Saturday night a rivalry was renewed on the court when Greenville University and Westminster College met for the 2025 SLIAC Volleyball Championship. The match was the sixth meeting between the two programs with the conference championship on the line, although it was their first meeting since 2021. And the rivalry did not disappoint, with Greenville rallying late in the fifth set for a 3-2 win over Westminster.
Greenville started the match with three straight points but back-to-back blocks from Westminster drew the score even. The theme of the night for the Panthers would be their net defense, which began to make its impact after back-to-back blocks gave them a 12-9 lead. A block from Kennedy Legendre and Mia DeJesus put the Panthers up 15-10, before they extended their lead to 16-10; the largest lead of the opening set.
From there the Blue Jay offense finally found its footing, recording four straight kills to draw the score tied at 18. An ace by Haylie Schnake gave the Blue Jays their first lead of the night. Greenville fought their way to the end of the set, pushing Westminster to five serves with a chance to take the opener. Finally, after a Paige Rowland kill gave the Blue Jays the ball back it was Landrey VanOverschelde that ended the set with an ace for a 30-28 Blue Jay win.
Greenville was up 6-4 in the second set when DeJesus made her presence known again; being part of three straight blocks for the Panthers. Westminster hit -.146 in the second set as Greenville drew the match even at one set a piece.
The score was tied at four in the third set when the Panthers defense again forced the Blue Jays into a pair of attack errors. Legendre capped off the Panther run with back-to-back kills to make the score 9-4. After Greenville held a 12-6 lead, Westminster closed the gap to within one point at 15-14. However the Panthers rolled off five straight points to take control, en route to a 25-21 third set win.
The Blue Jays responded in the fourth set with their best performance of the match. They opened up a 10-1 lead in the set thanks to putting down their first six attack attempts. The Blue Jays would go on for a 25-16 win, hitting .306 in the set, and forcing a fifth set.
This was first championship match to go five sets since 2017, a match that also featured both Greenville and Westminster. The teams played it square to open the set, tied at 4-4, when the Blue Jays benefited from a pair of Panther attack errors and closed the run with kills from Mackenzie Sansone and Rowland. Westminster led 13-9 after a Katelynn Jackson kill but an error gave the Panthers the serve back and a chance.
Elaina Evers followed with a kill for the Panthers and back-to-back errors evened the score. Jackson put the Blue Jays one point away from the title with serve but Evers struck again with another kill for the Panthers. A Blue Jay error gave the Panthers their first lead of the set since 4-3. The teams continued to trade off points with Greenville finally gaining serve at 16-16.
Evers delivered again with a kill to put the Panthers up and fittingly a block by DeJesus sealed the win for Greenville; taking the set 18-16. Greenville finished the match with a season-high 20 blocks with DeJesus leading the way with three solo blocks and nine block assists. She would go on to be named the Tournament MVP and joined by teammates Claudia Bonacorsi and Elaina Evers on the All-Tournament team. Greenville awaits the announcement of the 2025 NCAA Division III Tournament field on Monday.
Katelyn Jackson led Westminster with 19 kills and was named to the All-Tournament team as was her teammate Landrey VanOverschelde. Westminster finishes the season 28-8, setting a new SLIAC and program record for wins in a season.
Other All-Tournament team members selected were Kenadee Frey, from Blackburn College; Mollie McCoy, from Lyon College; Brooklyn Comfort, from MUW; and Catherine Rennier, from Webster University.