ROCK HILL, S.C. --- The Tusculum Pioneers will be the No. 6 seed in next week's South Atlantic Conference Volleyball Championship and will travel to third-seeded Anderson for a quarterfinal match-up Tuesday night in South Carolina. The third battle of the season with the Trojans is slated for 7 p.m.
Tusculum and Mars Hill finished tied for fifth place with identical 12-10 SAC records. Since the Lions took both matches over the Pioneers, the North Carolina team earned the No. 5 seed in the conference tournament.
Each team was victorious in their home gym in this year's encounters. Tusculum took a set off of the Trojans to begin October and swept Anderson in the penultimate match of the regular season in Pioneer Arena.
This will mark the second time Tusculum and Anderson have met in the SAC Tournament. In 2013, the Trojans bounced the Pioneers out of the conference semifinals and also the Southeast Regional.
Tusculum has qualified for the South Atlantic Conference Tournament for the first time since 2017 and secured its first winning season since 2014.
The winner of the SAC Championship will earn the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Division II Tournament, beginning Dec. 5th.
2019 South Atlantic Conference Women's Volleyball Championship
Tuesday, November 19 | Quarterfinal
No. 8 Lincoln Memorial at No. 1 Wingate, 7 p.m.
No. 5 Mars Hill at No. 4 Carson-Newman, 7 p.m.
No. 7 Lenoir-Rhyne at No. 2 Queens, 7 p.m.
No. 6 Tusculum at No. 3 Anderson, 7 p.m.
Friday, November 22 | Semifinal | Charlotte, N.C.
Wingate/LMU winner vs Carson-Newman/Mars Hill winner, 4 p.m.
Queens/Lenoir-Rhyne winner vs Anderson/Tusculum winner, 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, November 23 | Charlotte, N.C.
Championship Match, 2 p.m.