The title is the Lady Wildcats' second conference tournament title and first since 2008. Wiley College also reached 20 wins for the first time since 2013. Wiley College will advance to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Opening Round which will be played next weekend. The Lady Wildcats opponent will be determined during a selection show on Monday."Anytime you can finish on top in a conference, it feels great," said head coach Mike MacNeill – who is the Red River Athletic Conference Tournament Coach of the Year. "The team played really well today. It was great experience this weekend. We clicked and connected."
Larissa Francisco (JR/Sao Paulo, Brazil) earned the Tournament MVP with 28 kills in the three matches. Tsvetelina Bozhanova (SR/Razlog, Bulgaria) and Alexia Souza (JR/Taubate, Sao Paulo, Brazil) were named to the All-Tournament Team. Souza recorded 111 assists during the tournament for an average of 10.1 per set. Bozhanova recorded 11 kills in the championship match and 25 during the tournament. She also contributed to three blocks and 29 digs.
The Lady Wildcats (20-3) out-hit Huston-Tillotson University .206 to .145. Wiley College recorded 49 kills in 136 attempts. Khrystyna Frank (FR/Kiev, Ukraine) led the team with 12 kills. Francisco recorded 10 kills. Souza recorded 44 assists and led the team in digs with 14. Alia Scott (FR/Houston, Texas) and Frank also recorded double figures in digs with 12 and 11, respectively. Saadia Sahadeo (SO/Washington D.C.) contributed to seven blocks. Frank added four block assists while Fedorenko added three.
"Alexia did a great job spreading the ball around," MacNeill said. "We used her ability to get our hitters open. Our hitters have worked really hard all year. It was a fun battle. Dan Behnke has a good team at Huston-Tillotson. He has really built them up."
In a competitive first set, the Lady Wildcats trailed 20-19. Sahadeo and Frank combined on a block to tie the match. A service ace by Souza and two attack errors by Huston-Tillotson gave the lead to Wiley College for good.
Huston-Tillotson started the second set strong scoring the first five points of the set. Trailing 24-21, Frank and Sahadeo combined for two blocks. Bozhanova recorded a kill to tie the set at 24. The Lady Wildcats survived another set point with a kill by Bozhanova. Wiley College gave up a kill and attack error to give the set to Huston-TIllotson.
The Lady Wildcats rebounded in the third set and built a five-point lead. The Lady Rams rallied and tied the set at 14 which was one of nine ties in the set. With the set tied at 18, Sahadeo got a kill, Huston-Tillotson made an attack error, Sahadeo and Frank teamed up for a block, Souza recorded two service aces to put Wiley College ahead by five. The Lady Rams cut the lead to one but made a service error to give the Lady Wildcats' their second win.
Wiley College fell behind in the fourth set and trailed by as many as seven. The Lady Rams made two errors, Sahadeo got a kill and Fedorenko got a service ace to cut their lead to two. Frank got a kill and ace to tie the set at 20. Holding a 24-23 lead, Francisco clinched the championship with her 10th kill.
3
VS
1
WILEY
25-22,25-27,25-23,25-23
HUSTON-TILLOTSON UNIVERSITY
Now, the Lady Wildcats will turn their attention to the NAIA Opening Round and will look to advance to pool play for the first time in program history.
LADY WILDCATS LAND FOUR FIRST TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE SELECTIONS
Larissa Francisco, Khrystyna Frank, Olena Fedorenko and Alexia Souza earned First Team All-Conference.
The 2018 regular season Red River Athletic Conference champion Wiley College volleyball team had a strong representation on the 2018 All-Conference team with four first team selections and two second team selections.
The awards were announced during the annual Red River Athletic Conference Championship banquet – which was hosted by Our Lady of the Lake University.
Larissa Francisco (JR/Sao Paulo, Brazil) earned First Team All-Conference and was named Newcomer of the Year. During conference play, she put down 121 kills for an average of 3.03 per set. She also led the team defensively with 123 digs. Overall, she had 190 kills for an average of 3.2 per set and 161 digs for an average of 2.7 per set. Francisco earned Red River Athletic Conference Attacker of the Week on September 3-9.
Khrystyna Frank (FR/Kiev, Ukraine) was selected First Team All-Conference and Freshman of the Year. In 18 matches she tallied 160 kills for an average of 2.8 per set. In conference play she put down 92 kills for an average of 2.6 per set. Overall, she contributed 110 digs, 23 service aces and 19 blocks.
Olena Fedorenko (JR/Sevastopol, Ukraine) was a repeat First Team All-Conference selection. She racked up 152 kills with 93 coming in conference play, contributed to 59 blocks with 18 being solo and laid down a career-high 38 service aces. Fedorenko was named Attacker of the Week for September 10-16. She leads the Red River Athletic Conference with a .296 hitting percentage.
Alexia Souza (JR/Taubate, Sao Paulo, Brazil) also earned First Team All-Conference for a second consecutive season. She put up a career-high 678 assists for a conference leading average of 10.27 per set. Souza was named Setter of the Week six times this season. She notched nine double-doubles while recording a career-high 178 digs. Souza also contributed to the block with four solo blocks and 37 block assists. She was able to catch opposing defenses off guard with 45 kills.
For the second straight season, Tsvetelina Bozhanova (SR/Razlog, Bulgaria) earned Second Team All-Conference. In her senior season, she put up 142 kills, 147 digs, a career-high 24 blocks, 11 service aces and 11 assists. She recorded two double-doubles.
In her first season with the Lady Wildcats, Saadia Sahadeo (SO/Washington D.C.) tallied 70 blocks (16 solo, 54 assists) and 113 kills to earn Second Team All-Conference. She recorded a .282 hitting percentage.
After taking over the starting libero position on September 28, Alia Scott (FR/Houston, Texas) was an All-Conference Honorable Mention. In 11 conference matches, she put up 105 digs for an average of three per set. Denisse Pena (JR/Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua), who played in three matches, represented Wiley College on the Champions of Character team.
WILEY COLLEGE WILDCATS ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
No comments:
Post a Comment