Richmond, Ky. – The Eastern Kentucky volleyball team captured the Ohio Valley Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on Monday night with a commanding 3-0 win over Eastern Illinois in the title match of the OVC Tournament. EKU senior Lesley Aldridge posted match highs of 17 kills and 15 digs (with a .302 hitting percentage) to lead the Colonels to their second NCAA Tournament appearance in school history, picking up most valuable player honors in the process.

"Tonight's win was a perfect example of a tremendous team effort. There isn't a kid in this program that didn't have a hand in this win. That has been the strength of this team all year long. They have been a complete team since day one," said EKU head coach Lori Duncan. "I felt coming in to this match, that if we could go after Eastern Illinois and take out a few of their key kids, that we would be successful. This team has taken me on a heck of a ride and I have been fortunate to be the one riding along with them."

Aldridge's MVP performance gave the Colonels their first OVC Tournament title since the 1990 season and first NCAA appearance since 1984. All of which came against the player that edged Aldridge for the OVC Player-of-the-Year award, EIU's Erica Gerth.

"We have some fantastic athletes on this team. Some of the best in the conference and it's a shame that not everyone recognizes that. I felt like it could be a small source of motivation for Lesley, but if you really knew Lesley you would know that the thing she wanted most was to lead this team back to the NCAA Tournament," said Duncan. "She always puts the team first and is a team player in every sense of the word. When those are your goals, these kinds of things [MVP awards] can happen."

The Colonels (27-4) hit .347 as a team and tallied 63 kills in the match (registering at least 20 in every game). The Panthers (25-6) led the league in kills, assists and hitting percentage during the regular season but were held to a .190 mark by an EKU defense which totaled match highs of 66 digs and eight team blocks. Junior Liz Guard, one night removed from a career-high 14-block effort, led all players with five blocks in the win. She added 11 kills to earn a spot on the OVC all-tournament team along with Aldridge, freshman Brittany Nobilio and sophomore Kasha Brozek.

Sophomore setter Kelly Jennings was instrumental in EKU's success, as her match-high 49 assists helped Eastern hit over .300 for the seventh time this season. A native of Barrington, Ill., Jennings fell one kill shy of her first career triple-double, finishing with nine kills and 14 digs. The Colonels were held to a .241 mark in the first game, but followed that up by hitting .468 (23 kills, one error) and .349 (20 kills, five errors) in the final two contests.

EKU built a 15-11 lead midway through game one following a kill by freshman Amy Arlinghaus. A block by Guard and Jennings pushed Eastern's advantage to seven points, 20-13, but EIU came right back with a 3-0 spurt to cut their deficit to four points (20-16). The Panthers looked to get back in the game trailing 25-21, but the Colonels rattled off four-unanswered points (with kills from three different players) to go ahead 29-21. Freshman Shelly George registered the final kill of the game to give Eastern a 30-24 game-one victory.

The two teams again traded punches through the early goings of game two with EKU holding a slim 15-14 lead halfway through the bout. A kill by Guard broke a 21-all tie and sparked a 5-0 Colonel run (which featured three kills by Guard) and pushed Eastern's lead to five points, 26-21. The Panthers were unable to recover and dropped the second game 30-25.

Eastern picked up right where it left off in game three, running out to a quick 6-0 edge thanks to four-consecutive kills by Aldridge. Eastern Illinois got on the board compliments of an EKU hitting error, but the Colonels did not let up and led 15-8 after a solo block by Brozek. The Colonels advantage reached nine points, 24-15, after Aldridge and Brozek teamed up on a block and it was all downhill from there for the Panthers. EKU did not let up down the stretch and Arlinghaus put the finishing touches on the win by accounting for EKU's final two points (her 16th and 17th kill of the match) to clinch the championship with a 30-19 victory.

Gerth tied Aldridge and Arlinghaus for the match high with 17 kills, while adding 12 digs in the losing effort. The Panthers had five players reach double digits in digs, led by 13 from Maren Crabtree. EKU sophomore Jessica Sabath totaled seven digs in the win to push her career total to 997. Nobilio was one of three Colonels to reach double digits in digs. Eastern's freshman libero finished with 11, pushing her season total to 612 digs (good enough for third place on the OVC's all-time single-season list).

The Colonels will now await Sunday's NCAA Tournament selection show to see where they will be headed for the 2004 NCAA Volleyball Championships (beginning Dec. 2-5).


OVC ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Lesley Aldridge, EKU (Most Valuable Player)
Liz Guard, EKU
Brittany Nobilio, EKU
Kasha Brozek, EKU
Erica Gerth, EIU
Megan Kennedy, EIU
Shari Weyer, JSU
Sarah Schramka, APSU