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PJC hosts conference tournament

By Brent Wilburn
The Paris News

Published November 06, 2009

This season has been the most successful season in the short history of the Paris Junior College volleyball program.

Today, the Lady Dragons are set to try to make it even more successful.

For the first time in school history, PJC hosts the Region XIV District L Conference Volleyball Tournament. The four-team tournament is scheduled to begin today at 5 p.m. with the Lady Dragons’ match against the Blinn College Lady Buccaneers.

The tournament continues with a match immediately after that one, which will pit No. 2 Panola College against No. 3 Navarro College.

The two winning teams from those matches are scheduled to compete in the championship match Saturday at 2 p.m.

All three matches will be played at the Hunt Center on the campus of PJC.

PJC (21-11), which is enjoying its first winning season in four years of the program’s existence, enters the tournament as the No. 4 seed. Blinn (28-3), which is ranked No. 2 in the nation and is the defending national champion, is the tournament’s No. 1 seed after going undefeated in its eight conference matches.

The Lady Dragons haven’t had good luck against the Lady Buccaneers in the past.

In eight matches against the perennial powerhouse, PJC has never won a game. That includes two meetings this season in which the Lady Dragons suffered a 19-25, 20-25, 16-25 setback in Brenham and a 14-25, 18-25, 17-25 setback in Paris.

Blinn is led in kill shots by sophomore All-American hitter Cinthya Roberto, who has 321 kills this season. Elizaveta Senenkova is second on the team with 242 kills. Keidra Williams is the team’s top blocker, with 110 blocks this season.

Hillary Baugh has been PJC’s leading hitter this season. The sophomore has 257 kills. Fellow sophomore Logan Anglin is second with 191 kills.