April 27, 2024
When high school players tuned in to watch the National Semi-final for NCAA Men’s D3 Volleyball on Friday, you would have to believe that a strong consensus would want to be a part of the tournament at some time in their future. Both semi-final matches could not have done a better job of creating an environment filled with passion and excitement joined with an incredibly high level of play of volleyball. The Championship tournament has lived up to every aspect the sport could ever want, and we are sure these games will be replayed over and over as a prime example of just how good our sport has become at this level.
Four teams rolled into Dubuque touting quarter-final match wins. Three of the 4 teams pulling upsets in the process as they defeated higher ranked teams to advance. The defending Champ Steven’s Ducks advanced in easy fashion, but all three remaining teams went to five sets to stake their claims in the final 4. Cal Lutheran, who had such a strong start to their season and settled in a 5th in most of the ranking sites, took down the home team Loras DuHawks who had only one loss all season, a 4-set loss to Carthage on their home court. Loras had dreams of playing in front of a home final 4 crowd, but this goal vanished as Cal Lutheran’s balanced attack was just too much for the Loras offensive duo of Corey Mayotte and Dorian Firorenza. NYU has been one of the hottest teams as the season was winding down and their win over Vassar in the UVC final was truly outstanding. But taking down the undefeated Southern Virginia Knights seemed like an impossibility, but they turned into one of the greatest wins in program history. And with Wentworth having such a sensational season, watching Vassar dash their hopes to a National title with an outstanding performance Vaughn Ramsey was very unexpected.
Yesterday’s matches somehow took it to an even higher level as the final 4 battled for their final seats in the Championship match Sunday.
Cal Lutheran vs Stevens: On paper, Steven’s appeared to have the advantage. They are arguably the deepest team in the nation, and their starters are all standouts. They were the defending champs and put a team on the floor that had almost a 100% return from that championship team. Experience, especially in crucial games that count down the stretch, was in their corner. But Cal Lutheran is a team that does things differently. They are one of just two California teams on the D3 landscape. Their game regiment involves intense travel, usually 2,000+ mile trips for intensified weekends. It’s common for them to rent an AirBNB where the team can bond together rather than individual hotel rooms. They even had a two week down time during their season. The resiliency they showed in their reverse sweep of the defending champs was off the chart. It was a never say die attitude that will carry as an advantage into the finals. Watching Taylor Marks and Louden Moran, two of the best setters at this level, battle wits on the offensive attack, a true spectacle with both combining for over 100 assists. Jordan Cooper and Michael Stahl were at the top of the game providing 24 and 23 kills respectively. And the defense had an acrobatic Logan Marks lift 17 digs to squelch Duck attacks. Stevens outscored the Kingsmen by 7 for the match, but CLU would not be denied in the last three sets.
Vassar and NYU were quite familiar with one another. Vassar won their regular season match and NYU returned the favor in the UVC conference final. So, we knew this one was going to be a classic. The 21-19 set 5 win for Vassar was the culmination of a back-and-forth battle were either team could win. Both teams scored the same number of points over 5 sets. Tucker Shearn stood out on defense for the Brewers and of course Jacob Kim in his dual role of setting and hitting contributed 12 kills, 23 assists, and 11 digs. What was shaping up to be a set tying power kill by Lucas Osiecki turned into a monster single block from Vaughn Ramsey to end the match. Ramsey was once again outstanding on Friday and provided many sparks and emotional uplifts for the Brewers.
Cal Lutheran vs Vassar on Sunday
We will have a new team name on the Championship plaque this season. Our rating system favors Cal Lutheran in 5 sets. But let’s face it. No one cares about rating systems at this point. Sit back and enjoy the final and best of luck to both teams.
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