The 2013 Continental Volleyball Conference Tournament is this weekend in Greenville, Pa. on the campus of Thiel College. Six CVC members, three from the East Division and three from the West Division, will be competing for the right to claim the postseason title. The six CVC schools that will battle it out this weekend are UC Santa Cruz, Juniata College, Carthage College, Stevenson University, MSOE and Thiel College.

UC Santa Cruz is the #1 seed in the West Division after going 14-6 overall and finishing 5-1 in the CVC. The Banana Slugs, from Santa Cruz, Calif., are currently ranked #3 in the latest AVCA NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball poll and will be looking to defend their 2012 CVC Tournament title. They have won 10 of their last 11 matches including all four matches in last weekend's CVC Challenge. UC Santa Cruz is averaging 12.35 kills per set, 2nd best in the conference. They are led by Salvatore Lacavera who is hitting .323 on the season with 251 kills. Mauro Salinas provides solid defense at the libero with 201 digs this season. The team as a whole is hitting .274 this year.
UC SANTA CRUZ, DID YOU KNOW? The Banana Slugs won last year's CVC Tournament title, defeating Carthage 3-0.

Juniata College is the #1 seed in the East Division after going 22-11 in the regular season and finishing 6-2 in conference play. The Eagles, from Huntingdon, Pa., are currently ranked #8 in the nation and are hitting .290 as a team this season, tops in the conference. The Eagles rank in the top three in the CVC in several statistical categories including hitting percentage, service aces and block assists. Their lineup features three players that have recorded over 200 kills this year in Alex McGolgin (288), Ross Madden (267) and Paul Kuhn (246). Matt Elias and Rob Strauss have teamed up to run the efficient offense. The Eagles sound defense also features four players with at least 50 total blocks.
JUNIATA, DID YOU KNOW? The Eagles have played seven nationally ranked teams this season and recorded their program's first ever back to back 20 win season this year.
QUOTE FROM COACH MOORE: "Scheduling the most rigorous and challenging schedule possible has been the program's mindset for over 20 years, as to compete with the best you need to compete against the best.  With a young core leading the team this year we felt the best way for them to gain big match experience was by scheduling non-conference opponents that included Springfield, Nazareth, and Steven's Tech."

Carthage College will be the #2 seed in the West this tournament after going 23-7 overall and 5-1 in the CVC. The Redmen, from Kenosha, Wis., enter the tournament ranked #4 in the latest AVCA poll. They are hitting .262 as a team and average 13.42 kills per set, best in the CVC. The Redmens high powered attack is led by the duo of Pat Barry (325 kills) and Jon Storm (301 kills). Connor Wexter is fourth in the CVC in assists with 906 while an all-around team defensive mindset features five players with at least 100 digs. J.P. Tulaka (88 total blocks) and Jeff Beach (81 total blocks) guard the middle of the net.
CARTHAGE, DID YOU KNOW? The Redmen had a confernece best 13 match winning streak this season despite returning just two starters from last year's team that advanced to the National Championship game.
QUOTE FROM COACH MARX: "We spend a significant amount of time talking to the younger players and non-starters about the process of improving and that it is not a matter waiting your turn but developing into a contributor. Everything we do in the program is based on a process, off and on the court, to hopefully develop into the best team possible."

Stevenson University earned the #2 seed in the East after a year in which they went 23-11 overall and 6-2 in the CVC. The Mustangs, from Owings Mills, Md., are ranked #9 in the latest AVCA poll and are on a four match winning streak. The Mustangs are hitting .231 as a team and average 12.08 kills per set. They are led by Austin Jacoby who leads the conference in kills with 391. Kyle Wisner (287 kills) and Jon Martin (256 kills) provide an help on the offensive attack. David Moler leads the conference in assists with 1184 and leads the team with 19 service aces. Wisner (119) and Kyle Pottieger (100) are tops on the team in total blocks.
STEVENSON, DID YOU KNOW? The Mustangs have played in a conference high seven five set matches this season, winning five of them.

MSOE is the #3 seed in the West after a 7-18 overall record and 2-4 mark in the CVC. The Raiders, from Milwaukee, Wis., are making their second consecutive trip to the postseason. The Raiders are hitting .203 as a team and average 11.23 kills per set. Brian Main leads the team with 285 kills while Jack Geary is second with 204 kills. Josh Avery has a team high 623 assists while John Cote has recorded 196 digs.
MSOE, DID YOU KNOW? The Raiders pulled off an impressive 3-2 win on the road over NCAA Division II member Quincy University this season.

Thiel College is the #3 seed in the East after a 20-11 record in the regular season and a 4-4 record in conference play. Thiel will also serve as host for this year's tournament. Thiel is hitting .276 as a team and averages 12.24 kills per set. The Tomcats lead the conference in blocks per set at 2.52 per set. Michael Whitelock has recorded 105 blocks this season while adding 215 kills and 14 service aces. Dante McCoy leads the team with 269 kills while John Turner is the third Tomcat to top the 200 kills mark this season. Charlie Tindall and Corey Hamilton have shared duties running the offense, combining for 1157 assists this season.
THIEL, DID YOU KNOW? Thiel has several wins over ranked opponents this year including Stevenson and Juniata.
QUOTE FROM COACH BREWER: "Throughout the year we have actually played much better on the road, so despite hosting the tournament for the second year, home court advantage has not really worked in our favor. We have gone through some ebbs and flows this year and we will look to be prepared as possible to battle an ever tough Carthage squad."