Charlotte, N.C. - The Gardner-Webb Lady Bulldogs will enter next week's 2009 Big South Volleyball Championship presented by Musco Sports Lighting at the Dedmon Center in Radford, Va. as the No. 7 seed.

The Lady Bulldogs (12-21, 4-12 in League play) finished the regular season on a note, defeating Coastal Carolina 3-1 at home on Saturday afternoon.
UNC Asheville and Liberty finished as co-champions of the 2009 regular-season with identical 13-3 Big South records, but Asheville earned the No. 1 seed with its season sweep of the Lady Flames. Liberty receives the No. 2 seed.

Asheville claims its first regular-season championship since 2002 and fifth overall, while Liberty shares the regular-season title for the third consecutive year. It also is the third-straight year that co-champions have been crowned for the regular-season. This will be the fourth time that UNC Asheville is the No. 1 seed, the previous three times coming in 1990, 1992 and 2002.

Winthrop lands the No. 3 seed following its 11-5 Conference season, with Coastal Carolina earning the No. 4 seed with its 10-6 League mark. High Point and Charleston Southern tied in the Big South standings at 6-10, and the Panthers receive the No. 5 seed with its season sweep of the Lady Buccaneers, giving CSU the sixth seed. Gardner-Webb notches the No. 7 seed (4-12 in League play) with tournament host Radford receiving the No. 8 seed with its 2-14 Big South record in 2009. Presbyterian College officially finished fifth in the regular-season with its 7-9 Conference mark, but the Blue Hose are not eligible for the postseason tournament until the 2011 season due to its transition to Division I.

The 2009 Big South Volleyball Championship presented by Musco Lighting begins Thursday, Nov. 19 with four matches and concludes with the Championship game on Saturday, Nov. 21. The Big South's Tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Volleyball Championship. All matches will be video streamed live on the Conference's online broadband channel, The Big South Network, and in-game statistics will be available on www.BigSouthSports.com and www.radfordathletics.com.


The Conference Championship schedule is as follows:

Thursday, Nov. 19 - Quarterfinals *
Match 1: No. 2 seed Liberty vs. No. 7 seed Gardner-Webb, 12:00pm ET
Match 2: No. 3 seed Winthrop vs. No. 6 seed Charleston Southern, 2:30pm ET
Match 3: No. 4 seed Coastal Carolina vs. No. 5 seed High Point, 5:00pm ET
Match 4: No. 1 seed UNC Asheville vs. No. 8 seed Radford, 7:30pm ET


** - The bracket has been adjusted to allow the host institution to play in the late match

Friday, Nov. 20 - Semifinals
Match 5: Match 1 winner vs. Match 2 winner, 4:30pm ET
Match 6: Match 3 winner vs. Match 4 winner, 7:00pm ET

Saturday, Nov. 21 - Championship
Match 7: Match 5 winner vs. Match 6 winner, 2:00pm ET