Men's volleyball opens at Lindenwood - Belleville

Men's volleyball opens at Lindenwood - Belleville

GREENVILLE, Ill. -- The men's volleyball team will begin their 2017 campaign on Thursday night with a match at Lindenwood - Belleville.  The Panthers are entering their second season as an intercollegiate program after completing an inaugural season that saw them go 16–11 and 6–7 in MCVL action.

Greenville will be led by new head coach Phil Davis, who joined the college in the fall and succeeds Tom Ackerman as head men's volleyball coach.  Davis will be assisted by associate head coach Ivan Estevez, and Ackerman will remain on its coaching staff.

The Panthers will compete as part of the competitive Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League which features ACVA preseason No. 4 Carthage, No. 12 MSOE, and No. 13 Dominican.  A fourth team, Mount St. Joseph, received votes in the poll.

The league is broken into two divisions this season.  Greenville competes in the Western Division with Carthage, Fontbonne, Loras, MSOE, Lakeland, and Marian (Wis.).  The Eastern Division includes Adrian, Benedictine (Ill.), Dominican (Ill.), Mount St. Joseph, North Central, Olivet, and Wittenberg.

Conference play features 19 matches.  Greenville will play two matches against the teams in its own division and one match against each team in the other division.  Greenville's non-conference opponents are Lindenwood (Ill.), Illinois Tech, and Lindenwood (Mo.).

Greenville is projected to finish 10th, a year after surprising the conference with a seventh place record of 6-7 and the best conference record among first year programs.