JAMESTOWN, N.D. – The William Carey Volleyball Team made history by defeating #3 Jamestown University 3-2 in the NAIA Volleyball National Championship Opening Round. The win secures the first ever NAIA Tournament win in school history.
"It feels great to see them be the first WCU Volleyball Team to make it to the final site," said Head Coach
Ronda Shirley. Their hard work, trust, and commitment has made it possible. We are not done yet!"
In the opening set, the Lady Crusaders opened, taking an early 12-10 lead but the Jimmies rattled off six straight points and never looked back, cruising to a 25-15 first set victory.
The second set was a back and forth start until Jamestown took a 13-8 lead behind a 5-0 run. The Carey offense kept on battling, and with the Jimmies leading 24-18, the Lady Crusaders fought their way back to within one point. Jamestown broke the run with a kill to take a 2-0 lead.
The third set was similar to the first with WCU taking the early lead 9-6. Just like before, JU erased the deficit tying the game at nine. From there, things went back forth until
Suelen Lima,
Elaina Anderson, and
Marcella Hermont scored five straight points erasing a Jamestown 16-14 to put Carey back in front. After giving up the next point, the Lady Crusaders seized control of the set with a 4-0 run taking the set 25-20 to stay alive.
Again, Carey opened the fourth set taking an early 8-3 lead, but this time they did not allow Jamestown to battle back. The closest the Jimmies would get would be 11-8, but two errors and a block by
Barbara Guedes and
Katarina Vulic pushed the Carey lead to five. WCU went on to build a 15-12 advantage before kills by Lima and Guedes along with an attack error that made it 18-12. From there, Carey cruised to the 25-19 victory to even the match at two sets apiece.
In the final set, both teams traded points early on, but with the set tied at four, the Lady Crusaders pulled away to a 10-4 lead behind three kills, two attack errors, and an ace. Jamestown managed to cut the deficit to 12-8, but Carey would not be denied a shot at history. A kill by Lima followed by another attack error put WCU within one point of victory.
On the final play, the Jimmies gave the Lady Crusaders a perfect opportunity to win. The Jimmies were unable to set up their attack sending a free ball over to WCU, but the Jamestown defense dug the attack attempt. Again, JU was unable to set up the counterattack sending another free ball over the net. This time Guedes found the hole in the defense, sealing the victory and the school record 29th win.
"I am not sure I could be any more proud of my team than I am at this moment," said Shirley. "Their trust in the game plan, their teammates, and themselves showed on the court today. They played point for point and rose to the challenge after being down two sets. They stayed composed and played calm and confident."
Carey is back in action December 4-10, as they head to Sioux City for the 45th Annual Volleyball National Championship.
