MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- The Grambling State University Lady Tigers and the Alabama A&M University Lady Bulldogs are set to enter the 1999 Southwestern Athletic Conference volleyball tournament as the top seeds.
The SWAC tournament is scheduled for Wednesday through Saturday, November 10-13, at the Joe L. Reed Acadome on the campus of Alabama State University. The tourney is free and open to the public.
Grambling State, 25-11 overall and 7-1 in the SWAC Western Division, is looking to return to its glory days of the past when it dominated volleyball in the league. After getting off to a lackluster start, GSU has put itself back on track and actually enters the tournament as the hottest team in the conference.
Yolanda Brown, a senior outside hitter and middle blocker, is one reason why the Lady Tigers are considered a favorite to win the SWAC title. After leading the conference in kills (3.31 pg) and ranking sixth in hitting percentage (.271), Brown has just been tabbed SWAC player of the year.
Alabama A&M, a newcomer to the SWAC, wasted no time in exerting its power among the league's "oldtimers." The Lady Bulldogs have the best record of any team in the SWAC at 22-6 overall and 7-0 in the Eastern Division.
AAMU head coach Betty Austin has an elite crop of experienced players to rely on. In fact, of the six players tabbed to the 1999 All-SWAC team, three are from AAMU, including senior hitter Talea Orr (.280 hitting pct., 2.73 kills pg), senior hitter and setter Shannon Perkins (8.70 assists pg) and senior hitter Shawn Medlock, who leads the league in hitting percentage at .347 while ranking second in kills with 3.00 per game.
Not to be denied, Prairie View A&M, which tied Grambling for the lead in the Western Division with a mark of 7-1 in league play and 12-15 overall, could make a serious run in the tourney. The Pantherettes lost out to GSU for the Western Division's number one seed using a head-to-head tiebreaker.
Southern University, which captured last year's SWAC tournament, struggled much of the season with a relatively young squad. The Lady Jaguars finished third in the Western Division with records of 14-18 overall and 4-4 in the conference.
The winner of the SWAC tournament receives an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
