2009 GNAC Women’s Volleyball Championship Preview

The two top teams in regular season play; #1 Seed Emerson College and #2 Seed Johnson & Wales University will be on display this weekend at the 2009 GNAC Women’s Volleyball Championship on November 7th at Emerson’s Bobbi Brown and Steven Plofker Gymnasium in Boston, Mass. at 1:00 pm.

#1 Seed Emerson College (29-6, GNAC 12-0): The top-ranked Lions are making their first appearance in the GNAC finals, and will be vying for the program’s first GNAC Volleyball Championship.

Emerson won the very competitive GNAC Conference regular season title by one match this season (going undefeated in conference play), ahead of second-place team and finals opponent Johnson & Wales. Emerson and Johnson & Wales last met on Sept. 26 at Norwich, a game which Emerson won 3-1.

Junior Lauren Zaniboni leads the conference in hitting percentage (.392, 1st), blocks per game (1.36, 1st), and ranks second in kills per game (.361) and services aces (0.81).

#2 Seed Johnson & Wales University (23-14, GNAC 11-1): The second-seeded Wildcats are making their third straight and 9th overall appearance in the conference finals, and will be vying for the program’s fifth GNAC Championship. Johnson & Wales won four consecutive GNAC titles between 1999-2002, their four tournament championships are the most of any team in GNAC history.

The Wildcats will enter the match against the Lions on a six-game winning streak after suffering a non-conference loss to Bates on Oct. 23.

As a team Johnson & Wales ranks among conferences leaders in several categories, kills per game (11.47, 1st), assists per game (9.44, 2nd), services aces per game (2.84, 3rd), hitting percentage (.232, 3rd), and blocks per game (1.44, 5th).

* all statistics through Nov. 2, 2009