Volleyball Fifth in NCAA Great Lakes Region Poll; Raiders Play Ohio Northern Friday in OAC Semifinals

(INDIANAPOLIS, IN)--Mount Union's volleyball team stayed fifth in the final NCAA Great Lakes Region Rankings of the season.  The rankings are compiled by the NCAA Championships committee and are used to determine the field and seed the 2009 NCAA Division III Volleyball Championship.

The 2009 NCAA Division III Championship consists of 62 teams with 40 of those spots given to conference champions, three spots reserved for independents and 19 national at-large bids.  The regional rankings help determine those at-large spots and who hosts and who plays who.

The top four spots also remained the same from last week with Hope (MI) on top of the rankings followed by fellow OAC members Ohio Northern and Heidelberg at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots with Calvin (MI) fourth.

Wittenberg, DePauw (IN) and Thomas More (KY) occupy the three spots below Mount Union in the poll.

Mount Union has played four of the teams ranked splitting a pair of matches with Thomas More, falling 3-0 to Calvin, losing a marathon 3-2 match with Hope and scoring an impressive 3-2 win over then top-ranked Ohio Northern then a 3-2 loss to Heidelberg last Saturday.

The NCAA also announced that Hope College in Holland, MI is one of six regional host sites for the NCAA Volleyball Championship that begins next week.

Mount Union plays Ohio Northern Friday at 5 pm in the semifinals of the OAC Volleyball Tournament at Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio. 

NCAA Great Lakes Regional Rankings (11/4)
1. Hope (MI)
2. Ohio Northern
3. Heidelberg
4. Calvin (MI)
5. Mount Union
6. Wittenberg
7. DePauw (IN)
8. Thomas More (KY)