COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Fourth-seeded Texas Lutheran University made both program and conference history with its 3-1 victory over third-seeded Colorado College in the championship match of the 2022 SCAC Volleyball Tournament Saturday afternoon on the campus of Colorado College. Official Championships Website | Photo Album | Post-match Interview
The victory culminated in the first-ever SCAC volleyball title for the Bulldog program, which joined the conference prior to the 2013 season. It also marked the first time a four-seed has walked away with the championship trophy.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Texas Lutheran won the first set 25-23 after neither team led by more than two points from 7-4 on. There were 12 ties and five lead changes in the set. TLU hit .333 as a team in that opening set while holding Colorado College to .250.
- CC bounced back in the second set, taking the 25-19 victory to even the match at 1-1. After watching their lead close to 21-19, the Tigers came out of a timeout to score the next four points to earn the victory. Isabella Lipacis had five kills in the set to lead CC.
- The third set belonged to the Bulldogs, who never trailed after taking a 5-4 lead. TLU, which hit .409 in the set, closed out the third on a 10-2 run to take the 25-13 victory and 2-1 lead.
- TLU kept the momentum to open the fourth set, running out to a 6-0 lead before allowing a point and CC never got closer than four (8-4) the rest of the way. The Bulldogs hit .364 in the deciding set to clinch the conference crown.
TEXAS LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY STATISTICAL STANDOUTS
- Madison Weisinger: 11 kills, .455 attack percentage, 2 service aces, 7 block assists
- Maddy Schultz: 10 kills, 4 digs, 1 solo block, 4 block assists
- Lexi Morris: 14 digs, 3 service aces, 4 assists
- Emily Mixon: 7 kills, 3 block assists
- Tanyse Moehrig: 7 kills, 4 digs, 1 block assists
- Shavonne Respondek: 22 assists, 11 digs
COLORADO COLLEGE STATISTICAL STANDOUTS
- Carolyn Dormandy: 17 kills, .263 attack percentage, 4 digs
- Jenny Jenks: 6 kills, 43 assists, 2 service aces, 7 digs, 2 block assists
- Peyton Hummel: 7 assistss, 1 service ace, 18 digs
- Isabella Lipacis: 10 kills, 11 digs, 1 block assist
- Keeley Kandziora: 9 kills, 10 digs, 2 assists
NOTABLES
- The SCAC All-Tournament Team was announced following Sunday's championship match:
- Madison Weisinger, Sr., MB, Texas Lutheran (MVP)
- Tanyse Moehrig, Jr., OH, Texas Lutheran
- Lexi Morris, Sr., L/DS, Texas Lutheran
- Jenny Jenks, Jr., S, Colorado College
- Peyton Hummel, Sr., DS, Colorado College
- Christina Kuras, So., OH, Southwestern
- Sara Flynn, Sr., RS, Trinity - In addition to being its first SCAC championship in the sport of volleyball, it is the school's 25th SCAC championship since joining the conference prior to the 2013-14 academic year.
- Texas Lutheran had not appeared in a volleyball conference championship since 2010 as a member of the American Southwest Conference (ASC) and had not won a conference championship since the 2007 season when the Bulldogs defeated Hardin-Simmons in the ASC Championship for their second ASC title.
- Saturday's championship match was the first in the seeding era (1997-present) where neither the top seed or the second seed were not involved in the game.
- In the history of the tournament, it was just the third appearance for the fourth seed in the conference final. DePauw University (2008) and Trinity (2015) both lost as four seeds prior to TLU breaking through on Saturday.
- Texas Lutheran's victory on CC's home court marks just the third time in the history of the conference tournament (which is always hosted at a predetermined site) that the home team has been beaten in the championship match on its own floor. Trinity beat Austin College in the 2007 championship match on the 'Roos' home floor and Trinity defeated Centre College on the Colonels' home floor in the 1993 title match.
- Colorado College was in the title match for the first time since 2020 and the ninth time overall. The Tigers are now 6-3 in those championship appearances.
UP NEXT
Texas Lutheran (27-9) earns the SCAC automatic qualifier to the 2022 NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship. Colorado College falls to 20-9. With only Trinity ranked in the most recent NCAA Region X rankings heading into this week's conference tournament, it is highly likely the league will only receive its at-large bid (TLU) plus Trinity, who was ranked second in the region behind Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. The NCAA tournament selection show for Division III volleyball is scheduled for Monday, November 7 at 1 p.m. Eastern.
