BRADLEY 3, BOWLING GREEN 2 (26-24, 21-25, 23-25, 25-21, 15-13)
Ames, IA – After dropping the third and fourth sets to Bowling Green, Bradley battled back, winning two straight to take down the Falcons, 3-2, advancing to Round 2 of the 2018 NIVC. The Braves (24-8) will await the winner of Iowa State and Drake. Bowling Green (19-12) were led by Isabel Kovacic, who finished with a team-high 14 kills. Madeline Brandewie also finished in double figures with 10 kills. Defensively, BGSU received strong efforts from Kallie Seimet and Paulina Iacobelli, totaling 33 and 20 digs, respectively. Erica Haslag outpaced everyone with 29 kills, while Hannah Thompson recorded the game’s only double-double (13 kills and 22 digs) for the Braves. No one could beat Yavianliz Rosado on Thursday night. The defensive specialist tallied 41 digs. Bradley recorded 30 errors on the evening but used nine aces to overcome the mistakes. WICHITA STATE 3, CENTRAL ARKANSAS 2 (20-25, 25-18, 25-13, 23-25, 15-11)
Denton, TX – Tabitha Brown and Megan Taflinger each had 22 kills for Wichita State, which hit .300 overall to go with eight blocks in a nail-biter versus Central Arkansas. Kora Kauling had 50 assists for the Shockers (14-17); Giorgia Civita added 19 digs. For the Sugar Bears (26-7), Samantha Anderson had 18 kills, and Haley Tippett added 12 kills. PORTLAND 3, NORTHERN COLORADO 0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-18)
Laramie, WY – Portland hit a stellar .323 and had only 10 hitting errors, rolling past Northern Colorado as Katie Barker had 13 kills in the first round of the NIVC. The Pilots (19-12) also got 10 kills from Reghan Pukis, and Cali Thompson came through with 34 assists. Northern Colorado (15-14) was paced by Kortney Lockey’s nine kills and 23 assists from Daisy Schultz. VALPARAISO 3, BALL STATE 1 (25-9, 13-25, 25-23, 25-18)
Oxford, OH – Allison Ketcham and Katherine Carlson each had 10 kills and 14 digs for Valparaiso, which committed just 14 hitting errors on the way to a first-round victory on the NIVC over Ball State. The match featured two one-sided sets to start; Valparaiso won the first close set of the match, taking the third set on a kill from Ally Cummings. The Crusaders (26-10) had 36 assists from Brittany Anderson. Ball State (22-10) got 12 kills from Sydnee Vanbeek and 11 kills from Ellie Dunn. Amber Seaman had 36 assists. COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 3, ST. JOHN’S 1 (19-25, 25-20, 26-24, 25-18)
Atlanta, GA – Lauren Freed filled the boxscore with 18 kills and 16 digs, and Devon Rachel had 18 kills as College of Charleston topped St. John’s in Round 1 on the NIVC. Rachele Rastelli had five kills with no errors in the first set for St. John’s, but the Cougars rallied in the next set as Mandy Napierala had two late kills to help even the match. College of Charleston (22-11) pulled off a tight win in the third set, as a kill from Lauren Freed and an error by the Red Storm was the final difference. Set four was close at one point, with CofC up 19-16, but the Cougars pulled away in the final stretch. Kennedy Madison had 15 kills, and Allison Beckman had 55 assists. For St. John’s (23-12), Rastelli had 17 kills, and Efrosini Alexakou added 16 kills and 13 digs. RADFORD 3, APPALACHIAN STATE 1 (23-25, 25-17, 25-20, 25-19)
Clemson, SC – Radford stumbled early but came back strong to post a win in Round 1 of the NIVC, moving past Appalachian State and earning a spot opposite Clemson on Friday (7 p.m. ET). Becky Porter had 14 assists in the first set as the Mountaineers held on after nearly blowing a nine-point lead (21-12). Radford rode the momentum from that rally and used a 7-0 run in the second set to build a lead, and Haley Kleespies finished the game off for the Highlanders with two aces. Radford (22-6) moved ahead 2-1 after the third set; at that point Mallory McNight and Amaya Rousseau had combined for 19 kills and no errors. In the fourth set, the Highlanders built a small lead, 20-18, then sprinted to the finish with a match-capping kill by McNight. She closed with 16 kills and just one error. Stephanie Neast had 12 kills, and Kleespies finished with 46 assists. Kara Spicer had 16 kills for the Mountaineers (22-9); Emma Longley added 13 kills and Porter closed with 44 assists. While a roller coaster is a perfect destination if you’re headed out with a group of friends, it’s not an ideal location for a volleyball program to reside.
