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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Riding an eight-match winning streak, their longest since 2014, the Davenport University women's volleyball team will take a break from GLIAC play for the 14th annual Midwest Region Crossover at the Hammond Sportsplex in Hammond, Ind. Friday, the Panthers will face the likes of Missouri S&T at 10 AM and Findlay at 3 PM (both eastern time). Saturday's opponent is to be determined and will be based on the results of Friday's slate.

Each conference member institution was seeded using a 40-percent weight on conference standings rank and 60-percent weight on each team's Massey Ratings – a performance-based rating analytic of methodology. Davenport is seeded No. 2 in the GLIAC, Missouri S&T is No. 5 in the GLVC and Findlay is No. 3 in the G-MAC.

The Great Midwest and the GLVC have 13 competing institutions while the GLIAC carries 10 into this year's event. The first session starts at 9 AM CT on Friday morning followed by sessions at 11:30 AM, 2 PM, 4:30 PM, and 7 PM. Each team is guaranteed three matches against opponents from other conferences. Saturday's tournament action gets underway at 9 AM CT with additional sessions slated for 11 AM, 2 PM, and 4:30 PM to wrap things up.

The Panthers are 7-5 all time at the yearly event and have won seven-straight matches there. Davenport will be seeing Missouri S&T for the first time in program history while Findlay won its only meeting with the Panthers, 3-1, on Oct. 12, 2018 as part of this same event. The Miners come in with an overall record of 10-6 (dropped two of their last three matches) while the Oilers are 13-8 and were victorious for 10 matches in a row at one point.

Statistically, starting with the Miners, their offense is paced by Madelyn Mason (177 kills), Hannah Merjil (343 assists) and Lexi Netherlain (18 service aces). Mason is one of S&T's four attackers with triple-digit kills along with Jordan Burton (163), Abigail Widiker (144) and Shelby Ply (139) while Ply is doing so with a .373 hitting percentage. Setter wise, Annie Arand also sees time with 201 of her own assists. Defensively, the team is led by Netherlain (212 digs), Widiker (152 digs), Meiko Pearson (115 digs), Madison Offerman (62 blocks), Ply (56 blocks), and Mason (50 blocks).

Switching over to the Oilers, the catalyst of their attack is a five-time G-MAC Athlete of the Week this season (eight in her career), Journey Blevins. Along with Hayley Kreiger for Davenport, Blevins is one of nine players in the country with at least 300 total kills right now at 320, which is tied for fifth, while Kreiger leads the nation with 343. Kreiger is second in Division II for kills per set with 4.7 while Blevins is five spots behind her in seventh with 4.51. The Oilers' attack also features Emma White (805 assists and 24 aces). Defensively for UF, Ava Doster has racked up 317 digs and Emma Meyer has accounted for 74 blocks.