ALC volleyball concludes record-breaking season in NCCAA National Tournament tiebreaker round

Joplin, Missouri: On Friday, November 21st, the Alice Lloyd Lady Eagles volleyball team returned to Joplin, Missouri to play in the tie breaker-round of the NCCAA DII National Championship.

The tiebreaker was brought on when #6 Alice Lloyd, #7 Emmaus Iowa, and #2 Arlington Baptist Texas all finished pool play with identical records. Although these sets would not count on the season record or season stats, the winner would earn the right to advance to the semi-finals that evening.

Arlington received the bye because they won more sets than ALC and EC, so in the first game, the Lady Eagles faced the squad that knocked them off the night before, Emmaus. In that set, the two clubs took turns trading scores as both knew what was on the line. However, with the game tied 10-10, the Bluegrass bunch slowly began to gain seperation. Although the Iowa squad refused to go down quietly, the Pippa Passes posse would close the match with a nice 25-19 victory.

The second match featured ALC vs Arlington Baptist, the #2 overall seed. The Lady Eagles defeated the Patriots in the most thrilling match of pool play, 3-2, so this game would be huge as well. In this tiebreaker, the contest was close early as both sought a trip to the semi-finals. However, leading 10-9, ABC unleashed a crucial 7-0 run to gain seperation. The Pippa Passes posse fought til the bitter end, but the Patriots were too strong in this set, winning 25-15.

With the loss, ALC ends their record-breaking seaon with a 24-10 record. The squad also won their first-ever Mideast Regional title as well as trip to the Nationals.

While Coach Kayla Moore Vanhoose loses valuable veterans Christa Amburgey and Kyleah Ward, she returns the rest of the squad, and will look to make another deep run next season.