WWU Women’s Volleyball @ A.I.I. National Tournament

Thursday, November 13

11/14/2014 7:17:00 AM

This past week, the Wolves volleyball team traveled to Denver, Colorado for the Association of Independent Institutions (AII) post-season tournament.

The tournament brought together six schools who are independent from a conference or league, to compete for an automatic bid to the NAIA national championships in Iowa. Remember, the Wolves join the Cascade Collegiate Conference next year, and that will come with a conference tournament of its own. But for this season, WWU competed as an independent, so the invitation to this tournament was a big step for the Wolves.

Gerry Larson, WWU athletics director said, "Considering the youthful makeup of this team, qualification for a national tournament is a significant accomplishment."

Upon arrival Thursday (11/13), an awards banquet was held honoring players individually for their play throughout the regular season. Sophomore, Maria Darling was voted onto All Conference second team, while freshmen Lauren Barlow and Sierra Hample were each given an honorable mention.

Friday, the Wolves played in two matches. The first, came against Rochester College (Rochester Hills, Mich.). After winning the first set 25-19, WWU lost the second 15-25. The third set was very close, and saw the Wolves come from behind to tie it at 24-24 after two straight aces from senior Amanda Preston. Unfortunately, Rochester would get the next two points, winning 26-24. The Wolves bounced back in the fourth set 25-15 to force the deciding set five. Things looked good with an early lead, however it evaporated and Rochester took the set, as well as the match victory.
The second match the Wolves would play that day was against Cal State Marcos (San Marcos, CA) who was the favorite heading into the tournament, as well as the 22^nd ranked NAIA team in the nation. Though they competed well, and kept it close in the first two sets, the Wolves would wind up losing 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-11).

An All-Tournament Team was named afterwards, and Maria Darling was voted on for the Wolves. She finished the tournament with a combined 12 kills and 31 digs.

Before they left for Colorado, the group's only senior, Amanda Preston reflected on her teammates, and the season they had been through.

"The amount of talent that we have on our team is incredible. Since we are such a young team, there was a learning curve for all of us at the beginning of the season."

She mentioned as the season progressed, "We had to work hard to get used to each other's playing styles and to learn to play as a team."

While the end result of this year isn't exactly what the team had in mind, there were many positives for Amanda to take away from it.

"This season has honestly been one that I will always remember. I am truly blessed to have been a part of this team and I wish them the best of luck in the years to come, in volleyball and in life.

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