​BOSTON COLLEGE 3, DRAKE 1 (25-22, 21-25, 25-18, 29-27)
 
DES MOINES, IA – Boston College used early leads to help secure two sets, then worked overtime to get the clinching result in Set 4, topping host Drake to win the 2022 National Invitational Volleyball Championship match on Wednesday.
 
The Eagles (24-13), who were 4-9 in road matches this season, got a career-high 19 kills from Alayna Crabtree to go with 16 digs. Crabtree pounded home the final two kills of the match, pushing BC ahead after the set was knotted at 27-all. Silvia Ianeselli came through with 14 kills and 14 digs, and Kate Brennan finished with 12 kills.
 
Grace Penn had 34 assists for BC, Sophia Lambros added 25 assists and Anna Murphy closed with 24 digs.
 
The first set saw Boston College race ahead to a 17-6 lead before Drake found some footing; the Bulldogs rallied impressively and drew within 24-22 on a kill from Taylor Oberpriller before the Eagles secured the set. Set 2 was much closer throughout – Drake fell behind 6-1 but moved ahead 23-18 on a kill from Kacie Rewerts. A Crabtree kill drew BC within 23-21 before a Mariana Rodrigues kill and Eagles error tied the match at 1-all.
 
Set 3 saw Boston College again spring ahead by as much as 19-11; Drake drew a bit closer but kills from Crabtree and Brennan closed the set for the Eagles.
 
The Bulldogs (30-8) were paced by the 22 kills from Rodrigues; Haley Bush had 19 kills and 13 digs, while Oberpriller added 11 kills. Addison Beagle came through with 51 assists, Jada Wills had 37 digs and Addie Schmierer closed with 13 digs.
 
The 2022 NIVC all-tournament team was announced, with Silvia Ianeselli of Boston College earning MVP honors. Also on the team were:
 
Boston College – Kate Brennan
Boston College – Anna Murphy
Drake – Haley Bush
Drake – Mariana Rodrigues
Davidson – Bella Brady
Southern Miss – Mia Wesley
 
NOTE: Kate Brennan played for UNLV in 2021, with the Rebels making the run to the NIVC title, making her a two-time NIVC champion.

Photo by Dylan Heuer
Story by Kyle Koso
 
Some preseason predictions in college sports function like embers of irritation, where the opinion of others about your program get aired and you just have to sit there and take it.
 
For the Drake volleyball team, head coach Darrin McBroom saw the 2022 Missouri Valley Conference poll place his Bulldogs into the No. 9 slot out of 12, and there wasn’t much to do but shrug, realize the previous year’s less-than-thrilling record colored the conversation, and dial into the work to come.
 
Maybe indifference greeting Drake at the start, but the Bulldogs have been making a difference ever since. The team is one of the last two standing in the NIVC postseason tournament, sporting a sparking 30-7 record and hosting Boston College (23-13) on Wednesday in the championship match after going 16-2 in the MVC and finishing second in both the regular season and league tournament.
 
“It’s not a surprise we were picked that low – we felt we underperformed the previous year,” said McBroom, in his 10th year at Drake. “We were picked second, finished ninth (with an 11-15 record), but we knew we were returning so many key players this season. We went into it not saying this was the year to win it all; we wanted to be contender for a regular season or conference tournament championship. The top three was the target range.”
 
Arguably, the key to hitting the target has been the careful aim of freshman setter Addison Beagle, who has launched her Drake career with superlative results. Her 1,562 assists are the most in D-I volleyball by a hefty margin, and she was the no-doubt freshman of the year in the MVC. A product of the high-powered Dynasty club program, Beagle was the Missouri Gatorade player of the year in 2021 and also leads the team in service aces (41) and is second in digs (316).
 
“She’s exceptional, our first offer for setter in that class,” McBroom said. “The key factor, it coincided with a foreign tour year (to Brazil). Over the summer, our freshmen got to go along, and into the fall all of the freshmen had already spent two weeks training together and traveling internationally and competing. The foundation and groundwork had already been laid.
 
