Lancers top CIU, to play for national title
POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. – Grace’s volleyball team has one match to go in its national title defense.
The Lancers upended top-seeded Columbia International in the NCCAA national semifinals on Friday, winning dramatically 3-2.
Grace will advance to Saturday’s national championship match and will face off with Jessup at 12 p.m. (Central Time). Grace is returning to the national championship match for the second year in a row and will hope to repeat from claiming the 2023 NCCAA national title.
In Friday’s semifinals, the Lancers (23-12) were driven by a dominant pair of offensive performances from Alisha Voss and Sahara Bee, who both amassed 18 kills.
Grace scored the first two points of the match, but CIU (35-4) responded swiftly with six unanswered points.
The Rams’ lead was short-lived as Grace quickly tied the score 8-8 on a block from Livia Tate and Bee.
Grace gradually edged in front and never looked back. An ace from McKenzie Stakely capped off a 3-0 spurt as Grace opened up a 21-17 lead.
Late kills from Leah Henderson, Alisha Voss and Bee cemented the opening win as Grace took the set 25-19.
Grace’s offense could not be stopped in the set. Grace had 13 kills on a .237 percentage, adding four blocks.
The Rams found revenge in the second set. CIU rattled off 10 points in a row early in the set and held on late for a 25-17 win.
Grace kicked off the third set with momentum. The Lancers won five of the first six points thanks to two kills from Bee, and the Rams were forced to burn a timeout.
CIU worked to erase the gap, but the Lancers soon pounded out six straight points to grab a 13-6 lead.
CIU called its second timeout, but the break did little to slow down the Lancers. Alisha Voss and Jadyn Ross put the finishing touches on an emphatic win, pounding out late kills as Grace won 25-16.
Grace hit at a .244 percentage in the dominant third set.
CIU opened up a slight advantage in the fourth set, leading 12-8. But Grace seized momentum with a 7-1 spurt, thanks to two kills from Ross.
The Lancers further extended their cushion and earned a 21-17 lead. But a timeout from the Rams gave CIU life; the Rams scored four in a row to even the score.
Grace regained the lead, however, with kills from Voss and Ross, but the Lancers’ offense went dry. CIU scored the final four points of the set, winning 25-23 to stay alive and force a fifth set.
Grace began the tiebreaking fifth set with kills from a senior trio of Voss, Ross and Bee.
CIU took the lead at the midway mark and led by two, but a kill from Tate and an ace from Emma Blackford pulled Grace ahead 9-8.
The teams traded kills over the next few rallies until CIU led 12-11.
Voss then tied the game with a kill on the next play, and Anna Ballengee produced a critical solo block to force another timeout. Grace won the final two points from kills by Bee and Voss, sending Grace’s bench spilling onto the court in celebration.
Grace racked up 66 kills on a .218 percentage, marking the team’s second-most kills this year. Defensively, Grace had 102 digs and 11 block points.
Bee’s career-high 18 kills came on a sizzling .548 percentage (31 attempts), adding two block assists and four digs.
Voss was equally lethal with 18 kills, 1 error and 42 attempts (.405 percentage).
Ballengee produced 8 kills, 1 solo block and 1 block assist, and Ross tallied 12 kills, 5 digs, 1 solo block and 2 block assists.
Tate notched four kills with eight block assists, and Henderson had 6 kills, 6 digs and 3 block assists.
Liz Schmidt racked up 25 digs, Stakely had 12 digs, and Olivia Martinez added 11 digs.
Riley Owens had 22 assists with 17 digs, and Morgan Syoen added 30 assists with 11 digs.