WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – After three years of opening the Commonwealth Conference Tournament on the road, the fourth-seeded Lycoming College volleyball team will host its first conference tournament game since 2006 on Monday, Nov. 3, when it hosts fifth-seeded Widener in the first round of the tournament at 7 p.m. in Lamade Gym.
 
The Commonwealth Conference Tournament is a ticketed event, with tickets available for $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and $2 for students. Children under six are free. Long-sleeve championship T-shirts will be available for $15.
 
The Warriors (17-16 overall, 5-3 Commonwealth) are looking to advance to the conference semifinals for the second time in three years. In 2012, the team knocked off Widener, 3-2, in the lone postseason meeting between the two squads, with Bethany Richardson (York, Pa./West York) posting 12 kills and nine digs in the win. In 2013, the team fell, 3-0, to Elizabethtown.
 
The Warriors have a balanced offensive attack that is paced by freshman setter Catherine Burger (Royersford, Pa./Spring-Ford), who is the first Warrior freshman in program history to post 1,000 assists in a season. She has averaged 9.84 assists per set, running a balanced offense.
 
Sophomore Kristine Jahn (Enola, Pa./Cumberland Valley) leads the team at 3.03 points per set, averaging a team-high 2.63 kills per set from the right side. She also adds 2.17 digs and 0.28 blocks per set.
 
In the middle, the Warriors have Richardson, a junior that is leading the conference in hitting percentage at .302. Richardson is averaging 2.96 points per set and crossed the 300-kill mark for the third straight year against Elizabethtown on Saturday, Nov. 1. She also is second on the team with 0.41 blocks per set.
 
Sophomore Lauren Fink (York,Pa./West York) gives the team an all-around player that is productive in nearly all aspects, averaging 2.86 points per game, thanks to 2.19 kills and 0.53 aces per set, which is third in the conference. She also leads the team with 3.12 digs per set.
 
Sophomores Maggie Slawson (Armagh, Pa./United) and Tayler Whitman (New Cumberland, Pa./Cedar Cliff) each also add more than 2.0 points and 1.7 digs per set, with Slawson, an outside hitter, at 2.11 kills and 1.74 digs per set and Whitman, a middle blocker, averages 1.66 kills, a team-high 0.53 blocks and 1.92 digs per set.
 
Widener (7-23 overall, 4-4 Commonwealth) is a young team led by sophomore Brooke Ruditys, who is averaging 2.96 kills per set.  Senior Kaitlin Schnalzer is amongst the top 10 in school history in kills, posting 2.20 per set this year and senior Jessica Dembeck also adds 2.14. Defensively, senior Victoria Miller leads the squad at 4.25 digs per set.
 
Three Lycoming College volleyball players finished with 10 or more kills in the regular-season meeting between the two squads, led by 12 from Whitman, to lead Lycoming to a 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-19) win in Commonwealth Conference action on Sept. 24. Whitman hit .476 and added six digs to help the Warriors. Slawson notched 11 kills, hitting .348, with six digs and Fink added 10 kills, 11 digs and two aces.
 
The winner of Monday's match will move on to the Commonwealth Conference semifinals, where they will face top-seeded Stevenson on Wednesday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m.