SIOUX CITY, Iowa – More than 20 wins in a season for just the second time ever. Appearance in the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Tournament Championship match. Berth in the NAIA National Tournament. These are all milestones that the Corban University volleyball team has accomplished in 2016, and the Warriors are now at the NAIA Volleyball Championship Final Site with the chance to keep their season alive while having a shot at the national championship.
Corban, following its historic first-ever national tournament win over Mount Vernon Nazarene University (Ohio) in four sets in the NAIA Opening Round, is making its first-ever appearance at the NAIA National Championship Final Site in Sioux City Iowa. The Warriors, ranked No. 23 in the latest coaches' top-25 poll, are joined in Group G for Pool Play by No. 7 Park University (Mo.), No. 10 Lourdes University (Ohio), and the host school, Morningside College.
SCHEDULE/BRACKET
This year's tournament is the 37th edition of the national championship, and pool play is slated for November 29 – December 1, with bracket play commencing on December 2 and ending with a national champion on December 3. The Tyson Events Center will host all of the matches, and with their being eight pools of four teams (32 total teams), the top two teams from each group advance to the knockout round where everything becomes single elimination.
To watch the matches on the NAIA Network, click here. Single day passes can be purchased for $9.95, while a pool play pass is $24.95. An All-Championship package is available for $39.95.
Corban is one of two teams entering the NAIA Final Site portion of the tournament for the first time ever, with the other being Tabor (Kan.). The Warriors are led offensively by Madison McLain who is ranked fifth in the NAIA with 11.31 assists/set. On the year, Amber Parker is averaging 4.15 kills/set to rank highest for the team, while Alaina Gentili hits for a .365 mark to rank 11th overall. Defensively, it is Haley Wells who has served as the leader for Corban, racking up 498 total digs. Watch Corban's Promo video for the final site here:
Park (Mo.), which in 2014 went 40-0 overall and won the NAIA National Championship, had its recent 28-match winning streak snapped in its conference tournament championship match by Columbia College. The Pirates enter the final site with a 32-2 overall record and run the NAIA's most efficient offense by hitting percentage, registering a .304 overall mark on the year as a team. Danna Gomes keeps the offense flowing with 10.77 assists/set, while Wendy Romero averages 5.05 kills/set – the second-best mark among NAIA attackers.
Lourdes (Ohio) enters the final site with a 26-5 overall mark, and on the year, the Grey Wolves hit for a .242 mark as a team to rank 20th overall in the NAIA. Molly Shonk averages 3.22 kills/set for Lourdes while Stephanie Ruffing averages 3.16 kills/set. The Grey Wolves earned an automatic berth to the final site, like Park, thanks to being ranked in the top-19 in the latest coaches' poll.
Morningside (Iowa), the host institution for the NAIA Volleyball National Championships, received an automatic berth to nationals because it is the host school. The Mustangs (19-13) are very good at the net, registering the eighth-most blocks among all teams on the year with 319. Brittni Olson boasts a team-best 156 blocks by herself. In addition, Olson hits for a .319 clip and averages 2.60 kills/set. Morningside did finish in sixth place in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC), and earned the host bid ultimately because it had a better record than did Briar Cliff University, the other school from Sioux City competing for the automatic host bid.
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