“Our strength is the connection with the setter and the hitters; when we are playing well and confident, we have the weapons to score from a variety of locations. Things seem to fall into place for us, and I see that defensively, too, the coverage … and that old saying, the harder we work the luckier we seem to be.”
 
Drake’s roster has certainly flexed its depth in 2022, with senior Haley Bush earning her second MVC player of the year award and now atop the 500-kill mark (504), the best in program history. Grad students Mariana Rodrigues (488 kills) and Taylor Oberpriller (337) are also reliable and relentless hitters – the three of them have all shined in the NIVC, and extra offense can pop up from sophomore Ashlynn Kuhn (209). Junior libero Jada Willis has played in all 136 sets for the Bulldogs and has 691 digs, which is fifth in all of Division-I.
 
With all the physical tools in place, Drake’s larger concern heading into the NIVC was all mental. A disappointing five-set loss to Northern Iowa in the MVC tournament title match took a little time to process, as did the time that elapsed before Round 1 of the NIVC began.
 
“As the season wound down, we knew we had a good shot at winning our tournament and getting the NCAA berth; we also knew if we didn’t secure that, we’d be an (automatic qualifier) for the NIVC,” McBroom said. “So either way, we knew we’d have a postseason opportunity. In the locker room after the UNI match, we knew UNI would be challenging, but now we need to find a way to refocus and win the NIVC.
 
“Everyone was kind of board early; what made it hard was Thanksgiving break, and we didn’t play for a while … a long week, post-holiday, last ones to play (in the opening round of NIVC), and there was a bit of, ‘Why are we doing this?’ It’s so new to us, playing this deep into December. Teams want to do it, but they may not know what it actually feels like. After that first round, we won those two matches, and everybody caught the fire and love for it, and was on board going forward.”
 
LAST WORD – McBroom on the utility of the NIVC: “I’m very grateful for the NIVC. I know there are some teams that are historically NCAA qualifiers, so they won’t consider anything else, and that’s their decision to make … for a team like Drake or any up-and-coming and building program, the NIVC tournament offers such an opportunity to get a feel for what it takes and looks like to play in a postseason tournament. To extend that season … it’s been a learning experience for me and my staff and the team, and we’ve gained immeasurably from it. We said, if we want to be a team that goes to the NCAA’s, we can’t turn our nose up. Now we’ve got a chance to make a statement that you can win in the postseason. I hope more teams in volleyball will come to embrace it.”

DRAKE 3, DAVIDSON 0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-17)

DAVIDSON, N.C. — Drake measured up quickly and efficiently Sunday in the second 2022 NIVC semifinal, hitting .410 overall in a sweep of host Davidson to earn a spot in the championship match against Boston College.

The title showdown will be held at Drake; the match is slated for Wednesday, Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. ET.

Drake hit .438 in the first set, which was tied at 14-all before a Bulldogs push made it 19-15. In Set 2, the match was tight into the 20’s with late kills from Mariana Rodrigues and Taylor Oberpriller driving Drake to a 2-0 lead. 

The Bulldogs (30-7) got 21 kills from Oberpriller and 16 kills by Rodrigues. Addison Beagle came through with 49 assists and 12 digs, and Jada Wills also had 12 digs.

The Wildcats (23-11) got 12 kills from Isabel Decker and 10 kills by Sola Omonije. Jessie Doyal added 20 assists, Jan Marie Duhaylungsod closed with 19 assists and Bella Brady had 16 digs. Emma Slusser added 10 digs.

BOSTON COLLEGE 3, SOUTHERN MISS 1 (25-21, 16-25, 29-27, 25-16)

NEWTON, Mass. -- Boston College rode the momentum of winning a difficult third set, grabbing the lead in the deciding fourth frame to slip past Southern Miss in Saturday’s semifinal of the 2022 NIVC.

The Eagles (23-13) will face either Drake or Davidson early next week in the championship match.

Boston College and Southern Miss were tied 4-all in the fourth set before the host Eagles went on a 12-4 run to grab control.

