TOURNAMENT PAGE
SAINT LEO, Fla. – The Saint Leo women's volleyball team heads to the NCAA South Region on the Campus of the No. 1 seed Palm Beach Atlantic to take on the No. 5 seed West Florida at 5 P.M. on Thursday evening.
The No. 4 seed Lions are coming off a second-place finish in the Sunshine State Conference, trailing just Tampa, who earned the No. 2 seed in the regional. Saint Leo has been led by seniors Ashlee Hodgskin and Anna Siruckova, who were both named to the AVCA All-South Region First Team on Wednesday.
Hodgskin was an All-Sunshine State Conference First Team selection after helping the Lions to a second-place finish in the SSC. Hodgskin dished out 1199 assists this season, good enough for 10.80 per set. She currently ranks 23rd in the nation in assists per set, and second in the SSC. She ranks first in the SSC in total assists. Hodgskin added 264 digs and 28 services aces to her stat line.
Siruckova, a 6-foot opposite, was the 2015 Newcomer of the Year in the SSC, as well as an All-SSC First Team honor and a place on the All-Newcomer team. Siruckova has put down 329 kills on a team-high .290 hitting percentage. She also had accumulated 67 blocks, and 383.5 points. In conference play alone, the 6-foot-1 opposite has improve her efficiency to .327, while putting down 3.35 kills per set. She has recorded 15 double-digit kill matches, including seven-straight to close out the regular season.
The Lions will take on the Argonauts of West Florida, Gulf South Conference member. The Argos enter the tournament with a 28-6 record, and a 19-1 GSC record. The GSC Tournament saw UWF fall 3-2 to North Alabama in the championship game to upset the first-ranked Argos.
West Florida is led by outside hitter Autumn Dunn and middle hitter Kathryn Torre. Both were named to the AVCA All-South Region First Team. Dunn leads the team with 3.06 kills per set while scooping up 3.35 digs per set, good for second, trailing only libero Tori Martella (4.95 digs per set). Torre is both an offensive and defensive threat as well, leading the team in blocks with 117 total for 1.05 per set. She is also putting down 2.22 kills per set on a team-best .331 hitting percentage.
Early in the season, the Lions took to the road for the Hampton Inn-vitational, hosted by West Florida. While both UWF and Saint Leo were in the tournament, they did not face each other, but faced the same four opponents in Missouri-Saint Louis, Southwest Minnesota State, Bridgeport, and Arkansas-Fort Smith. Both teams went 3-1 against the opponents in the tournament, each suffering a loss to then-ranked No. 3 in the nation Southwest Minnesota State. Five of the six teams in the Hampton Inn-vitational, hosted by West Florida, are participating in the NCAA Tournament.
For the latest news, updates, and information on the Saint Leo volleyball, be sure to visit SaintLeoLions.com. Fans can also stay up-to-date on the latest Lions news by following Saint Leo Athletics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
