NCAA Run Ends at Sweet 16

We really had to play well and win the NESCAC to even make it into the NCAA's this year.  The new NPI made that process a little more predictable, so we knew what we had to accomplish to get here...and we did it.  When the selection show (which, by the way had a picture of US on it!) put out the bracket, we were headed to Juniata as the 6th seed in that pod.  When we arrived at our hotel on Wednesday, the Smith Coach (from Huntingdon, PA, and Caitlin's sister's coach) had left us 3 dozen delicious cupcakes and even made sure they had blue and white icing for MIDD!!  It was SO NICE of him!!

We faced a tough Salisbury team in the first round.  They'd drawn the 3rd seed based on their NPI, and we knew it would be a tough match.  We came out and played tough right from the beginning and won the first set with a confident 25-24 score.  They bounced right back and took set 2 15-25 and the match was on.  We then just kept the pressure on and behind strong hitting and serving, took the final two sets 25-17 and 25-14. Our OH's had a great match overall, netting 10 and 9 kills with a .207 and a .172 hitting %.  Gabbie was running the offense and attacking at opportune times with 3 kills on 5 attempts, and Molly again led all hitters with 17 kills. We were on a roll and things were really clicking.  We hit .227 and held a 10-4 advantage with service aces, propelling us into the next round against Gettysburg.

We had played Gettysburg the previous year, losing in 5 sets on our opening weekend.  I think we were all pretty excited to get to play them again, and what better place than the NCAA's round of 32.  This time we got off to a good start taking the first two sets, but it was a very tight game all the way.  We were able to pull ahead in both sets and close them out 25-20, and 25-23 before losing another close set in the 3rd 21-25.  In the 4th set, we sort of got on a roll and just dominated the set 25-13.  We once again hit well with a .233 hitting % and Molly again led all players with 23 kills (and only 1 error!)!  Our middles were solid (Ava had 6 kills and 7 blocks vs Gettysburg) in both matches, as they have been all year, and our OH's started really stepping up, which was great to see. With Gabbie O'Toole leading our offense and AB and our Defense serving tough and keeping balls in play, we were just playing our best volleyball at the right time, putting us in a position to challenge the two-time defending National Champions for the Regional Championship and a spot in the Elite 8!

We had a nice dinner with the parents after one of these games, and since there was no Dunkin in the town for me to treat the team to after our WIN, Gabbie texted me from across the restaurant asking if we could go to Dairy Queen instead of Dunks to celebrate our win...and of course, that's exactly what we did!  There was a collective cheer when that table got my affirmative response by text!

Another fun thing that we did was eat in the dining hall at Juniata after our matches for lunch so we could watch the second game to scout both days.  It was so convenient and nice and because of the times we were going, it wasn't even that busy.  The other teams were also doing some of that as well.

Facing off against the defending National Champion was a challenge we were eager to have!  When we first saw that we were in that pod, I knew I wanted the opportunity to play them, preferably in the Sweet 16 round and not before, of course!  They went on to beat us in 3 straight sets and then went on to win their 3rd consecutive National Championship, so it was really fun that we knew what facing them was like firsthand.  

They were tough, needless to say.  They had a very fast offense and hit basically a zero-tempo ball in the middle and we just couldn't catch up to it.  Additionally, because of that, we often only had one blocker up on the pins, which put an extra strain on our defense, which was up for the challenge, but we just couldn't hang in there with them.  We forced an unusual time out to be called by them in the 1st set, which was a minor victory, but after scoring 19 points in that first set, we only mustered 16 and then 12 in the final set.  

I'm incredibly proud of this team and all that we accomplished this season.  We had some great moments (winning 10 matches in a row, winning a NESCAC Championship and making the Sweet 16 in the NCAA's), and some struggles (losing to St. Mikes for the first time in 20 years and then dropping two matches to our final two NESCAC teams who were already out of the Conference Tournament at 1-7.)  But what resilience and grit.  We lost 5 of our last 6 regular season matches and then went down 0-2 in our NESCAC Quarterfinal match against Bowdoin at home before bouncing back to tie for our best overall season in Program History by advancing to the Sweet 16 for only the 2nd time ever!!  We had great leadership from our seniors, and we had a very balanced TEAM with great cohesion and culture, allowing us to persevere and accomplish those goals.

We will have a separate post for all of the post season honors to come, but what a TEAM success story this year!!  SO FUN!!  Well done, MCVB!! 

NESCAC Champs 2024!!

 

What a weekend!!  We knew it was a win or go home for good scenario thanks to our regular season finish, but this team would NOT be denied!!  We swept a tough Wesleyan team for the first time this season and had to come back from quite a deficit in set 2 to do so, but that started a roll that kept going all weekend.  

Caitlin gave us some inspiration before heading to Maine for the weekend.  At our final practice before leaving for the weekend, Caitlin gave the team some motivation and visualization!  She looked up at the Banner already hanging in the gym with our other 5 years of NESCAC Championships and asked the team to look with her...then she said I want you to visualize a 2024 up there!  (Or something like that--it was awesome and obviously set the tone for our mission for the weekend!)

The Colby match was one for the ages.  Colby had a huge crowd and was a fantastic atmosphere for a championship.  The hockey team seemed to be in the front row at center court and the house was rocking, and even though most people weren't cheering for us, it was a wonderful atmosphere to play in!!

We had watched Colby just crush Williams in the opening set the night before, and unfortunately, they seemed to do somewhat the same thing to us, taking the first set 14-25.  We turned the tables in the 2nd and took an 18-7 lead and we cruised into a tie match taking set 2 by a score of 25-16.  The 3rd set was a battle back and forth and we finished strongly to take the final three points and secure a 25-22 win in set 3.  They rebounded and pushed a tight score in the 4th out with a 7-1 spurt in the middle of the set that we couldn't respond to and they forced a 5th set with a 16-25 win in set 4, setting the stage for a 5th set, winner take all short game played only to 15!

The 5th set was back and forth the whole way with neither team having more than a 2 point advantage until a Colby kill put them up 9-12.  We never blinked and after trading a couple of points, Molly got a kill and their setter stepped over the center line to tie up the game at 14-14.  Our defense came up huge in the end of this game as many of the points were long rallies and we seemed to be the team a little more on the offensive, but their defense was also coming up with huge digs.  After an attacking error by them put us up 15-14, the final rally seemed to go on forever.  I seriously think I jumped off the bench at least twice thinking we'd put the final kill down only to have a Colby player barely get under it and keep it alive before Molly went up for a final HIT.  The ball actually came down on our side but the whistle had blown and their blocker was in the net.  Honestly, I think she was exhausted from trying to block Molly several times in the final points and after such a long rally, that final KILL was the topper, propelling us to a NESCAC CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!

VICTORY!!  How sweet it is!!   AND, that meant that we could play another weekend in the NCAA's!!