Silvia Ianeselli had 14 kills and 17 digs to pace Boston College. Kate Brennan added 11 kills and Julia Haggerty closed with nine kills. Grace Penn had 30 assists, with Sophia Lambros adding 13 assists. Anna Murphy finished with 20 digs, and Alayna Crabtree came through with nine kills and 19 digs.

The Golden Eagles (21-12) had won three straight road matches before Saturday. Mia Wesley had a huge day with 19 kills and 19 digs; Cailin Demps had 12 kills and Cara Atkinson closed with 10 kills. Kenzie Smith had 45 assists; Megan Harris had 12 digs and Lindsey Legg added 10 digs.

In Set 1, an 8-1 run for Boston College pushed ahead the hosts 12-5, with their big lead coming at 20-11 — Southern Miss made a late push to 24-21 before BC closed out the set. In Set 2, USM had just three attack errors and cruised on the way to tying the match, 1-all. Both teams’ defenses were the focal point of Set 3, with BC eking out the win on kills by Brennan and Crabtree.

DAVIDSON 3, UTRGV 0 (26-24, 27-25, 25-19)
 
DAVIDSON, N.C. – Davidson rang up eight aces and played a stellar night of defense in the NIVC quarterfinals, moving past UTRGV and into the semis with a sweep at home.
 
The Wildcats (23-10) will host Drake in the semis; that match is set for 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, Dec. 11.
 
Davidson, in the postseason for the first time since earning NCAA tourney bids in 1999 and 2000, used an ace by Ioanna Charitonidi to win Set 2. Overall, Isabel Decker had 14 kills and Emma Slusser and Anela Davis each finished with nine kills – Jessie Doyal had 19 assists and Jan Marie Duhaylungsod added 16 assists. Bella Brady finished with 24 digs.
 
The Vaqueros (27-7) got 12 kills from Sarah Cruz; Luanna Emiliano had 33 assists and set the program’s single-season record for assists with 1,348. Perris Key had 11 digs, while Regina Tijerina and Emiliano each added 10 digs.
 
DRAKE 3, PACIFIC 0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-21)
 
DES MOINES, Iowa – Drake returned to its home gym for an NIVC quarterfinal Thursday, coming strong with a defense that held Pacific to a .084 hitting percentage as the Bulldogs advanced to the semifinals.
 
Drake (29-7) will play at Davidson in the semis; that match is set for 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, Dec. 11.
 
The Bulldogs, who also swept Grand Canyon in Round 2, were paced by Mariana Rodrigues, who had 14 kills. Addison Beagle finished with 27 assists and Haley Bush had nine digs.
 
The Tigers (18-14) got 13 kills from Biamba Kabengele as Alexa Edwards added nine kills with nine digs. Jenna Heller closed with 30 assists and nine digs, and Jadyn Tubbs had 11 digs.

​SOUTHERN MISS 3, WESTERN CAROLINA 2 (22-25, 25-15, 15-25, 25-22, 15-12)
 
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Southern Miss bounced back from a difficult third set and authored a comeback victory over host Western Carolina to move into the semifinals of the 2022 NIVC.
 
Southern Miss will play at Boston College in the semifinals; the match is set for 4 p.m. ET on Saturday, Dec. 10.
 
The Golden Eagles (21-11) got to double figures first in the fifth set, 10-9, and saw the lead grow to 13-11 on a service error. The best swings at the end came from Reagan Leinen, who had two big kills, including the match winner.
 
Western Carolina took a 20-16 lead in the first set, with Southern Miss responding to tie it up at 20-all, then 22-all. The Catamounts then scored three straight to close it out, including a kill from Livi Wiedmann. Southern Miss got off to a much better start in Set 2, taking an 11-3 lead and extending it to 14-4.
 
The teams were tied up at 6-all in the third set before WCU stormed ahead to take the set comfortably. In Set 4, USM had a 16-15 lead before a cluster of kills from Cara Atkinson pushed the visitors up, 20-16.
 
