ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Lander University’s volleyball team gets a fresh start this week in St. Augustine, entering the Peach Belt Conference tournament as the No. 5 seed and drawing fourth-seeded Augusta in a first-round match set for 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12.
Every conference team qualifies for the bracket, and all three rounds are being played on the home floor of top seed Flagler in Florida. The Saints won the regular-season title without a conference loss, are 26-3 overall and are hosting the event for a second year in a row.
History is not on the Bearcats’ side. Augusta beat Lander in all three meetings this fall, starting with a 3-1 result at Christenberry Fieldhouse on Sept. 22. The Jaguars then came to Greenwood for back-to-back matches, sweeping Lander on Oct. 30 and taking a four-set win on Oct. 31 after dropping the first set.
Lander enters the postseason at 7-19 after a hard final weekend at Flagler, where the Saints won both matches in straight sets on Nov. 6 and Nov. 7. The Bearcats’ brighter stretches included a five-set home win over Georgia College on Sept. 18 and a pair of 3-1 road wins at Middle Georgia on Oct. 9 and Oct. 10.
Augusta finished the regular season 11-18 overall and 7-8 in league play. The Jaguars tied Georgia College for third, but Georgia College won the head-to-head tiebreaker and took the No. 3 seed.
Whoever survives Thursday gets Flagler in a semifinal at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13. Earlier Thursday, No. 2 USC Aiken plays No. 7 Middle Georgia at 2 p.m. and No. 3 Georgia College plays No. 6 Salem at 4:30 p.m. The title will be decided Saturday, Nov. 14, at 2 p.m.
Fans who plan to make the trip can buy a weekend pass covering every session or a ticket for a single day; tickets bought for the wrong day are not refunded.
Back home, Lander plays on its campus at 320 Stanley Avenue in Greenwood.
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