Hanging on as best she could, but always confident of the direction, has been South Florida coach Courtney Draper, whose team bounced back from an arduous 2017 campaign to win 20 matches this year and claim a berth in the 2018 National Invitational Volleyball Championship, the first postseason appearance for the Bulls since 2002. In her seventh year at USF, Draper has kept her faith and focus even as the program went 17-15 in 2013, 11-21 in 2015, up to 19-13 in 2016, then back down to 12-18 last season. The roster experienced some churn to the tune of five freshmen and five transfers when Draper determined the mix was wrong, and all those pieces fell together nicely in 2018. There was one stretch of three straight American Athletics Conference losses, and four of five, but USF settled in and figured out how to handle the pressure, going 7-3 in five-set matches. “We graduated five seniors after 2015; we were rebuilding last year and spent time working through personality challenges, so we made some roster changes,” said Draper, who will watch her Bulls (20-11) take on host Georgia Tech (17-14) in today’s opening round of the NIVC, with the winner facing College of Charleston or St. John’s. “Obviously, it paid off this season. We have a lot of young contributors this year; the 2018 class was one of the first nationally recognized recruiting classes we’ve had since I’ve been here. “The worst of it was three losses in a row, all of them close matches and competitive. It’s interesting because we’ve been a little more successful on the road than at home. We had some matches not go our way, and with us starting three freshmen you’re going to have some ups and downs and inconsistencies.” Those three freshmen are libero CC Clausen, setter Lauren Labeck (who was hurt most of the summer but got up to speed in impressive fashion) and Lindsey Pliapol (208 kills). The team is also blessed with a range of talents in junior Jac’cara Walker (375 kills), senior Clara Payne (280 kills) and sophomore Jaeden Brown (264 kills, 141 total blocks). “I think we are a fairly low-error team; in rally scoring you can’t afford to be giving up a lot of points, you make them earn them,” Draper said. “We’re top-3 in hitting percentage in our league, and our blocking has improved greatly – we’ve spent a lot of time working on that. Those are the biggest improvements since last year.” Walker missed a bit of the season with a concussion, but she earned all-AAC first-team honors, and Payne made the second team. It was the first time since 2013 that the Bulls put two players in the postseason honors circle. Walker is in her first year at USF after two seasons with Marshall; once word got out that she wanted to return to her native Florida, Draper had a pitch ready to go. “She was voted captain here in her first year, which speaks to how she’s looked at on and off the court,” Draper said. “She was the 2015 Florida Gatorade player of the year, so I wasn’t surprised at all by the year she had. I wanted her out of high school, but the recruiting timeline didn’t work out. Then I heard she was available and looking and wanted to get back to Florida. She came to us last spring, and that semester gave her the opportunity to get comfortable in the system and with the girls in our program. In the fall, it all became pretty seamless.” The Georgia Tech matchup has an intriguing backstory, as the Yellow Jackets are coached by Michelle Collier, arguably the best player ever to suit up for USF and the key member of the team when the Bulls were last in the postseason. Draper, who played at Florida State in the same era, faced off against Collier many times. Draper has her own cool backstory, as she was a walk-on for the Seminoles who eventually earned a scholarship. When she took her first head coaching job at Jacksonville, she was at age 25 the youngest D-I coach in the country. “The biggest thing is I treat all our players the same. I don’t want people outside our program to be able to tell who is and who is not a scholarship player,” she added. “Every player should be treated with respect and have the opportunity to earn playing time, and we coach them the same. This team is really good at being a team; everyone is accepting of their role and pushes hard at practice. “There’s an appreciation for the kids who aren’t on scholarship – they are here because they really love it and want to be part of the program. I like our mentality right now." One of the toughest tasks as an athlete or a coach is talking yourself into believing that what you see, really isn’t how it looks.