Atkinson had 19 kills for Southern Miss, and Mia Wesley closed with 18 kills. Kenzie Smith came through with 56 assists; Megan Harris had 32 digs (tying her career best), Lindsey Legg added 16 digs and Lauren Talbert finished with 14 digs.
 
The Catamounts (20-13) were paced by Bailey Hartsough’s 22 kills (tying her career high) to go with 14 digs. Merry Gebel had 16 kills and 21 digs. Sarah Janourova closed with 25 assists and Sydney Carlson added 21 assists; Destinee Dorsey had 33 digs.
 
BOSTON COLLEGE 3, XAVIER 2 (23-25, 25-22, 19-25, 25-18, 15-10)
 
NEWTON, Mass. – Boston College, which won its first two 2022 NIVC matches in sweeps, fought through to claim a five-setter against Xavier to earn a spot in the semifinals.
 
The Eagles (22-13) will take on Southern Miss in the semis; that match is slated for 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 10.
 
In the fifth set, Boston College jumped ahead early, 10-4, and closed the deal with kills from Izzy Clavenna, Silvia Ianeselli, Kate Brennan (who played on last year’s NIVC champion’s roster at UNLV) and the finale from Julie Haggerty.
 
Xavier (21-12) won a hard-fought first set; Boston College answered in Set 2, which was tied 10-all before the Eagles took command with an 8-1 run. The third set saw Xavier jump ahead 16-5, and a well-timed kill from Brooklyn Cink put the Musketeers up, 18-10. In Set 4, it was 10-all when BC’s Ianeselli cracked out two aces, and the lead was fortified to 17-12 for the Eagles on a kill from Haggerty.  
 
For the Eagles, Ianeselli had 15 kills; Clavenna, Jensen and Alayna Crabtree each finished with 14 kills. Grace Penn had 36 assists, Sophia Lambros added 22 assists and Anna Murphy closed with 22 digs. Crabtree had 17 digs, and Ianeselli added 16 digs.
 
Xavier got 16 kills from both Cink (who also chipped in with 11 digs) and Delaney Hogan; Angel Robinson and Maryann O’Toole both finished with 11 kills. Carrigan O’Reilly came through with 52 assists and 11 digs; Lucia Corsaro had 20 digs and Stevie Wolf added 12 digs.

By Kyle Koso
 
We’re often told to not dwell on the past, but a well-timed look in the rear-view mirror can be the best way to gauge just how far you’ve come.
 
The Boston College volleyball program has a generation-plus of baggage to navigate when it comes to wins and losses – since starting D-I play in 1990, they had exactly three above-.500 seasons (2001, 2003-04) before current coach Jason Kennedy arrived ahead of the 2018 slate. The Eagles got above water in 2019 and have repeated the feat in 2022 (21-13), earning a berth in the NIVC postseason event and ready to host a quarterfinal match, Wednesday against Xavier (21-11).
 
Life in the Big East and Atlantic Coast conferences over the years has been heavy sledding for BC, which is playing in the NIVC for the third time. Kennedy is already on the cusp of being the program’s all-time winning coach, and there’s certainly real desire coursing through the Eagles roster as they swept Buffalo and St. John’s in the first two rounds of the NIVC.
 
“The girls are motivated to do it. You get to this point of the season, you have to have a group that wants to play together and live to see another day,” said Kennedy, whose 79 wins is one off the BC program record. “I’ve never been around a group that likes each other and enjoys playing together as much as this one. They don’t want it to end, they’re working as hard in practice now as they did in August, and they want to see how many more steps they can take.”
 
Boston College’s win over St. John’s in Round 2 showed a certain mettle and determination, given how the Red Storm had beaten BC earlier in the season. The Eagles also won rematches this year against Virginia Tech and Syracuse – these moments of inspiration are pretty vital for a team in BC’s shoes, when dealing with ACC powerhouses like Georgia Tech, Pitt, Notre Dame, Miami and Florida State.    
 
