The women’s volleyball team secured their spot in the NCAA Tournament after winning the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Championship against Arcadia University on Saturday, November 5 at Canavan Arena. This marks the program’s third consecutive MAC Freedom Title and the program’s thirteenth appearance in the NCAA Tournament as well as the program’s fifth appearance in the last six seasons, excluding the 2021 season.
The MAC Championship match brought about many impressive performances. Head Coach Brianna Jones commented that the game was one of her favorite games of the season and that the team fought well and with heart in a very competitive matchup. The game started out with a lot of back-and-forth play, and Arcadia ultimately won the opening set. However, the Ducks came back and rallied to win the next three sets. Additionally, sophomore Cleo Shannon was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player after she tallied 22 kills on 50 swings (rounding out to a 0.380 hitting percentage), four blocks, two assists, and two digs. The team held Arcadia to a 0.106 hitting percentage for the game, which marked the 26th match in which an opponent was held under a 0.200 hitting percentage. The Ducks increased their attack percentage each set. The game ended with a 0.483 percentage in the final set, and the overall attack percentage for the game was 0.333, the second-best of the season. Additionally, junior Bailey Axelrad finished the game with a record 27 digs.
Among other top performances against Arcadia was senior Ava Smithing with a career-high nine blocks, first-year Vivian Lisboa with nine kills and seven blocks, and sophomore Parker Adkins and junior Elle Maggio each with eight kills.
This MAC championship win secured the Ducks’ spot in the NCAA tournament held at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia. Concerning their NCAA Division III Championship appearance, Head Coach Jones added, “We are extremely excited to be able to travel down to Virginia and play in the NCAA Tournament! This is an amazing opportunity to replay some teams we have faced before and showcase the hard work we have put in throughout the season!”
On November 10, they faced Manhattanville College, champions of the Skyline Conference in the first round of the NCAA tournament, and won at a margin of 3-0. The last time the two teams met on September 22, the Ducks defeated Manhattanville as well, with Shannon adding 16 kills and junior Meg Dion adding a career-high 10 blocks. As this was the program’s thirteenth appearance, they entered with a strong 29-9 record and a perfect 8-0 conference record. However, on November 11, the Ducks lost their matchup 0-3 against Johns Hopkins, thereby ending their season. However, throughout the season, Women’s Volleyball maintained a strong team record, and there are many individual accolades that should be recognized. Dion currently ranks 15th in the nation in Division III with 113 blocks, and Axelrad ranks 12th nationally with 610 digs. Axelrad is also only the sixth person in program history to reach 600 digs in a single season.
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