FREDERICK, Md.--The Hood College volleyball team is set to host the 2006 Atlantic Women's Colleges Conference tournament Saturday at Gambrill Gymnasium.

The tournament will consist of four matches--two semifinal contests, a consolation match and a championship match. The first semifinal will pit the top-seeded Mary Baldwin College Fighting Squirrels (15-17, 8-0 AWCC) against the No. 4-seed Chatham College Cougars (5-17, 3-5 AWCC) at 10 a.m., while the third-seeded Blazers (5-14, 3-5 AWCC) will take on the second-seeded and two-time defending champion College of Notre Dame (Md.) Gators (12-20, 6-2 AWCC) at 12:30 p.m. The losers of the semifinal round matches will play at 3 p.m. while the title match is slated for 5:30 p.m.

Hood will be seeking its first AWCC championship in program history this weekend. The Blazers will also look to put an end to a seven-match losing streak to the Gators. Hood's last victory over CND was Oct. 9, 2004 when it upended the Gators in four sets (30-28, 7-30, 30-14, 30-27) at Gambrill Gym. This past season, Dame defeated Hood three times, twice in three sets and the third time, in a match played in Frederick, the contest between the Blazers and Gators went to four games.

Offensively, the Blazers are led by the junior tandem of Lindsey Nagy and Ashley Bryan. Nagy is ranked among the league leaders in several categories, including hitting percentage (.233), kills (149) and service aces (41). Bryan has racked up 110 kills on the season, second-best on the squad. Hood's primary setter is junior Caroline Woodhams who has tallied 300 assists this season. She is also second on the team in aces with 34 and has contributed 62 kills.

Defensively, the Blazers turn to junior libero Jamie Bussey who lists third on the conference's dig chart with 249. Bussey has reached double figures in digs 13 times, and has eclipsed 20 digs in a match on four occasions.

The Gators lead the AWCC in team hitting percentage (.149), assists (8.98) and digs (18.34). Notre Dame also boasts the two top kill producers in the league in junior Lara Tomaszewski (3.37 kpg) and freshman Kimberly Myers (3.29 kpg), while junior Emmy Williams leads all AWCC setters with 8.67 assists per game.

In last year's semifinal round, the third-seeded Blazers fell to No. 2 Mary Baldwin, 3-1, while No. 1 Notre Dame swept No. 4 Chestnut Hill College, 3-0. Dame went on to win the tournament championship over Baldwin, 3-0.

This is the final season that the Blazers will be competing as members of the AWCC. Starting next fall, the volleyball team will join the Capital Athletic Conference.