The battle for the 2021 Southern Athletic Conference Volleyball Championship begins  Friday when Berry College plays host to seven other SAA members seeking to end the three-day tournament with the title.
 
            For Berry's Vikings, who claimed the regular-season SAA crown to earn the right to host the championship, it's the start of the proverbial "new season" in a year that has had more ups and downs than a roller coaster.
 
            "Every team faces hardships throughout the season- injuries, trials, uncertainties—those things are unavoidable," Berry head coach Caitlyn Moriarty said about the year the Vikings have had, one that included a delayed 2020 campaign that was held last spring and saw Berry have to shut down play due to Covid issues for two weeks and the immediately return to action for the SAA tournament that eventually saw the team fall short in winning the crown.
 
            "But great teams don't let the adversity define the season—they find a way to push through, step up, fill holes, and find joy in the valley," the coach said. "We've had our fair share of hardships over the last two seasons, as individuals and as a team, and have really embraced the grunt work of navigating through those times as one unit, unified and determined to stay the course and believe in what's to come."
 
            Despite the disappointment the team had back in April, the Vikings enter this weekend's play with a 22-2 record, as the tournament's top seed, the No. 1-ranked team in the region and ranked No. 12 in the national AVCA Division III poll.
 
            In addition, Berry has won its last seven games, including a three-game sweep at the Emory National Invite last weekend that ended with an impressive 3-0 win over a nationally-ranked Emory team that had defeated the Vikings in the two previous meetings between the programs this season.
 
            When the 2021 SAA Championship starts Friday, there's no question that Berry will be the team in the sights of those programs seeking to leave the Cage with the championship trophy after the title match on Sunday. But first, every team will have a challenge beginning with the opening quarterfinal round.
 
            On Friday, play begins when No. 2 seed Birmingham-Southern squares off against No. 7 Millsaps at noon, No. 3 Hendrix and No. 6 Oglethorpe collide at 2 p.m., and No. 4 Centre and No. 5 Sewanee meet at 7 p.m.

            At 5 p.m., the Vikings will take the court matching up against No. 8 Rhodes, a team Berry defeated both times by identical 3-0 decisions during the regular season.

            Action continues of Saturday with the semifinals set for 4 p.m. between the winner of the BSC/Millsaps and Hendrix/Oglethorpe contests, and 6 p.m.  between the winner Friday's Berry/Rhodes and Centre/Sewanee games.

            The Championship title game is Sunday at 1 p.m.

            "I'm so proud of the team for never giving up, putting in the work every day and finding joy in the valley," Moriarty said of the Vikings. "We're ready to defend our home court and play in front of a community that has supported us so well."

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