Sioux City, Iowa – The Marian volleyball team are national champions for the first time in the program, as the Knights swept Westmont 3-0 to claim the 2019 NAIA National Championship. Marian won all three sets by four or more points and finished the 2019 National Tournament with a perfect 7-0 record to finish the season with a program-record 38-2 record.
Marian and Westmont battled throughout the first set and traded point for point, as the game was even through the opening 16 rallies, as the game stood even at 8-8. Skyler Van Note, Jai-Lyn Norwood, and Madi Heffron all recorded kills in the opening stretch of the game, keeping Marian in the fight. Westmont broke the tie and went on a 3-0 run to go-ahead 11-8, but the Knights worked their way back as Van Note and Sarah Spangler slammed a combined three kills and used two attack errors to take a one-point lead. Brooke Hustedde posted a kill and Maddie Keerns dropped a service ace to give Marian a 15-13 lead at the media timeout. Marian continued to attack and went through Van Note, as the sophomore hitter recorded three consecutive kills to give the Knights a 20-16 lead. The Warriors got back within two of Marian, but the Knights offense was too much to keep up with as Spangler ended the set with a kill winning 25-20 lead.
Westmont pulled ahead early in the second set, as the Warriors willed their way to an 8-4 lead taking advantage of three Marian errors. The Knights quickly climbed back within one as Van Note scored two points in a 3-0 run, with Lexi Spence polishing off the extended 6-2 run with a service ace to tie the set at 10-10. The two heavyweights traded blows as the game swayed back and forth, with the set coming to a tie six times as the score climbed to 15-15. Coming out of a timeout, Maggie Meyer and Van Note gave Marian a two-point lead scoring on an ace and kill, respectively, to put the Knights in front 17-15. Norwood and Van Note helped keep the lead at two for Marian, while Westmont caused harm to their case in the match as an attack error put Marian up 21-18. The Warriors chipped back within two, but couldn’t close the gap as a service error gave Marian another three-point lead at 23-20. Hustedde capitalized on the error, slamming a kill to give the Knights a 24-20 lead, soon winning the second set on another Keerns service ace to give the Knights a 25-20 win.
Marian came out strong in the final set as they took an early 6-4 lead, with Van Note recording three kills in the first 10 rallies. Van Note continued to terrorize the Warriors side of the net, as the sophomore went on a solo 3-1 run getting kills in a variety of ways to pull ahead by three. Anne Strevels propelled the Knights to a four-point lead going on top 15-11, with the lead growing to five after consecutive kills from Hustedde. Norwood scored back to back points on a kill and an ace to give the Knights a 20-16 lead, inching closer and closer to the finish line. Van Note started the final stretch of five with a kill putting Marian on top 21-18, and a block from Strevels and Spangler brought the lead back to four on the next rally. Westmont would score three points getting within two points, but a kill from Strevels ended the run putting Marian at the doorstep on their first national championship. On the final rally, Hustedde and Norwood teamed up and got the final block of the tournament, rejecting the Warriors attack and giving Marian the 25-21 win as the confetti began to flood the floor.
Van Note would not be denied a championship, as the sophomore recorded 20 kills and had a hitting percentage of .435 on 46 attacks. The all-around player committed zero attack errors and had two block assists to go with eight digs. Spangler finished with seven kills and Hustedde had six kills. Norwood had four kills, one service ace, and two block assists. In her final game, Strevels had three kills and four block assists, while Heffron had two kills and a team-high 21 assists. Spence had 15 assists and eight digs in the championship win. Megan Hawley recorded 15 digs in the tournament finale, adding to her record-setting season as she eclipsed 2,000 career digs.
After the match, head coach Ashlee Pritchard was named the National Tournament Coach, while Skyler Van Note was named the Most Valuable Player of the NAIA National Tournament. Sarah Spangler joined Van Note and was also named to the all-tournament team.
The Knights finished the season with a record of 38-2 and went undefeated with a record of 7-0 at the National Tournament to capture the first-ever national title in school history. The title was the fifth NAIA Championship won by Marian.