The volleyball team competed in the NAIA 40th Annual Women’s Volleyball National Championship in early December, making it to the first round and the top 16 teams.
The championship was hosted from Dec. 3-7 at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa, and concluded the NAIA 2019 Season. Kristen Coventon, head coach for OCU Women’s Volleyball Team, arrived at the championship with the team.
The championship began with three days of “pool play,” in which pools of four teams play against each other, with the top two teams continuing to the first round of the bracket. OCU played in Pool A, along with teams Providence, Morningside and Park.
“We won our first match against Providence, then dropped our second to Morningside,” Coventon said. “Our third game against Park, the No. 1 school, we lost three.”
At the end of the third day of scheduled pool play, Pool A had a three-way tie for second place in the grouping, meaning another set of matches needed to be played to determine which of the teams would advance to the first round. Among these teams was OCU.
At the end of the matches, OCU secured the second spot in their pool and advanced to the first round.
“We came back and had challenge rounds, early at 12 o’clock, and then we kept winning them; we got to go forward and play the first round,” said Catelyn Vargas, middle hitter.
Coventon said the ability of the team to come out with two victories so late in the day was one of the highlights of the tournament.
“The girls found a way that early to come out on top. It was a lot of fun to see that,” Coventon said.
Coventon also said she believes part of their struggle the next day came from a lack of rest from the matches the night before. With their next game against Northwestern scheduled at 1:30 p.m. the next day, Coventon said the team had little time to sleep and prepare for the first round. After the first match, the team was defeated and did not advance to the quarterfinal round.
Despite the defeat, the team had success throughout the season. The team went undefeated, 20-0, at the conference tournament during the fall, and their season record prior to the championship was 34-1.
Sophia Salak, sophomore setter, collected a second-team NAIA all-American accolade at the end of the season, while Marijana Bjelobrk received an honorable-mention. Salak was also named NAIA South Central Region player of the year, Isabel Harwell, defensive specialist/libero sophomore, was named defender of the year, and Coventon was named coach of the year by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.
Coventon said she already has plans for the off-season, and Vargas said she and the rest of the team plan to work to improve for the 2020 season.
“We are definitely going to work hard during off-season and come out stronger than ever to hopefully be able to win the National Championship next year,” Vargas said.
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