CARLINVILLE, Ill. - The legendary Greenville University volleyball coaching career of head coach Tom Ackerman reached another milestone on Saturday at Blackburn when Ackerman's volleyball teams defeated Blackburn in three sets and Webster in four sets to provide him with his 400th and 401st wins as Panther head coach.
In 21 years as head volleyball coach, Ackerman has accrued a record of 401-199, including a SLIAC mark of 251-68. This includes 11 regular season SLIAC titles, seven SLIAC tournament championships, and six appearances in the NCAA Division III national tournament. His programs have qualified for the most NCAA tournaments of any Greenville team. Softball is next closest with three appearances. His career winning percentage of .668 is the highest among all Greenville volleyball coaches.
He has coached five SLIAC players of the year, four SLIAC defensive players of the year, and seven SLIAC newcomers of the year. He has been the SLIAC coach of the year on five occasions, and since 2010 his teams have won 18 or more matches every season. He most impressively kept this streak alive in a shortened 2020-21 spring season when they were 18-2 and ranked in the AVCA top 25 en route to a SLIAC tournament title.
On the court on Saturday, the Panthers rolled to a 28-26, 24-14, 25-13 win against Blackburn in a match that marked Ackerman's 400th win.
Mia Bonacorsi posted an 11 kill effort, and Sacorra Patton followed with 10 kills. GU's Kaitlin Murray led the Panthers with 24 set assists.
GU's defensive effort was paced by Chasity Hill with 26 digs. Patton was second with 11 digs as she provided a double-double.
At the net Mia deJesus provided two solo blocks and two block assists, and Lainey Hicks contributed three block assists.
Against Webster, the Panthers took a 25-17, 27-25, 21-25, 25-18 triumph.
Patton was the team leader along with Madison Schmidt with 15 kills, and Murray tallied 29 set assists.
Hill led GU with 24 digs, and Patton helped with 15 digs for another double double.
Hicks had two block assists.
The Panthers (6-5, 2-0 SLIAC) will have a chance to formally celebrate Ackerman's milestone at home on Tuesday when Spalding visits for a match at 7 p.m.
