Salisbury defeated former CAC rival Gallaudet, and Stevenson lost to Hiram - both by 3-1 scores - in the opening round of the 2011 NCAA Division III Volleyball Championship Tournament.

At Christopher Newport University, Salisbury sophomore Sam Seifert recorded a match-high 16 kills and added 10 digs as the Sea Gulls defeated Gallaudet University, 3-1 (25-17, 23-25, 25-13, 25-13.  Salisbury (32-3) advances to play CNU, which defeated Maryville (Tenn.) College Friday, 3-0.

The Sea Gulls limited the Gallaudet (28-8) attack to just a .050 hitting percentage and hit .239 themselves for the win.

Junior Chelsea Glowacki posted eight kills, five blocks and three digs with just one attack error for a .318 hitting percentage. Fellow juniors Jenna Shay and Kelly Vieira tallied seven and four kills, respectively, while Vieira also registered 15 digs and a match-high seven blocks.  Salisbury used a kill by freshman Mattie Smith midway through the first game to take a 13-9 advantage and force a GU timeout. The Sea Gulls ran off the next three points, with the help of a Vieira block and Glowacki kill, to push it to a 16-9 game.  Three consecutive Bison errors opened a nine-point advantage at 20-11 as GU called another timeout. Gallaudet rallied to within seven, but an error gave SU the game and a 1-0 lead.

The second game was tight, featuring 10 ties and five lead changes. The Sea Gulls had a lead as big as four points at 16-12 before the Bison battled back to knot the score at 21-21 and benefited from a pair of SU miscues to tie the match, 1-1.  Salisbury stormed out to a 10-1 advantage in the third set on the strength of a block and kill each from Seifert and Glowacki and never looked back. Up 10-2, the Sea Gulls rattled off seven of the next nine, taking a 17-4 advantage with a Vieira kill.  SU allowed nine points for the rest of the game while hitting a match-best .450 to take a two-game lead.

SU was never seriously threatened in the fourth game as it took a 7-2 edge into another Gallaudet timeout. The Sea Gulls opened an 11-point, 22-11, lead when Glowacki earned a kill off a junior Carley Todd assist and SU put the match away five points later.

Todd finished with 24 of the team's 40 assists while freshman Michelle Meehan had a match-best 23 digs and three aces.

At Neumann University, Stevenson women's volleyball junior Avery Gabbard totaled a game-high 17 kills to lead the Mustangs who fell to Hiram in the first round of their first appearance in the NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship, 21-25, 20-25, 25-19, 18-25.

Stevenson (31-4) finishes the season one win shy of the school record after advancing to the school's first NCAA tournament and appearing in the program's first conference champoonship game.

Sophomore Christine Isenberg, who was named CAC Rookie of the Year on Thursday, had 13 kills and 12 digs.  She and Gabbard combined for 30 of the team's 49 kills while senior
Brooke Gilley and freshman Megan Miller each had six.

The Mustangs trailed 6-1 in the first set before rallying to take a 15-13 lead. However, the team was limited by five service errors.  Stevenson also trailed in the second set, 5-1, before an 11-7 run tied the set at 12-12. Gabbard totaled seven kills in the set, but the team could not overcome seven total blocks by the Terriers.

After totaling 12 attack errors and a .122 hitting percentage over the first two sets, the Mustangs flipped a switch in the third, totaling 15 kills and only three errors for a .316 hitting percentage as they led by as many as 12 points.

Hiram (27-8) took an 8-5 lead to start the fourth set before extending that lead to 16-7. Stevenson committed two more service errors in the set and finished the game with 13.

Sophomore Jessica Gieselman totaled four kills, 40 assists and 13 digs for the Mustangs while freshman Samantha Perillo had a game-high 23 digs and senior Amy Rudolph added 12.  Miller also had seven total blocks, including two solo.

North Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Year, Shaina Bryan, had 14 kills and 14 digs for the Terriers who lost four of its eight games this season against teams in the top five nationally. The team opened the season with a 3-2 loss to No. 1 Calvin before losing three times to No. 5 and NCAC rival Wittenberg.  Kristi Opfer had eight kills and nine total blocks for Hiram who had 25 total blocks.