For the Bradley volleyball program, a drumroll of 20-loss seasons couldn’t help but give off the impression that the sport was rootless, unable to thrive or grow because of the unpleasant environment. A handful of players who refused to stay in the darkness, and a very well-timed coaching change, has given the Braves a fresh, full reset, and the latest piece of evidence is a berth in the 2018 National Invitational Volleyball Championship. The turnaround under third-year coach Carol Price-Torok is downright shocking – Bradley was last in the Missouri Valley Conference last year, as Price-Torok continued the hard work of changing attitudes and attracting new talent. This year, the Braves went 23-8 overall and had their highest seed in the MVC tournament since 2001, and while a loss to Drake ended that vibe, the NIVC bid gave Bradley volleyball its first-ever postseason opportunity. The Braves take on Bowling Green (19-11) on Thursday, with the winner facing either host Iowa State or Drake on Friday. “I’m really excited for the seniors; this is about the footprint they are leaving on the program and the legacy for the teams to come. We talked in the preseason that this season could be special; we felt we could make a run, and we ran into a team (Drake) that was equal to us,” said Price-Torok, this year’s MVC coach of the year. “We knew it would be a battle … you can’t ask for anything more if it’s 17-15, fifth set. It’s exciting our body of work before the conference tournament got us this opportunity to make the postseason for the first time in Bradley volleyball history. When you’re the first to do it, when you get to put a banner up in the gym, that’s the benchmark for the program and creating an expectation to be in the postseason.” One benefit that can’t measured quite yet is how Price-Torok and her assistants will be viewed by future recruits, now that Bradley has proven it can sustain month-after-month excellence on the court. Back during a four-year stretch where the team was 25-94 overall, it was a tough case to make, although the first step forward came in 2015 with the start of Erica Haslag’s career. In 2017, she was the first from Bradley to earn the MVC player of the year award since 2005. “If you asked any of the players or the staff, it was really frustrating. There are a lot of competitive people here who are used to being successful, whether it’s at volleyball or the classroom or just in life, and trying to convert that over to our court, there were a lot of growing pains,” Price-Torok said. “We had to go back to marketing the program, letting people know who we are and what we’re about. Coming in, we didn’t feel like there was a great sense around Illinois or our recruiting footprint of who Bradley was and what we wanted to do. It was hard to be patient, to get the pieces around Erica and the people who were here when we got here.” Haslag has 501 kills on the year and joins fellow senior Yavianliz Rosado (libero) and junior setter Hannah Angeli as the key forces of stability on the roster. The mental drag of all the losing her first year had her thinking about transferring, but the mood lifted just in time. “It was a wake-up call for me and the other freshmen as well; having to push through that made me a completely different player and person off the court. When we heard we had a new coach, we knew she’d do big things for the programs, and that’s why we stuck through it,” said Haslag, who came to Bradley after winning a high school championship in Missouri, joining club teammate Allison Turner with the expectation then could revitalize the program. “When we were freshmen, we didn’t think the culture was volleyball-driven; it was a bottom sport, there was no push, and that’s how it was always going to be. The changes made us hopeful. “I’m really happy that I stayed. I knew I wasn’t coming into a great program, but I thought me and my best friend … we said this will be great, we have each other and we’ll push this team to a new level. We had a lot of confidence, but two people won’t turn around a program, and it’s a lot harder than you think.” The first signs of promise for 2018 came when the team traveled to Puerto Rico in the summer, as two freshmen made the trip and accelerated their fit into the roster. By the time the MVC schedule started, the momentum was chugging forward, and the Braves won their first four league matches – even better, after dropping a couple, they turned around and won five of the next six, stemming any fears of a relapse to the past. Although six seniors are leaving, the roster does have Angeli back next year, as well as Hannah Thompson, a thumper with 361 kills who was named the MVC’s freshman of the year. “The biggest thing for us is getting the other team out of system. When we are serving well, when we are flowing there, we feel we’ll be successful,” Price-Torok added. “When we get our middles involved, the faster we do that the more points we’ll score by the pins. We are reliant on our pins, but if the middles score, we can create some holes and opportunities for the pins.” Sure, it’s a tough assignment heading to Iowa State – the Cyclones have dropped one set in their past four matches, but for the Braves to even get a look at Round 2, they have to handle Bowling Green and two-time MAC player of the year, libero Kallie Seimet. But 2018 will always symbolize success for Haslag and the Braves, who changed everything with one magical season. “It’s crazy, the stuff we’ve come back from, being 10th in the conference last year … to the things we did this season is remarkable. It shows if you keep working hard, things will go your way,” Haslag said. “That’s how we seniors feel; we deserve this because we’ve been working so hard, and things have finally gone our way. Maybe we’ll end the season with a win – you never know. We can leave a footprint, something better than what was here before. It’s an expectation for the future, and we’ll way down the road look back and know we started it." The 2018 National Invitational Volleyball Championship features six teams that played in the event last year and 16 squads that won 20 or more matches this season. On top of that, last year’s NIVC had seven teams that made this year’s NCAA field – Green Bay, Illinois State, Rice, Stephen F. Austin, Syracuse, Texas State and UCF, with the latter program running off to a 27-3 record and the No. 13 seed in the tournament.
