Nov. 23, 2002
Volleyball Repeats as South Central Regional
Champs:
Advance to Elite Eight NCAA DII Tournament
The Truman Bulldogs volleyball team is NCAA South Central Regional Champion for the second year in a row. The team continued its dominance over Central Missouri with a 31-29, 32-30, 30-23 win to advance to the Elite Eight.
Truman hit .305 for the game on the way to the sweep. Shelby Ortwerth and Jessica Sears were named to the South Central region all-tournament team after leading the Bulldogs on Saturday. Ortwerth had 11 kills and Sears and Kelly Vogel each had 10. Senior Monica Marlowe had 38 assists and 11 digs while Tiffany Graham led the team with 13 digs.
Central Missouri was led by Elyse Mohme who had 19 kills and Carrie Potthast who added 15. Natalie Loerch had 41 assists and Jacque Barr had a team-high 19 digs.
Game one was close throughout with neither team leading by more than four points. Jessica Sears made the big plays for the Bulldogs. Central Missouri was serving for game point at 29-28 when Sears tied it up with a kill. She then served for two straight Truman points to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.
Game two also went into overtime. Truman grabbed a 12-4 lead early but scored just one point of its next eight serving rotation, allowed the Jennies to tie the game at 21. The match remained close as the Bulldogs served twice for game point but could not convert. On the third game point, Jessica Sears and Tiffany Graham blocked a Central Missouri attempt for the winning point.
Both teams struggled scoring on their serving in the final game. Truman broke through first with Truman scoring on three straight Graham serves to take a 19-15 lead. Central Missouri closed it to 25-23 at one point a sideout and three four straight points off Sears serve gave the Bulldogs the title.
The Bulldogs will play in the NCAA Elite Eight on Dec. 5-7. Truman will play the winner of the Southwest Region. The location of the event will be determined at a later date.