on the road along with 12 of the first 14. The schedule balances out towards the end of the season with the final five regular season matches all at home inside DeSimone Gymnasium.
 
DeSimone Advantage: Over the past four seasons, UW-Parkside has compiled a record of 36-14 in home matches at DeSimone Gymnasium. The Rangers were 9-5 at home last season with two of the five losses coming at the hands of nationally-ranked foes.

Parkside's Paciero: Head Coach Christine Paciero begins her fourth season at the helm at UW-Parkside, owning a career mark of 128-84 and a 65-46 record with the Rangers. Paciero compiled a 63-38 record in three seasons at Dominican University (2008-2010) before taking over the reins at Parkside. She notched her 100th career win in the 2013 season opener, downing Anderson University on Sept. 6.
 
All-Academic: The UW-Parkside volleyball squad earned both the Team Academic All-GLVC Award and the AVCA Team Academic Award for the first time in program history during the 2013-2014 academic year. The Rangers boasted a team grade point average of 3.38.