11/19: Captains, Tigers to play for their first Walnut and Bronze

Here are my takes on today’s matches. What are yours? Any predictions for the final? You know mine. Neither finalist has been in a championship match. Whoever wins, it should be quite a celebration.

The 2011 Nationals Guide is still there for your viewing assistance.

No. 6 Christopher Newport 3, No. 9 Carthage 0. The Captains (38-4) advance to the national championship match to play Wittenberg (36-3) tomorrow at 5 p.m. central. Carthage ended its first Elite 8 appearance with a 34-7 record.

Both schools were playing in their first Final 4, and the Christopher Newport block proved to be the difference in yet another match. The Captain block was stout in yesterday’s quarterfinal and was even more of a presence against Carthage in a match in which both teams battled to see who could stay in system the most often. Carthage has a tendency to ride a roller coaster in terms of consistency, and the Lady Reds didn’t get to the fun part of the ride often enough. The Christopher Newport block is very good against an in-system team, but it turned into world-class with 12 blocks as the Lady Reds were forced to roll and tip out of desperation.

In short Carthage simply didn’t play well and the Lady Reds once again had trouble limiting runs. This time there was no shift of gears. They were in the first two sets but lost momentum for long stretches, and the Captains made them pay like a good teams do in a machine-like, balanced display of A-B-C volleyball. As a result Carthage hit -.023, managed just 27 kills and ceded 34 points on errors, including 30 on the attack.

Christopher Newport junior outside Cory Harris went 10-0-31 to lead the attack. Junior All-America middle Bailey Jensen had nine kills and eight blocks. Junior All-South Region opposite Christie Fellows added six kills and five blocks. Junior All-America libero Abby Hogge led all players with 21 digs.

All-America outside Michelle Madeja led Carthage with 10 kills to go along with 13 digs. Junior libero Izzy Shaindlin led the Lady Reds with 18 digs. Just two of the top six Carthage options – senior middles Jordan Burkholder and Cindy Cavanagh – hit positive.

The loss is the final NCAA match for eight Carthage seniors who accounted for nearly every kill, block, assist, dig and ace by the team this season. But it won’t take long for a great program like Carthage to roll out another championship caliber recruiting class and team.

Because I need to get some of these puns out of my head, the Captains remain moored in St. Louis and will move on to more uncharted waters tomorrow. I have many more, but I’m sure you’re not interested.

No. 5 Wittenberg 3, No. 4 Eastern 0. Wittenberg (36-3) advances to its first championship match where it will face No. 6 Christopher Newport (38-4) for the Walnut and Bronze tomorrow at 5 p.m. central. Eastern ended its first nationals appearance with a 36-3 record.

I tuned into a volleyball match and an equally enthralling game of chess broke out in the first set. Both teams were well prepared, and nothing came easy. The passing was strong, the setting was elite, the blocking was a presence, the sideout terminations were even when in system, the serving created pressure, and the back rows on both sides were on fire. Besides the rare, random unforced errors, many of the remaining points were decided by who played the headiest volleyball. The rewarded team was the one that read the defense and got out their protractors to find the corners and lines, or found the weakness in the blocks. It was a good representation of what D-III fans hope for in a Final 4 match.

Unfortunately the Eastern passing didn’t allow for the chess match to carry over into Sets 2 and 3. Wittenberg kept a foot on the gas while Eastern’s attack, now a bit predictable due to the passes and strong Wittenberg serves, was swallowed by the Tiger block. The block didn’t result in direct points, but it funneled the ball to advantageous positions. It was like one of those nature shows where the predators know when and where the prey traditionally take a drink. They’re not Tigers in name only. Wittenberg was ruthlessly efficient, hitting .327 in their quest for the goal. And according to the patented Wittenberg M.O., all of the talented Tigers played a part in the bounty of the ambush.

Junior All-America libero Christina Gilene, my player of the match, had a match-best 18 digs. Wittenberg senior All-America middle Katie Sumner went 8-0-11 with three blocks. Senior All-America outside Kimmie Dyer had 11 kills and 10 digs. Senior outside Hannah Riley added seven kills and eight digs. The setters, freshman Meghan Vodopich and junior Hallie Donathan, had 19 and 16 assists, respectively. Senior middle Miranda Sagle and senior opposite Christine Simpson added six kills apiece. It was the epitome of a “team effort.”

Senior All-America outside Courtney Reinhold led Eastern with a match-high 12 kills to go along with 12 digs. Senior All-America setter Maria Horning had 25 assists and nine digs. Eagle freshman middle Katrina Pisch went 6-1-13. Junior libero Kelly Groff had a team-high 14 digs.

Reinhold and Horning cap their standout careers in the national semifinals (first time in Eastern history) as the only classmates in any NCAA division to be four-time First Team All-Americans.

-Ricky Nelson