On Saturday, the Virginia Intermont women beat Montreat at home in the Cobra Den.
Tonight, the Cobras will have to do it again.
After its most successful regular season since 2004-05, No. 4 VI begins postseason play at 7 p.m. today in the quarterfinals of the Appalachian Athletic Conference by hosting a rematch from its regular-season finale against No. 5 Montreat.
Coming off six straight losing seasons, VI (19-11, 12-6) flirted with a run at the regular-season AAC title before losing three of four prior to its 83-64 victory over the Cavaliers (20-9, 11-7) on Saturday.
Still, the Cobras will enter the AAC quarterfinals as a top-4 seed for the first time since 2005 and will host a postseason game in the Cobra Den for the first time ever after the conference recently moved to the higher-seed-hosts format for the league tournament.
Cobras coach Jaclyn Dickens said nabbing home-court advantage with Saturday’s victory was crucial.
“We knew we needed it,” she said.
VI went 7-1 at the Cobra Den against AAC opponents this season, compared to a 5-4 mark on the road in the league.
One of those road victories was against Montreat, an 86-73 triumph on Jan. 21, as the Cobras swept the Cavaliers after entering this season on a five-game losing skid to the North Carolina school.
Dickens said she has mixed feelings about facing a team VI has already beaten twice, especially after just facing Montreat over the weekend.
“It makes me a little nervous just because it’s hard to beat a team three times, especially a good team,” she said.
“I feel good because of how we’ve played so well [against Montreat] and hope it’s a sign we’ll keep playing that way. … I’m excited and a little nervous about it at the same time.”
Despite VI’s bundle of accomplishments already this season, a lot remains on the line tonight.
If VI can manage to topple the Cavaliers for a third time, the Cobras will secure a spot in the AAC semifinals for the first time since 2005, earn their 20th overall victory and pick up their first postseason win of any kind in three years.
“I just think it sounds better to have 20 wins instead of just 19, getting to the semifinals,” Dickens said. “It’s big to get to the semifinals.”
If the Cobras do advance, they’ll almost certainly have to travel to No. 1 Tennessee Wesleyan on Friday. The Bulldogs demolished VI in both of their meetings this year and have won seven straight against the Cobras.
While certainly not looking past Montreat, Dickens said her team would relish another shot at its nemesis.
“I think after the second loss it made them mad that we just can’t get past them,” she said. “I think they’d be excited to play them again.”
Excited best sums up VI’s overall state heading into the conference tournament. Instead of trying to salvage another lost season with a tourney run, this year the Cobras are just looking to add on a few more accolades to their success.
“Hopefully we can just keep it up,” Dickens said.
nhubbard@bristolnews.com | Twitter: @Hubbard_BHCSprt | (276) 645-2543
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