Prep Volleyball- The Southeast Iowa Super Conference (SEISC) is gearing up for their conference tournament as their pool play starts on Thursday, September 26th, with #4 Holy Trinity Catholic, Lone Tree, Mediapolis, and Pekin acting as the hosts for the four pools.
Holy Trinity Catholic
At Holy Trinity Catholic, the Crusaders will be battling with Louisa-Muscatine, Hillcrest Academy, and Van Buren County. Holy Trinity Catholic—the eight time SEISC champs—has not faced off against any of these teams this season.
Louisa-Muscatine lost to Hillcrest Academy 3 sets to 1 back on September 17th, while the Raves just lost to Van Buren County in three sets at the Cardinal Invitational last weekend.
Lone Tree
Joining the Lions will be #10 West Burlington, the defending conference champion, Winfield-Mt. Union, and Central Lee. Since winning their first two games of the season, Lone Tree has gone 2-10 with zero wins against SEISC opponents.
West Burlington has only dropped one conference game although the Falcons got their revenge against Holy Trinity Catholic with a 2-0 sweep at the Lisbon Invitational last weekend.
The Wolves are 3-1 on the season in conference games, but they have not played since last Tuesday, September 17th. Central Lee has a marquee win against Holy Trinity Catholic, since that conference win the Hawks have gone 5-3 in SEISC, sporting a three-game win streak.
Mediapolis
Mediapolis is where the extra team will play as Columbus, Highland, New London, and WACO make the trip. The Bulldogs would like to add on to their conference high nine titles, but the Huskies do hold the season advantage, winning 2-1 at the Wilton Tournament.
New London has struggled this season as the Tigers are 1-9 on the year and 0-7 in SEISC play, including a loss to WACO. However, Central Lee entered the conference tournament last year 1-8 against SEISC opponents before winning their pool.
WACO is in a similar situation to Central Lee last year with a 1-7 conference record, including recent losses to Columbus and Highland.
Pekin
Lastly, Danville, #11 Burlington Notre Dame, and Wapello will be joining the Panthers for this round of pool play. Pekin has not faced off against any of these teams this season but sport a 2-5 SEISC record.
Danville could be a sneaky team to look out for as they have battled the Nikes to a five-set thriller and had a four-set thriller against Mediapolis with scores of 28-26, 23-25, 24-26, and 13-25. Unfortunately, the Bears have just been on the wrong side of the scoreboard in those games, while losing in straight sets to Wapello twice this year.
The Nikes won the conference title back in 2022 and this underdog squad would like to do it again. Burlington Notre Dame swept Wapello and played West Burlington close this season. If Madalynn Knapp and Chloe Wenzel keep the pressure at the net, then the Nikes will be a tough team to beat.
Schedule and Notes
The Conference Tournament pool play will start at 5 pm at each of the host locations on Thursday, September 26th. The top two teams from each pool will advance to the conference finals on Saturday, September 28th, at Southeastern Community College with first serve at 5 pm.