Championship Match
Western Nebraska vs. Miami Dade
Scores
3rd Place Match
Frank Phillips College vs. Salt Lake C.C.
Scores
5th place Match
Blinn College sweeps past San Jacinto
32-30, 30-25, 30-27
7th place Match
Iowa Western Sweeps San Jacinto College
After being eliminated from national championship contention on Thursday by third-seeded Frank Phillips College, and after Friday's tough loss to 10th-seeded San Jacinto College, sixth-seeded Iowa Western Community College was looking for a bit of redemption. On Saturday, they achieved a large measure of it.
Playing for pride, sophomore outside hitter Juliana Paz and her teammates represented their school well and swept fourth-seeded University of Arkansas-Fort Smith 30-21, 32-30, 30-15 to capture seventh place at the 2007 National Junior College Athletic Association Women's
Volleyball Championships, which are being held at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
With the win, Iowa Western finishes its season with a 58-5 record, while Arkansas-Fort Smith falls to 39-7.
"I thought yesterday (Friday), after being eliminated from national championship contention (on Thursday), coming out in that first match after that there might be a let down, which is what happened," Iowa Western Head Coach Terry Gamble said. "So, we talked about playing for
pride and representing their school, and they did that today. It was an awesome win. It's good to know the kids are going to leave here feeling good about themselves. It's very good they went out with a win."
Paz, playing in her final match for Iowa Western, led all players with 30 kills, 12 digs and one dig to finish her career for the Reivers the way she had hoped.
"I had in my mind that I wanted to finish up my two-year career here as a winner," a very happy Paz said after the match. "I tried my hardest. All of the girls played hard and I'm very happy with how we played.
Paz, who will be playing for the University of Michigan of next season, finished off the season by setting a new single-season kill record with 1,043 kills, and Gamble knows she will be missed.
"Juliana is one of those special players that comes around once in a life time," he said. "All three of our sophomores, Juliana, Julia (Kenealy) and Gabby (Pfannenstiel) helped build the foundation for a nice national program here.
Kenealy did her best to control the net at her middle blocker position, putting away 13 kills and getting five total blocks, while libero Pfannenstiel picked up 24 digs. Freshman setter Meng Meng Xu led the offensive attack with 50 assists.
Arkansas Fort Smith was led by sophomore right side hitter Hanna Valli, who had 18 kills, two total blocks and one ace, while sophomore outside hitter Brittany Hunt added 10 kills. Freshman setter Lucia Najselova paced the Lions offense with 34 assists.
Ninth Place Match
Barton County comes back to defeat Southern Idaho in five games
The Barton County volleball team fell behind 2-0 and then won the final three games to claim the consolation title in the final day of the national volleyball tournament earning a 24-30,
16-30, 30-22, 33-31, 15-10 win.
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