CEDARVILLE, Ohio - On Friday, the Great Midwest Athletic Conference opened the 2012 Volleyball Championships, hosted by the top seeded Cedarville University Yellow Jackets.
After an opening round victory by #5 Ursuline College over #6 Central State University, the semifinals began with a dramatic five-set win by #2 Trevecca Nazarene University over #3 Urbana to advance to the G-MAC Finals where the Trojans will face Cedarville, who won its semifinals match in three-straight games over Ursuline to close out day one of the tournament.
Recaping the opening round victory by Ursuline College and the two semifinal matches, here are portions of game recaps from: @CUYellowJackets - @UrsulineArrows - @UUSports - @TNUsports
Opening Round: Ursuline 3 - Central State 0
The Ursuline volleyball team defeated fifth-seeded Central State for the third time this season 3-0 in the opening match of the postseason tournament. Set scores were 25-4, 25-14 and 25-16.
While it was the third time that the Arrows got past their conference foe, Friday’s victory was clearly the most important as it advanced Donna Day’s team to the G-MAC Volleyball Championships semifinals. Junior Alex Leister led the team with 10 kills, while freshman Elise Harcek had eight kills and sophomore Brittany Kempf chipped in seven. Junior setter Ashley Reinhart put her teammates in a position to succeed with 31 assists, while sophomore libero Kelly Stenger led the defense with nine digs.
Semifinal #1: Trevecca Nazarene 3 - Urbana 2
For the second time in a week, the Urbana volleyball team fell to conference foe Trevecca Nazarene University. The second-seeded Trojans eliminated the third-seeded Blue Knights in the G-MAC semifinals in five sets, 25-19, 23-25, 18-25, 25-20, 15-8.
The Blue Knights fell in the opening set before bouncing back with a pair of wins to take a 2-1 lead. The Trojans took control late in set #4 and rode the momentum to a dominant 15-8 win in the decisive set. The Trojans took two of three meetings against the Blue Knights in 2012.
Urbana won the first meeting at home in 5 sets, before TNU rebounded to take last Friday's match in straight sets. In the back and forth contest, both teams stuffed the stat sheet.
For Urbana, Kelsey Volkmer, an All-Conference First Team selection, continued her assault on the record books with a 25-kill performance in the loss. It was her eighth match of the season with 20 or more kills. She ends her second season with a school-record 445 kills, blowing away the previous record by almost 150 kills.
Senior Amy Hickman added nine kills and a team-high 33 digs in her final collegiate match. Fellow senior Karla Vogel recorded a double-double in her final match, tallying 22 digs and 10 assists. Freshman setter and G-MAC Second Teamer Mary Hendricks registered 46 assists, 31 digs and six kills, while Kaci Eurez chipped in 31 digs in defeat.
For Trevecca Nazarene, G-MAC Player of the Year Kristen Johnson, along with teammate Loren Bennett each recorded triple-doubles, as Bennett had 10 kills, 31 assists and 23 digs. Johnson not only had a triple-double, but recorded 20 or more in each of the three categories, with 20 kills, 22 assists, and 29 digs. Shelby Sorce had a match-high 40 digs, while Jenna Robertson joined Bennett and Johnson in double-figures with 13 kills.
Semifinal #2: Cedarville 3 - Ursuline 0
Freshman of the Year Tori Thompson pounded a career-high 16 kills to lead #1 seed Cedarville to a three-set victory over Ursuline. CU eliminated Ursuline, 25-22, 25-16, 25-18. Thompson attacked at a .444 clip with just four errors in 27 attempts. Stephanie Rogers chipped in 10 kills while Hannah Wagner had seven.
Maddie Anderson dished out 24 assists. Erica Bartholomew was good for 13 to run her career total to 4,004 assists to tie Angela Hartman (1990-93) for third on the Jackets' all-time list. Kara Yutzy tallied 16 digs and three service aces.
CHAMPIONSHIP: Cedarville vs. Trevecca Nazarene - Saturday, November 17, 2012 - 1:00 PM
The Yellow Jackets, 31-6 overall, advance to Saturday's championship match to face No. 2 Trevecca Nazarene. The contest will start at 1:00 p.m. with live video coverage on Stretch Internet.
Cedarville topped TNU in Cedarville on October 6 in three games (25-23, 25-8, 25-17), but the last time the two teams met in Nashville, the match went to four games with Cedarville remaining undefeated with the 3-1 win. The scores were much closer, with the Yellow Jackets winning 25-23, 25-21, 19-25, 25-23.