The 2017 NIVC saw Syracuse and Green Bay display their potential by making it through to the quarterfinals, but that’s where it ended for them. TCU and Texas Tech were in one semifinal, with Ole Miss and West Virginia in the other – Ole Miss took down Texas Tech in the final, 3-0, as Caroline Adams set an Ole Miss record for digs in a single season. Here’s a look a some of the mid-major teams working toward a strong postseason run in the 2018 NIVC: Bowling Green – The Falcons lost in the first round of the MAC tournament, but they won four straight road matches to end the regular season. The heart and core of the roster is senior libero Kallie Seimet, named the MAC player of the year for the past two seasons, while freshman Katelyn Meyer (with a team-high 259 kills) made the all-MAC first team. Seven players have 99 or more kills for Bowling Green. Head coach Danijela Tomic has guided the program to two straight MAC regular season titles; the Falcons were the No. 1 seed in the MAC tournament for the first time since 1992. California Baptist – The Lancers just finished their first year as a Division-I program, winning 19 matches overall and going 9-7 in the WAC. They can’t play in their conference tournament or the NCAA tournament for two seasons; it’s a program that won NAIA championships in 2004 and 2005. Four players have at least 280 kills, with sophomore Tesa Oaks leading the way at 385 kills. California Baptist has one of the more demanding road assignments, as they are heading to Tulane. Central Arkansas – With 26 wins this year and 27 in 2017, the Sugar Bears are assembling some impressive momentum under fourth-year coach Jeni Jones Chatman. Samantha Anderson has 404 kills and is hitting .339, and Haley Tippett has 370 kills. They are part of a five-player senior class that has changed the dynamic in the program. The team has also adapted to an offense run by setters Elizabeth Armstrong (a junior) and sophomore Bailey Waddington; Armstrong was sidelined by an injury but is now back, and Chatman uses both setters in various ways depending on the matchup. College of Charleston – The Cougars have that rare combo of two players with more than 400 kills in Devon Rachel (443) and Kennedy Madison (403). Both made the all-CAA first team, and Rachel was named player of the year. Allison Beckman runs the show with 11.63 assists per set. Head coach Jason Kepner helped the Cougars establish a bit of College of Charleston and Colonial Athletic Association history in 2017, guiding CofC to a 27-6 overall record, a CAA regular season championship, and the first-ever at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament in both school and conference history. Here’s the Round 1 schedule: Thursday, November 29 at Iowa State Bradley (23-8) vs. Bowling Green (19-11), 5 p.m. ET Iowa State (16-13) vs. Drake (21-14), 7:30 ET at North Texas Wichita State (13-17) vs. Central Arkansas (26-6), 5:30 p.m. ET North Texas (17-16) vs. Tulsa (19-11), 8 p.m. ET at UNLV Fresno State (20-10) vs. UC Santa Barbara, (17-11), 7:30 p.m. ET UNLV (19-11) vs. UC Irvine (16-12), 10 p.m. ET at Wyoming Portland (18-12) vs. Northern Colorado (15-13), 6 p.m. ET Wyoming (20-10) vs. Utah Valley (19-13), 8:30 p.m. ET at Tulane Little Rock (19-12) vs. California Baptist (19-10), 6 p.m. ET Tulane (25-8) vs. Arkansas State (19-13), 8:30 p.m. ET at Miami-Ohio Valparaiso (25-10) vs. Ball State (22-9), 5:30 p.m. ET Miami-Ohio (22-8) vs. Northern Kentucky (21-9), 8 p.m. ET at Georgia Tech College of Charleston (21-11) vs. St. John’s (23-11), 4 p.m. ET Georgia Tech (17-14) vs. USF (20-11), 7 p.m. ET at Clemson Appalachian State (22-8) vs. Radford (21-6), 4 p.m. ET Clemson (17-14) vs. Alabama A&M (22-15), 7 p.m. ET FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- The field for the 2018 National Invitational Volleyball Championships has been announced, with 32 high-achieving Division-I programs officially bracketed and ready for Round 1 action on Thursday, Nov. 29.
This year marks the second running of the NIVC since its rebirth last year; the original event ran from 1989-1995. In bracket order, here is the schedule for the first two rounds of the 2018 NIVC – all matches are hosted by participating schools: (home team for each match listed first) Nov. 29 at Iowa State Bradley (23-8) vs. Bowling Green (19-11), 4 p.m. CT Iowa State (16-13) vs. Drake (21-14), 6:30 CT Nov. 30 at Iowa State Winners, 6:30 p.m. CT Nov. 29 at North Texas Wichita State (13-17) vs. Central Arkansas (26-6), 4:30 p.m. CT North Texas (17-16) vs. Tulsa (19-11), 7 p.m. CT Nov. 30 at North Texas Winners, 5:30 p.m. CT Nov. 29 at UNLV Fresno State (20-10) vs. UC Santa Barbara, (17-11), 4:30 p.m. PT UNLV (19-11) vs. UC Irvine (16-12), 7 p.m. PT Nov. 30 at UNLV Winners, 7 p.m. PT Nov. 29 at Wyoming Portland (18-12) vs. Northern Colorado (15-13), 4 p.m. MT Wyoming (20-10) vs. Utah Valley (19-13), 6:30 p.m. Nov. 30 at Wyoming Winners, 6:30 p.m. MT Nov. 29 at Tulane Arkansas-Little Rock (19-12) vs. Cal Baptist (19-10), 5 p.m. CT Tulane (25-8) vs. Arkansas State (19-13), 7:30 p.m. CT Nov. 30 at Tulane Winners, 7 p.m. CT Nov. 29 at Miami-Ohio Valparaiso (25-10) vs. Ball State (22-9), 5:30 p.m. ET Miami-Ohio (22-8) vs. Northern Kentucky, 8 p.m. ET Nov. 30 at Miami-Ohio Winners, 7 p.m. ET Nov. 29 at Georgia Tech College of Charleston (21-11) vs. St. John’s (23-11), 4 p.m. ET Georgia Tech (17-14) vs. USF (20-11), 7 p.m. ET Nov. 30 at Georgia Tech Winners, 7 p.m. ET Nov. 29 at Clemson Appalachian State (22-8) vs. Radford (21-6), 4 p.m. ET Clemson (17-14) vs. Alabama A&M (22-15), 7 p.m. ET Nov. 30 at Clemson Winners, 7 p.m. ET Round 3 will be held Dec. 5-7, the semifinals run Dec. 7-9, and the 2018 NIVC Championship match will be held Tuesday, Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. ET. Ole Miss won the 2017 title over Texas Tech. “We couldn’t be more pleased with the makeup of the teams that will be competing for the 2018 NIVC crown,” said tournament director Jared Rudiger. “It’s an ideal blend of well-known Power 5 programs and a group of mid-major teams that have often missed out on the thrills and excitement of postseason play. The geographic mix also gives the tournament a fresh look, as teams will likely face opponents they’d never see otherwise.” Much like the WNIT and NIT events in college basketball, the NIVC taps into the impressive depth of D-I volleyball and is designed to give more high-performing, highly skilled programs a chance to play for a postseason title. Teams with young rosters get to train and compete with an eye to the future; established rosters get one more chance to play together and memorably cap off their student-athlete experience. |
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