Marlins, Yellow Jackets Both Looking for Third Straight Titles

SALEM, Va. --- The seeds are set for the 2007 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) postseason tournament.  Virginia Wesleyan College, last season's NCAA Division III national champion, and Randolph-Macon College will enter the Men's and Women's ODAC Basketball Championships as the #1 seeds, respectively.  The Marlins (22-3, 17-1) go in search of their third straight ODAC men's crown while the Yellow Jackets (21-4, 18-2) are looking to make it three straight tourney titles through the women's bracket.

On the men's side, Guilford College (21-3, 15-3) holds the second seed on the opposite side of the bracket from VWC.  Roanoke College (15-10, 11-7), which has won 13 of its last 16 games, secured the three seed with a win over Eastern Mennonite University on Saturday night.  Emory & Henry College (14-10, 10-8) and Hampden-Sydney College (15-10, 10-8) finished their campaigns with identical conference records, but E&H will go into the tournament as the four seed and HSC in fifth by virtue of conference tiebreakers.  Randolph-Macon College (14-11, 9-9) occupies the sixth position.

Bridgewater College (9-16, 6-12) and Washington & Lee University (11-13, 6-12) squared off for the seven seed in Lexington on Saturday night.  Bridgewater won in the final seconds to move into a tie of records.  The Eagles earned the seventh seed by league tiebreakers with W&L going into the tournament as the eighth seed.

For the women's tournament, Virginia Wesleyan College (19-6, 16-4) enters the tournament as the second seed as the Marlins look for the program's first conference championship.  Eastern Mennonite University (17-7, 15-5), picked to finish seventh at the start of the year, ends its 2007 regular season third in the league standings to command the three spot.  Bridgewater College (14-6, 17-8) goes into the eight-team competition as the four seed.

Roanoke College (15-10, 13-7) and Washington & Lee University (15-10, 11-9), on the strength of a program record-breaking season in terms of victories, hold the fifth and sixth seeds, respectively.  Guilford College (10-15, 9-11) and Lynchburg College (7-18, 7-13) own the seventh and eighth seeds.

Listed below are the first round match ups set for Thursday and Friday, February 22 and 23, at the Salem Civic Center.  For a look at the tournament brackets, visit the ODAC basketball tournament webpage at www.odaconline.com/odacbballtourney/index.htm

Men's Basketball Tournament - First Round - Thursday, February 22
#8 Washington and Lee vs. #1 Virginia Wesleyan - 1pm
#5 Hampden-Sydney vs. #4 Emory & Henry - 3pm
#7 Bridgewater vs. #2 Guilford - 6pm
#6 Randolph-Macon vs. #3 Roanoke - 8pm

Women's Basketball Tournament - First Round - Friday, February 23
#8 Lynchburg vs. #1 Randolph-Macon - 1pm
#5 Roanoke vs. #4 Bridgewater - 3pm
#7 Guilford vs. #2 Virginia Wesleyan - 6pm
#6 Washington and Lee vs. #3 Eastern Mennonite - 8pm