The last time the Pioneers hosted the Sun Belt Conference tournament was in 2001 and the team is excited to finally have the home court advantage during the tournament, Nov. 15 through 17.
The Sun Belt Conference tournament is a single elimination tournament. The winning team is crowned the league champion and automatically gets a bid to the NCAA championships.
Eight teams compete in the Sun Belt Conference tournament each year. They are the teams with the best league records. The teams are matched according to their assigned seed.
“The No. 1 seed plays the number eight seed and then number two plays seven and so on,” said junior Holly Benson on how the tournament works.
The teams’ seeds are undecided because the regular season does not end for another two weeks. There are still some close battles for the top spots taking place and several teams have similar records.
“One of the great things about this year’s tournament is that it is a tight race,” said Head Coach Beth Kuwata. “There are still four teams that could take the last two top spots.”
The Pioneer volleyball team is going to face some tough competitors during this tournament, such as last year’s conference champion Middle Tennessee.
“Our biggest competition is probably Middle Tennessee,” said Benson. “They run a quick offense.”
Kuwata agreed that Middle Tennessee is a Middle Tennessee as a tough opponent.
“Middle Tennessee is one of the best we’ve played and pose some problems,” said Kuwata. “They are a very physical team.”
What does the volleyball team need to focus on in order to win the conference tournament?
“What is most important is that each individual player on the team plays her best all at the same time,” said Benson. “When we all come together is when we are unstoppable.”
The Pioneers have been looking forward to this tournament for a long time and it is finally upon them, said Benson.
“All we have talked about since January 3 when we came back is winning the conference,” said Kuwata. “Our big goals are not only winning the west SBC conference tournament but also winning a NCAA championship title.”
