The No. 4 University of Tampa volleyball team concluded its season with a loss to Cal State San Bernardino in the NCAA Elite Eight tournament.
UT made the trip to St. Paul, Minn., where Concordia hosted the NCAA Tournament.
They were matched up with Cal State San Bernardino, who had beaten UT in all four of their previous meetings.
The Spartans managed to win a close opening set 25-21 with a .455 hitting percentage.
That would be UT’s last win of the season, however, as the Coyotes took the next three sets by scores of 25-20, 25-22 and 25-20.
The Spartans hit a season-low .222 in the match.
Three Coyotes finished with double digit kills while three also had double digit digs, with two players recording double-doubles.
For UT, junior Melissa Vanderhall led with 18 kills, while sophomore Julie Howlett had 20 digs.
Junior Meghan Sherman recorded her 2,000th career assist in the first set, finishing the match with 42.
CSU San Bernardino went on to lose in the semifinals to Concordia, who won their third straight national title and is the only team to win it all since UT captured the championship in 2006.
Overall, the volleyball season can be considered a successful one for UT.
The Spartans finish the season with a 31-3 record and the South Region championship.
This also marks the ninth season in which Tampa has finished in the top five.
UT was led by Vanderhall, who captured both the Sunshine State Conference and South Region Player of the Year awards for the second straight season.
Vanderhall finished 2009 with a team-best 416 kills.
She is one of five All-SSC players and one of three All-Americans on the team.
The team’s other juniors, Kaleigh Cunningham and Meghan Sherman, were also named All-Americans.
Additionally, head coach Chris Catanach was named South Region Coach of the Year for the fifth consecutive season and 13th time in his career.
Highlights from 2009 included defeating fierce conference rival Saint Leo at the Martinez Center for the South Region title.
The Spartans and Lions split their matches in the regular season and shared the SSC title leading up to the rematch in the tournament final.
“I personally felt like the game was more than just a regional game,” Vanderhall said of the win. “We wanted to prove that we were the better team.”
Catanach stated hosting the regional tournament and making it to Elite Eight were goals for the team at the beginning of the season.
Now having accomplished those, the Spartans can declare this season a strong showing.
Next season also looks to have high expectations for UT.
The team had no seniors this season and will be returning their core in 2010.
The team will also add a couple new players as the team continues to recruit, according to Catanach.
The Spartans will return to action at the beginning of the fall 2010 semester.
Ryan Burkett can be reached at rburkett@ut.edu.