The University of Tampa volleyball team found themselves in a similar situation as last season. After breezing through the regular season with just one loss, UT advanced to the Final Four for the second consecutive season. Tampa faced Minnesota-Duluth on Friday with a spot in the NCAA Division II volleyball finals on the line.
The Spartans came into the match with last year’s experience to build upon. UT lost to eventual National Champion Grand Valley State last season, but gained some valuable big-game experience that they hoped would pay dividends down the road.
Tampa coach Chris Catanach thought last year’s performance prepared the team for the Final Four this season.
“Last year’s experience really helped,” said Catanach. “We have five players from last year’s team and I think we learned a lot from the experience.”
UT faced one of its most formidable opponents in Minnesota-Duluth. UMD (31-3) came into the match having defeated nine ranked opponents on the season, including a dominating 3-1 victory over Division II volleyball powerhouse Concordia-St. Paul just one week ago.
One of Tampa’s main concerns was Bulldogs outside hitter Vicky Braegelmann. Braegelmann came into the match with a .374 hitting percentage and has recorded 514 kills this season.
Braegelmann did her part for UMD. The two-time AVCA All-American recorded a match-high 26 kills, but it was not enough as UT went on to win the match three games to one (30-27, 30-17, 21-30, 30-24).
Catanach thought Tampa’s defense was one of the keys to the victory. Catanach remarked that the team did a good job shutting down the Bulldogs other hitters, even though Braegelmann wore out the Tampa defense throughout the match.
“We were pretty sure she [Braegelmann] was going to have another big game,” Catanach said. “She’s the best right side hitter we’ve played all year, but we did a good stopping their other hitters.”
The Bulldogs got off to a fast start as they went on a 5-0 run to start the match forcing Catanach to call a timeout. UT fought back closing the deficit to 12-8.
Both teams traded points until the Spartans tied the game at 17 after a Margeaux Sinibaldi ace. Sinibaldi set a school record for digs in a season during the first game of the match.
The Tampa run killed the momentum the Bulldogs gained at the beginning of the game.
Although Danielle MacDonald was ineffective at the beginning of the game, she came up big for Tampa late. MacDonald finished the game with a spike down the line giving Tampa an important game one win.
UMD coach Jim Boos thought that the first game was critical to the outcome of the match.
“I was happy with the way we came out,” Boos said. “But they [Tampa] were able to take the momentum away and we never really got it back. We had a lot of balls we didn’t put away, but I give them credit. They played well.”
UT led the second game from start to finish dominating the action. Tampa took an early 9-4 lead that they would not relinquish. The Spartans went on to win 30-17. MacDonald had six kills in the game and Dixon added five kills.
The Bulldogs showed a lot of heart in the third game. UMD did not give in as they got out to a huge lead to start the game. The Spartans made a late run but it was too late. The Bulldogs the game won 30-21, cutting the deficit to two games to one.
The combination of Braegelmann and the Spartans inability to get MacDonald the ball on offense was the difference in the third game. Braegelmann had seven kills and MacDonald had just two kills in the game.
UT finished the match when they won the fourth game 30-24. The game was closely contested throughout, but Katelen Dixon controlled the action at the end, willing Tampa to a victory.
Dixon finished the match with 18 kills and eight blocks. MacDonald finished with 16 kills.
UT will play in the National Championship game on Saturday for the third time in school history and the first time since 1999. Tampa is looking win their volleyball National Championship.
The game will be broadcast live courtest of CSTV at http://www.ncaasports.com/dii Click on “Women’s Volleyball” to launch the video player.