Royal Purple

Issue date: 11/14/07 Section: Sports

The Warhawk volleyball team successfully reached the National Collegiate Athletic Association championship match, but were unable to bring the title home after falling to the University of Washington (Mo.), 3-2, Saturday.

The Bears came out strong, winning game one 30-25, but the 'Hawks bounced back with some incredible blocking to win game two 30-23.

The Warhawks kept the momentum going in game three, as they took a 14-10 lead. However, several miscues set the foundation of a 20-8 run by the Bears to win the game. The errors were in favor of the 'Hawks in its 30-28 win in game four, as the Bears had two critical mishaps at the end.

With the game knotted up at 2-2, the 'Hawks went into a decisive game five. The team was only four points away from a championship win with the game score at 11-10, but the Bears rallied back with four consecutive points. The Warhawks would get as close as 13-14 until a late kill by the Bears closed the match.

"We have been playing very good volleyball throughout this entire tournament," Head Coach Stacey Boudreau said. "There's just some things that we probably didn't do as well as we could have. Teams can play well…but its very hard to maintain that level. I think that the girls did everything that they could."

The performance by the Warhawks' seniors demonstrated how bad they wanted to win the title. Kate Lazotte passed for 57 assists, while Rebekah Nelson, Carley Polk, Abby Schultz and Sarah Theis combined for 46 kills. Sophomore Kelly Sorenson led the team with 16 kills.

"We just had to play with everything we had and that's what we did," Polk said.

Despite the loss, Boudreau is not upset about her team's performance and their second place finish in the tournament.

"We are definitely proud of what this team has achieved this year," Boudreau said.

The Warhawks finished its season with a record of 36-5.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools