​With the title match of the 2019 National Invitational Volleyball Championship set to go – it’s Georgia Tech at South Dakota on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET) – there’s not much shock that these two programs are the ones left standing.

Both the Yellow Jackets (25-8) and the Coyotes (31-2) were on the cusp of NCAA tournament berths, and both have turned the disappointment of missing that moment into strong performances in the NIVC. Georgia Tech is 17-1 in its last 18 matches and has dropped just two sets in the NIVC, while the Coyotes have topped 30 victories and are a flawless 14-0 at home.

Another common aspect between the teams is the comparative youth of the roster. For Georgia Tech, freshman Julia Bergmann and sophomore Marilla Brambilla are driving forces, with Brambilla hammering a career-high 25 kills in the semifinal win over TCU. Those two lead the Yellow Jackets in kills, with sophomore Mikaila Dowd third on the list; even the setter (Matti McKissock) is a sophomore and has averaged better than 11 assists per set.

For South Dakota, freshman Elizabeth Juhnke has a team-high 505 kills, and redshirt sophomore setter Madison Jurgens is averaging nearly 12 assists per set with a total of 1,411 for the year. After reaching the NCAA tournament in 2018, the Coyotes looked well on their way to a repeat appearance after running the table in the Summit League regular season, but the team was upset by Omaha in the league tourney.

“We all had expectations, as does everybody, about making the NCAA Tournament, and when we didn’t it was important for them to understand that it was OK to be disappointed,” said head coach Leanne Williamson, who is in her sixth season. “When we came back to work, we said we’d shift our focus to new goals, set new expectations, and they did just that. It really didn’t come from me. People who have been here and know how good this program is, they said let’s go win this NIVC.

“One of our mottos all year is saying, let’s go 1-0. Not focusing on the future, not thinking about the past, take care of what we can, the one point, the one game, the one match. It took us that first match to get back into it, to play at the high level again.”

South Dakota’s roster also embraced the idea of giving the seniors another arena to show the depth of their commitment, while younger players got more time to play under the pressure of one-and-done tournament volleyball.

“For our seniors, it’s one more opportunity to play in the Coyote uniform, and for the underclassmen, it’s an opportunity to keep making history in the program,” Williamson said. “I think the NIVC is an incredible opportunity to play volleyball at a high level, to play in a tournament style where you fight every night to get the chance to play on. There’s a lot of great things that can come from this, and our team is up for the challenge. They’re excited to bring in an excellent Georgia Tech team as well, and to compete against a great opponent, in front of our home fans.”

South Dakota dropped its first set Saturday against Tulsa in the semifinals, something that had to rattle the team as well as the 1,300 fans looking to keep the NIVC run alive. But the Coyotes got it tied back up and won the final two sets in dominant fashion, 25-15, 25-13.

“We talked a lot with this team about how resilient we are. Dropping that first set, they were frustrated, but it made us determined to make the changes we needed,” Williamson said. “We won the second set, but we weren’t necessarily happy with the way we were playing, so to find a way to win when we weren’t playing at our highest level says a lot about the team.

“We also talk about getting better as the match goes on … you can pick up things when you see it in person. The third and fourth sets, we went on some big runs; Tulsa made some errors, but we forced them into some of that, which is what you want to see. Some of the obstacles gave us an opportunity and were good lessons to learn. We’re willing to do the hard things to move forward.”

​GEORGIA TECH 3, TCU 1 (25-20, 19-25, 25-8, 25-23)
 
ATLANTA, GA — Sophomore Mariana Brambilla had 25 kills and freshman Julia Bergmann added 12 kills as Georgia Tech worked past TCU on Saturday to earn a spot in the championship match of the 2019 NIVC.
 
The Yellow Jackets (25-8) will play either South Dakota or Tulsa in the final; details will be announced later. The Horned Frogs end their season at 12-18.
 
Georgia Tech nursed a small lead in Set 1, and TCU closed within 21-20. Kills from Brambilla and Dowd and an ace from Brambilla led the charge as the Yellow Jackets won four straight points. TCU responded in Set 2 by taking a 19-8 lead that was cut to 20-15, but a kill from Adams closed the set for the Horned Frogs.
 
In Set 3, Georgia Tech took leads of 6-0 and 14-1, hitting .727 overall. The final set was back and forth, with the Yellow Jackets hitting better than .300 in that set as well.
 
Matti McKissock had 44 assists for Georgia Tech. Bergmann also had six aces; Maddie Tippett had 15 digs and Mikaila Dowd added 11 digs.
 
For TCU, Katie Clark and Julia Adams each had 12 kills. McKenzie Nichols added 30 assists and Dani Dennison had 16 digs.
 
SOUTH DAKOTA 3, TULSA 1 (19-25, 25-21, 25-15, 25-13)
 
VERMILLION, SD — South Dakota dropped the first set in front of its home crowd, but turned around to sweep the next three, topping Tulsa and earning a spot in the championship match of the 2019 NIVC.
 
The Coyotes (31-2) will play host to Georgia Tech in the final, set for 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Dec. 17. The Golden Hurricane ends their season at 18-16.
 
Tulsa jumped ahead in front of a raucous crown in Set 1; the next set was tied at 18-all before South Dakota responded and tied the match. Tulsa’s hitting percentage in Set 3 was in the negative, while the Coyotes had a 14-6 edge in kills. In the final set, South Dakota used a 4-0 run to take a 14-9 lead and never looked back.
 
For the Coyotes, freshman Elizabeth Juhnke had 24 kills and senior Elizabeth Loschen added 10 kills. Sophomore Madison Jurgens had 46 kills and 17 digs. Anne Rasmussen had 22 digs, and Lolo Weideman added 17 digs as the Coyotes had a 58-37 lead in kills.
 
Callie Cook had nine kills; Taylor Horsfall had 29 digs, and Mariah Pardo and Roosa Rautio each had 15 assists.

TULSA 3, WEBER STATE 2 (25-22, 25-20, 24-26, 20-25, 15-10)
 
TULSA, OK – Tulsa jumped ahead by two sets, gave it back as Weber State refused to go quietly, and then put it all together with a quality effort in the fifth set to top the Wildcats and earn a spot in the semifinals of the 2019 NIVC.
 
The Golden Hurricane (18-15) will play at South Dakota in one semifinal, set for 8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Dec. 14. With her 39 digs, Tulsa senior Taylor Horsfall is now the all-time digs leader for the program at 2,470, which is also the top mark in the history of the American Athletic Conference.
 
Tulsa had a 16-7 lead in Set 1, but after a 13-4 run Weber State had things tied back up at 20-all. The Golden Hurricane came out fast after a timeout and secured the set with a kill from Maddie Rhoder. Set 2 also had big momentum shifts, with Tulsa taking a 10-6 lead and Weber State later going on top, 17-16. Callie Cook closed the set with a kill for the Golden Hurricane.
 
Set 3 saw the Wildcats get on the board as Kennedy Williams got the final kill, and they went from a 6-6 tie in Set 4 to a 12-6 lead before pulling away and evening the match at two sets apiece. In the fifth set, Tulsa scored the final five points to seal the victory.
 
Callie Cook had 16 kills for Tulsa. Kayley Cassaday and Rhoder both had 12 kills, and Hannah Overmyer added 10 kills and 10 digs. Roosa Rautio had 29 assists.
 
The Wildcats (26-9) got 18 kills apiece from Megan Gneiting and Dani Nay. Weber State had five players with more than 10 digs; Katelyn Erwin had 27, and Gneiting, Rylin Roberts and Helena Khouri each had 17 digs. Ashlyn Power closed with 48 assists and 15 digs.

​TCU 3, COLGATE 0 (25-17, 25-23, 30-28)
 
FORT WORTH, TX – TCU started off in control and hung tough when the sets got tighter, moving past Colgate to advance to the 2019 NIVC semifinals.
 
The Horned Frogs (12-17), who were in the 2017 NIVC semis as well, will play at Georgia Tech on Saturday, Dec. 14 for a chance to reach the championship. The Georgia Tech-TCU match is set for 7 p.m. ET.
 
The long and demanding third set saw the Horned Frogs hold match point on three occasions thanks to kills from Julia Adams, but the Raiders equalized each time. At 28-all, Sarah Swanson registered a kill for TCU, and Dani Dennison closed the match with an ace.
 
The first set was tied at 5-all when TCU caught fire first, and an Audrey Nalls kill pushed the team to a 12-6 lead. The Horned Frogs drilled 17 kills and hit .324 to win the set. TCU jumped ahead in Set 2 as well, but Colgate drew within 24-23 before Nalls, a freshman, closed the set with a kill shot placed perfectly in the back left corner.
 
TCU got 17 kills from Katie Clark, 12 kills from Adams and 11 kills from Nalls. McKenzie Nichols had 41 assists and 11 digs. The Horned Frogs finished with a 53-33 lead in kills.
 
The Raiders (24-7) were paced by the 12 kills from Alli Lowe. Julia Kurowski had 30 assists and Cami Carfino had 10 digs.
 
TULSA 3, WEBER STATE 2 (25-22, 25-20, 24-26, 20-25, 15-10)
 
TULSA, OK – Tulsa jumped ahead by two sets, gave it back as Weber State refused to go quietly, and then put it all together with a quality effort in the fifth set to top the Wildcats and earn a spot in the semifinals of the 2019 NIVC.
 
The Golden Hurricane (18-15) will play at South Dakota in one semifinal, set for 8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Dec. 14. With her 39 digs, Tulsa senior Taylor Horsfall is now the all-time digs leader for the program at 2,470, which is also the top mark in the history of the American Athletic Conference.
 
Tulsa had a 16-7 lead in Set 1, but after a 13-4 run Weber State had things tied back up at 20-all. The Golden Hurricane came out fast after a timeout and secured the set with a kill from Maddie Rhoder. Set 2 also had big momentum shifts, with Tulsa taking a 10-6 lead and Weber State later going on top, 17-16. Callie Cook closed the set with a kill for the Golden Hurricane.
 
Set 3 saw the Wildcats get on the board as Kennedy Williams got the final kill, and they went from a 6-6 tie in Set 4 to a 12-6 lead before pulling away and evening the match at two sets apiece. In the fifth set, Tulsa scored the final five points to seal the victory.
 
Callie Cook had 16 kills for Tulsa. Kayley Cassaday and Rhoder both had 12 kills, and Hannah Overmyer added 10 kills and 10 digs. Roosa Rautio had 29 assists.
 
The Wildcats (26-9) got 18 kills apiece from Megan Gneiting and Dani Nay. Weber State had five players with more than 10 digs; Katelyn Erwin had 27, and Gneiting, Rylin Roberts and Helena Khouri each had 17 digs. Ashlyn Power closed with 48 assists and 15 digs.

​TCU 3, COLGATE 0 (25-17, 25-23, 30-28)
 
FORT WORTH, TX – TCU started off in control and hung tough when the sets got tighter, moving past Colgate to advance to the 2019 NIVC semifinals.
 
The Horned Frogs (12-17), who were in the 2017 NIVC semis as well, will play at Georgia Tech on Saturday, Dec. 14 for a chance to reach the championship. The Georgia Tech-TCU match is set for 7 p.m. ET.
 
The long and demanding third set saw the Horned Frogs hold match point on three occasions thanks to kills from Julia Adams, but the Raiders equalized each time. At 28-all, Sarah Swanson registered a kill for TCU, and Dani Dennison closed the match with an ace.
 
The first set was tied at 5-all when TCU caught fire first, and an Audrey Nalls kill pushed the team to a 12-6 lead. The Horned Frogs drilled 17 kills and hit .324 to win the set. TCU jumped ahead in Set 2 as well, but Colgate drew within 24-23 before Nalls, a freshman, closed the set with a kill shot placed perfectly in the back left corner.
 
TCU got 17 kills from Katie Clark, 12 kills from Adams and 11 kills from Nalls. McKenzie Nichols had 41 assists and 11 digs. The Horned Frogs finished with a 53-33 lead in kills.
 
The Raiders (24-7) were paced by the 12 kills from Alli Lowe. Julia Kurowski had 30 assists and Cami Carfino had 10 digs.

​You can’t just show up on the door of a long-struggling volleyball program and declare the hard times are over.

With years of disappointment stacked up like firewood from the nearby Wasatch mountains, Weber State volleyball struggled to shed the weight of a rough start to the 2010s – a 28-98 resume over four seasons before the arrival of head coach Jeremiah Larsen in 2015. But the Wildcats have figured out how to avoid being defined by those hard times and currently sit at 26-8, set to play Thursday in the quarterfinals of the 2019 National Invitational Volleyball Championship.

The match at Tulsa (17-15) is set for 7 p.m. ET.

This year marked the first time Weber State had reached the Big Sky tournament final in 31 years, and the Wildcats were a whisper away from earning an NCAA Tournament berth before falling to Northern Colorado in five sets. 

“It says a lot about our character and who we have in the program. When you lose a match like that (15-13 in the fifth), dealing with the emotions of disappointment … they knew it was important to get back on the horse and keep playing and competing,” said Larsen, who was 6-22 in his first year in Ogden before recalibrating Weber State’s position in the Big Sky and elsewhere. “We’re trying to build a program that has the ability to reach the postseason; Weber State hasn’t been in the postseason in 31 years, so it’s a step in that progression.

“We also want more time with this volleyball team; our players love playing together, and they’ll miss the seniors … that was the group that came in and changed our program from a six-win team to a 20-win team. We’re trying to squeeze out every moment we can with a team we love to play and compete with.”

The Wildcats have many places to turn offensively, and the numbers have been undeniably impressive. With junior setter Ashlyn Power dealing the cards (she’s in the national top 30 with 11.02 assists per set), kills come from many places – redshirt freshman Dani Nay has 383 kills, senior Megan Gneiting has 362 kills and junior Rylin Roberts is next at 310 kills. 

Everything from the early-impact abilities of young players to the rigor and stability of the upperclass contributors makes the struggles of the past fell very distant even to Larsen, who certainly understood the enormity of his task.

“It seems so long ago. The first thing we decided was to set some standards as a program, what it meant to play high-level volleyball, and we went out and recruited character kids who were good at volleyball,” he said. “We had to grab the right type of players who weren’t afraid to do hard things. Turning a program around is not something everybody can do or wants to do. The culture took off from there. Those kids changed the culture for the better, so I turn it to them and who they are. After they came to the program, it became quite simple.

The first impact group of recruits included Gneiting, Roberts, Aubrey Saunders and Hannah DeYoung. Just as Larsen was getting the Wildcats into a better position, the record fell to 9-20 in 2017, but to everyone’s credit, that just turned out to be a fixable hiccup in the plan.

“2017 was interesting. Rylin Roberts went on a mission, Aubrey Saunders got ill, and we had a key player shut down with a shoulder injury – but we don’t see that as a step back in the program,” Larsen said. “We made the conference tournament, we were competitive and were able to finish through adversity. If anything, we look back at that as a growth season and what propelled us to the 18-win season (in 2018.) A lot of programs would have looked at as a step back, but we were still able to show something that was lacking in the programs for (a number of years).”

Tulsa’s lineup will be a challenge with its frontline height, but Weber State feels it has a road map for success regardless of the opponent. The team is in the national top 30 in blocks per set and just outside that rank in opponent’s hitting percentage, so there’s plenty of defense the Wildcats can present.

“Our depth has been our thing. Sam Schiess has been effective in the middle, and Kennedy Williams has come in multiple times and saved the day. That’s what we thrive on, that we are a collective team,” Larsen added. “With that mentality and the way we balance the offense and spread it out, it’s very potent. When we receive the serve well, we are hard to stop. Our defense is potent, also. We digs balls, turn it at a nice level and get kills. Hard to stop when we get rolling like that, when we serve receive and serve well.”

photo by Justin Wolford/Colgate Athletics

​While the rest of New England grows more dormant with winter taking hold, there’s something blooming and in full flower near Hamilton, NY.

That’s the site of Colgate University, where the volleyball program of the Raiders is currently carving space for recognition as one of the quarterfinalists in the 2019 National Invitational Volleyball Championship. Colgate (24-7) will be looking for more on Thursday, as the Raiders play at TCU (11-17) in hopes of reaching the semifinals.

It’s the first 20-win season for Colgate since 2013, one that will be remembered fondly for its relentless list of accomplishments. The Raiders were 15-1 in the Patriot League; head coach Ryan Baker was named conference coach of the year for the third time in 14 years, and junior outside Alli Lowe earned player of the year honors while also being named honorable mention all-region by the AVCA, an area that includes numerous Power 5 teams.

Colgate is also defining itself by responding to one very unhappy development, which was losing to Army in the Patriot League tournament semifinals. Having beaten the Black Knights twice earlier in the year, the upset was a sudden, rattling reminder of how matches can veer off what looks inevitable on paper, but with 3-1 victories over Boston College and Tulane in the NIVC, it seems Colgate has strong roots earned over time.

“In the moment, it is painful. We talked after the match that we got beat by an Army team that just played better,” said Baker, whose team also played in the NIVC in 2017. “That happens; it’s hard to beat a team three times, and that can be the negative of the conference tournament. You play each other so many times, and we had a bad weekend. For this team, that was maybe motivation for the (NIVC), too. They had a great season and want to keep playing. We played two good teams, very different styles, and our team played so hard. We have all the pieces, and this team wanted to play and wanted this for Colgate, maybe to win the whole thing.

“For this year specifically, our team had an incredible regular season, Patriot League co-champion, so to me they earned and deserved the opportunity, first and foremost. Secondly, an institution of our size, 2,800 students, for Colgate to get on the national scene and play some really great competition including from Power 5 conferences, it’s a huge time for us to grow. We also return 80 percent of our lineup for next season, so the benefit of this is gargantuan. The NIVC has gotten better; by this year, the quality is stronger, the level of play is stronger, the operations are stronger – there’s a lot of buzz and excitement on campus about this.”

Colgate has a classic look on offense, with a dynamic setter (6-foot-1 sophomore Julia Kurowski) and outside hammers in junior Lowe (456 kills) and senior Alex Stein (402 kills). Sophomore middle Hailey Horn-Bostel has done solid work as well, leading the team in blocks and adding 184 kills. 

“Julia had to run the show her whole freshman season, so to have that under her belt and now this … you have to teach players how to handle stressful situations and deal with the pressure of one-and-done,” Baker said. “For her development and growth, this is going to pay huge dividends. She’s very steady, consistent and super athletic. And we have two of the best outsides in the Patriot League. We have the backbone to compete with a lot of teams.”

Every season has at least one defining moment, and for the Raiders it came in late September. They lost a doubleheader to North Carolina and VCU, but look deeper – Lowe hurt her ankle in the first match, but Colgate still played well and then took VCU (an NCAA qualifier this year) to five sets. Then, six days later, Lowe was back and the Raiders took down Patriot League power American for the first time since 2012.

“To go through that adversity and play quality opponents without (Lowe) and almost beat them … I think it built everyone’s confidence. Take that straight to playing American, which has won 15 or 16 conference championships, was what we needed, and we went on a huge run. We put eight great weekends together, which is so hard to do with the academic demands of a school like Colgate.” 

With three winning records in the past four seasons, a young roster and the sight of Lowe and Kurowski leading the way going ahead, Baker has exactly what he’s wanted – a roster that chips in from every direction.

“Our seniors created a culture of unbelievable positivity and fight. People talk about our bench – they are crazy, they have a blast and provide energy no matter where we go. And I thought we had a solid freshman class, but they overperformed my expectations early on,” he added. “They compete hard every day and make my (playing time) decisions tough. Culture is a buzzword, but ours is really good. It’s inspired other coaches in the department and around the country when they watch our team play.”