ROCHESTER, Minn. (Nov. 11, 2022) — There are only two teams that will play in the final match of the 2022 NJCAA Division III volleyball season Saturday afternoon. The Chaparrals are one of those teams and they'll play for the national title.
Sophomore outside hitter
Chloey Myers keyed the Chaps attack with 15 kills in their 3-0 win over Century College of White Bear Lake, Minn., in the NJCAA semifinals Friday night.
The victory places the Chaps (31-3 overall) against three-time defending national champion Owens (29-6) tomorrow at 4 p.m.
The overall statistics may not seem as notable for the Chaps, who fired just .241 (31-11-83) on the night, but it was more than enough in their 25-16, 25-18, 25-20 shutout.
"Our serving was on tonight and we did a good job of keeping the pressure on them,'' head coach
Tolis Koskinaris said. "Our serve-receive was good enough to win. We were disciplined and had very few ball handling errors.''
Leading 15-10 in the opener, the Chaps sparked a 6-1 run to take command, with two kills from Myers and one from
Alyssa Fountain keying the run.
In the second, a pair of kills from Myers and two service aces from
Ashley Bylsma allowed the Chaps to move from a 6-6 tie to a 10-6 lead and COD never looked back for the 2-0 match lead.
And in the third, COD dug deep after trailing 14-11 with a 12-3 run for the shutout.
"We played a much cleaner match,'' Koskinaris said. "We're down in the third, and we never gave up.''
COD took advantage of Century's 20 attack errors and 12 service errors, contributing 32 unforced errors COD's way.
Fountain had nine kills and Byslma led with three aces and 21 assists.
Cyd Martinez led in digs with 13.
The Chaps face an Owens team that has dominated the last three national tourneys with their three titles. Earlier this season, COD defeated Owens 3-1 on Aug. 21 in Rockford.
"The only thing that match does is give us the confidence that we can beat them,'' Koskinaris said. "It's going to be an intense final. They've improved since that match and so have we. It'll be a match where both teams are going to go as hard it as they can.''
