(Portions of this story courtesy of Colorado College)
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Top seeded Colorado College won its third consecutive Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference volleyball championship with a 3-0 win over No. 2 seed Trinity University on Saturday evening at Reid Arena on the campus of Colorado College. Bracket | Official Website | Box Score
With its third striaght SCAC championship, Colorado College became just the second team in league history to win three consecutive conference championships. Trinity was the first to do so and last as they won titles from 2006-2008.
With the win, the Colorado College Tigers earn the SCAC's automatic bid to the 2012 NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship. Colorado College will find out its NCAA draw at 11 a.m. EDT.
All-Tournament team honors went to Colorado College's Kristen Liberty, Kate Squires Laura Goldsmith, Trinity's Kelsey Daniel, Erin Cusenbery, Southwestern University's Rachel Thibodeau and Austin College's Adrienne Reynolds. Goldsmith was named the tournament's MVP.
Championship Match - No. 1 Colorado College vs. No. 2 Trinity
Colorado College rallied from a 15-11 deficit in the opening set
on Saturday to bounce back and sweep Trinity University, 25-23,
25-20, 26-24, for its third consecutive SCAC playoff title. Box Score
Playing in front of a loud, partisan crowd at a packed
Reid Arena, top-seeded CC rode seven digs by freshman Sophie
Merrifield in the opening set to seize momentum for the rest of the
match.
Trinity took a 15-11 lead in the first set after an ace by
Meredith Erwin, but after head coach Rick Swan brought his team to
the sideline, the Tigers went on a 6-2 to run to tie the score.
"I just tried to calm them down a little bit,” Swan said.
“We told them there was a lot of emotion, a lot of
excitement, and we just need to calm down, relax and play within
ourselves. We told them to keep swinging and stay aggressive,
though, to mix it up a little. We were feeding [Trinity's] big
blockers too much in the beginning."
The Trinity Tigers took a 23-21 lead on an ace by Leslie Green,
but the hosts tied the game on a kill by senior outside hitter
Laura Goldsmith and closed out the set on a TU attack error and a
smash by sophomore outside hitter Kristen Liberty.
Colorado College built a 13-9 lead in the second set on a kill by
Goldsmith, but Trinity battled back to tie the game at 20-20.
Goldsmith put CC ahead with a kill, and freshman opposite hitter
Courtney Birkett served up a pair of aces during a 4-0 run that
finished on another kill by Liberty.
The final set saw a tough battle between the two Tigers, with the
set seeing 13 ties and seven lead changes.
Colorado College, which improved to 23-9 on the season, seized a
17-12 lead in the third set, but once again Trinity battled back to
tie the match with a 6-1 run that was sparked with a kill by Kelsey
Daniel.
TU held a slim edge in the final set with a 24-23 lead, but CC's
senior Kate Squires and Liberty, both of whom were named to the
SCAC all-Tournament team, combined for three straight points to
earn the win and the championship.
By virtue of the conference championship, the Tigers earned an
automatic bid to the NCAA tournament – marking it the 15th
year in a row they have competed at nationals.
Merrifield finished with 17 digs overall to lead CC on defense,
while Goldsmith added 16 and Emily Phillips 15 more. Goldsmith, the
SCAC Tournament MVP, led the home team offensively with 12 kills.
Liberty hammered down nine while posting a .333 attack
percentage.
Trinity's Daniel matched Liberty's 12 kills and hit .476 for
Trinity, which got 15 digs from Maryn Swierc.
After the match, SCAC Assistant Commissioner Jeff DeBaldo caught up with Colorado College head coach Rick Swan and SCAC Tournament MVP Laura Goldsmith
To listen to Rick Swan, click here.
To listen to Laura Goldsmith, click here.
Third Place Match - No. 3 Southwestern University vs. No. 4 Austin
College
Rachel Thibodeau dominated offensively with 19 kills and a .400
hitting percentage on Saturday afternoon, fueling Southwestern
University to a straight-set 25-21, 25-22, 25-19 victory over
Austin College in the third-place match of the 2012 SCAC Volleyball
Championship at Colorado College's Reid Gymnasium. Box Score
Thibodeau's performance offset 16 kills by Austin's Shelby Eaves,
who kept the Kangaroos in contention for all three games.
Lacey Strickland dished out 44 assists for the Pirates, who
improved to 24-11 overall with the triumph. Meredith Rollins (12)
and Kaitlyn Foster (10) joined teammate Thibodeau with double-digit
kills, with Foster adding 18 digs.
Austin's Adrienne Reynolds led both teams with 22 digs.
After the match, SCAC Assistant Commissioner Jeff DeBaldo spoke with Southwestern head coach Hannah Long and Austin College head coach Ed Garza
To listen to Hannah Long, click here.
To listen to Ed Garza, click here.
Fifth Place Match - No. 5 University of Dallas vs. No. 6 Centenary College
Sophomore middle blocker Emily Caples put down a match-high nine
kills and had a hand in three blocked shots to lead the University
of Dallas to a 25-10, 25-21, 25-14 victory over Centenary College
in the fifth-place match at the 2012 Southern Collegiate Athletic
Conference Volleyball Championship. Box Score
Led by sophomore setter C.J. Broadbent, who finished with 23
assists, the Crusaders posted .247 hitting percentage. Freshman
middle blocker Cat Dowgwillow hit .636 with seven kills on 11
attacks with no errors.
Senior outside hitter Theresa Wohldmann recorded 16 digs for UD,
while senior libero Emily Meyers added 16.
Freshman outside hitter Sarah Irons paced the Ladies with four
kills, while freshman outside hitter Rachel Perkins added three.
Senior libero Jesi Wilcox and Perkins had nine digs apiece.