At one point this season, Boston College was 1-7 in league play, but the roster refused to surrender belief in its progress and process.
 
“You have to find a break, catch a break where you win a match where you’re the underdog and you’re able to win one,” Kennedy said. “At NC State (Oct. 16), after a long road trip, we found a way to win it in five, and that was huge for our team. We clinched that, came home and won a couple … beating Miami and Florida State was maybe the best weekend this program ever had in terms of the opponent RPI perspective. They were top 30 in the RPI, and that got us some confidence. You’re not thinking, ‘we’re 1-7’ – it’s more like, ‘we beat some teams, and who’s next?’ We played well, maybe were a little banged up, changed the lineup a bit, and that got us rolling toward being a lot better now than we were then.”
 
The Eagles’ offense is confidently steered in its 6-2 format by junior setters Grace Penn and Sophia Lambros, and the big shots come comfortably from senior Izzy Clavenna (281 kills), junior Katrina Jensen (255), sophomore Jenna Pollock (247) and grad transfer Kate Brennan (213), who played on the 2021 NIVC championship team from UNLV.
 
Kennedy says the lineup benefits from those multiple options, along with the singular skills of junior libero Anna Murphy.  
 
“Anna Murphy, the steadiest pierce of them all, the core of our defense and serve-receive. Liberos don’t always get the credit they deserve for their job,” Kennedy said. “Our lineup, the beauty is we have four or five kids who can be the kill leader on a given night. The one staple that never seems to change is Anna back there. Having her as the core of the defense has been a positive, a peace of mind for the team.
 
“Jenna Pollock has stepped into a role that we never anticipated. We recruited her as a middle initially, we played her on the right a bit as a freshman, now she’s on the left side. She’s been the arm that we’ve needed to get here – you always want one kid you can toss the ball to at 23-all and have confidence she’ll be able to take a swing and won’t be afraid of that moment. Kate Brennan, she’s got the experience and been a great resource for the team to fall back on. She knows what this will take to win it all … it’s not an easy tournament. You’re not that familiar with the other teams, and there’s not a lot of time to prepare for it.”
 
Kennedy had never set foot in Boston before interviewing for the head coaching position at BC; all his history in out West as a native of Hawaii, a player at Santa Clara and coaching gigs at California high schools and then USC. His insight into those club worlds has helped bring a variety of players back East, creating unexpected and unprecedented momentum for the Eagles program.  
 
“A lot of people initially, to be quite candid, told me this wasn’t the best career move. A cellar-dweller program in a conference that was OK at the time, but not great,” Kennedy added. “Our ability to make inroads has been monumental to what the future can be. We are in new territory, with a single-season win record of 21 wins, and it’s fun to build something where nobody thought it could happen. The staff has been intact since January 2018. We’re not playing the transfer card a whole lot, and it’s special to find that group that buys into you as coaches and the culture and have them stay. When you get there, you get that 21st win, it’s a pretty good feeling.”
 
LAST WORD – Kennedy on the value of the NIVC: “The team that wins it (lately) seems to make the NCAA tournament the next year. Georgia Tech wins it, hasn’t missed the tournament, UNLV wins, is in the tournament. It carries a lot of weight and can prepare you for the next year. You have to have kids coming back, and fortunately we do. A lot of bigger conferences don’t have tournaments, and you have to feel that pressure where the season is on the line. We don’t get that in a conference tournament. If you have the buy-in from the staff and admin and players, especially, I don’t know that you can be in Division I athletics and not want to compete for a national tournament. If we get selected … as a competitor I want to play in it, and then I want to win it. I don’t get the mindset of ‘we’re too good for this, we’ll try again next year’ – give me a chance to win something at the end.”

​DRAKE 3, GRAND CANYON 0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-23)
 
WICHITA, Kan. – Drake powered up in time to secure the sweep over Grand Canyon, coming back from a 21-18 deficit in the third set to advance past the Lopes and into the quarterfinals of the 2022 NIVC.
 
The Bulldogs (28-7) will play host to Pacific in the next round; that match is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. ET.
 
Haley Bush, the Missouri Valley Conference player of the year, had 17 kills and 14 digs for Drake. Mariana Rodrigues added 12 kills and Taylor Oberpriller closed with eight kills. Addison Beagle finished with 39 assists and Jada Wills had 12 digs.
 
The Lopes (18-11) got 14 kills from McKenzie Wise; Tatum Parrott and Anaelena Ramirez each had seven kills. Klaire Mitchell closed with 29 assists – Tatum Thomas had 13 digs and Megan Taflinger added 11 digs.
 
Grand Canyon’s win over Wichita State on Sunday marked the program’s best victory in terms of opponent RPI, as the Shockers were No. 60 in the nation entering the postseason.

WESTERN CAROLINA 3, TOLEDO 0 (25-14, 30-28, 25-22)
 
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Western Carolina swept past Toledo to claim a spot in the quarterfinals of the 2022 NIVC on Sunday afternoon.
 
The Catamounts (20-12) will face Southern Miss in the quarterfinals. Merry Gebel led Western Carolina with 13 kills and 6 digs on .400 hitting, while Livi Weidmann added 12 kills and 6 blocks on .526 hitting. As a team, the Catamounts were efficient on offense, hitting .336. Sydney Carlson had a double-double with 19 assists and 14 digs.
 
Toledo (19-13) got 16 kills and eight digs from Taylor Alt, but as a team, hit just .188.

​DRAKE 3, WEBER STATE 2 (21-25, 25-21, 17-25, 26-24, 15-7)

Wichita, Kan, — Drake fought out of a 2-1 hole Sunday against Weber State and had all the answers if the final set, advancing the Bulldogs into Round 2 of the 2022 NIVC.

Drake (27-7) will face Grand Canyon in the next round Monday. Taylor Oberpriller had 28 kills and 11 digs, and Mariana Rodrigues finished with 16 kills. Addison Beagle closed with 56 assists and 11 digs; Jada Wills had 24 digs.

In the fifth set, the Bulldogs jumped ahead 8-2, and they sealed the deal with a kill from Ashlynn Kuhn and two in a row by Rodrigues.

The Wildcats (17-12) were paced by Dani Richins, who had 18 kills and 14 digs. Emma Mangum added 11 kills and Makayla Sorensen closed with eight kills and 11 digs. Kate Standifird added 43 assists and 22 digs. Charli Bouquet chipped in with 17 digs.

GRAND CANYON 3, WICHITA STATE 1 (25-15, 25-27, 26-24, 25-23)

Wichita, Kan. — Grand Canyon used a balanced offensive attack to move past host Wichita State and advance to Round 2 of the 2022 NIVC.

The Lopes (18-10) got 15 kills from Melanie Brecka; McKenzie Wise had 14 kills and 12 digs, while Tatum Parrott closed with 14 kills and 15 digs. Klaire Mitchell finished with 51 assists and WSU transfer Megan Taflinger had 16 digs.

Grand Canyon will play Drake on Monday in the next round.

The Shockers (18-13) got 12 kills and 12 digs from Brylee Kelly. Natalie Foster had 12 kills, and Kayce Litzau closed with 41 assists.

PACIFIC 3, SANTA CLARA 1 (25-18, 21-25, 25-12, 25-18)

PORTLAND, Ore. — Sharpened all year by playing in the difficult West Coast Conference, Pacific moved past Santa Clara late Saturday to earn a spot in the quarterfinals of the 2022 NIVC. 

The Tigers (18-13) used a10-0 run to spur their first-set win. Biamba Kabengele and Alexa Edwards both had 13 kills; Edwards added 10 digs. Darina Kumanova closed with 11 kills. Jenna Heller had 30 assists and 14 digs, and Jadyn Tubbs finished with 14 assists and 12 digs.

The Broncos (13-19) got 13 kills from Julia Sangiacomo; Sophia Tulino and Layla Truitt each had nine kills as Truitt added 12 digs. Nive Tuileta closed with 35 assists.