SALEM, Ore. – For the last seven years, the Corban University Volleyball team has punched their tickets to the NAIA National Final Site in Sioux City, Iowa. This Saturday, they will have the opportunity to make it eight-straight as they'll host an NAIA Opening Round match at 5pm PT, as they'll welcome the Saints of Aquinas College (Mich.) to Tim Hills Court with a spot in the 2023 NAIA Pool Play round awaiting the victory.
"We are excited and honored to move on to the final 48 and to be able to host in front of Warrior Nation, and having the fantastic support of our fans behind us is an incredible feeling," head coach Kim McLain shared when asked to detail their upcoming tournament appearance. "We know it is always a tough journey to make it through nationals, but we look forward to putting in the work to prepare for the first round this Saturday. My staff and I are truly blessed to coach this team!"
To see the full list of qualifiers for the 2023 NAIA Volleyball National Tournament, click HERE.
To watch the 2023 NAIA Selection Show for the volleyball bracket, click HERE.
The Warriors (26-6) will host an Aquinas team (31-8) that is traveling cross-country to Salem fresh off a Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Tournament (WHAC) runner-up placement, as they replicated Corban's regular season and tournament finishes with each team finishing second-overall for their respective conferences. Their runner-up placements in the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) and WHAC provided each team with an automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament, where the winner of their matchup on Saturday will move on to the final site.
Under the direction of Coach McLain, the Warriors started the 2023 season as the No. 2-ranked team in the country after finishing as the NAIA national runner-up in last year's tournament, cementing themselves as one of the most competitive and prestigious programs the NAIA has to offer for collegiate volleyball. They concluded the regular season with the No. 7-overall ranking, which in turn translated to the seventh national seed in this year's tourney that dubbed them the matchup with unranked Aquinas.
It's been well over a year (December 8th, 2021) since the Navy and Gold were last ranked outside of the Top 10 by the NAIA Coaches' poll, as they began the 2022 season as the No. 7-ranked program as well and haven't fell below that mark ever since. Over that period, the Warriors are 59-11 overall with only two losses to unranked opponents, not to mention twenty victories over ranked teams at the time of play. The consistency and execution by Coach McLain's teams have earned them the respect of the coaches nationwide, and with it will continue to be the expectations of providing competitive volleyball, no matter who their next adversary will be.
In what will be her final postseason with the Warriors, junior outside hitter Rylee Troutman looks to lead her team to yet another final site appearance, as the two-time and back-to-back CCC Player of the Year will play in her fourth NAIA Opening Round match on the Warriors' home court since her first year on campus in a Covid-19 riddled 2020 season. The reigning NAIA Attacker of the Year will be adding to her program record numbers in various categories as the only student-athlete to accumulate over 1,500 kills and 1,000 digs in a single career, as she closes in on a career kills record that has withstood the test of time over the last 24 years.
In addition to Troutman's prowess, four more Warriors were selected to postseason honors by the CCC head coaches this year, including second-year setter Abby Guindy earning First Team recognition after a season of commanding the conference's most efficient offense. As the only First Team setter, Guindy has dealt out 674 assists thus far with an average of 5.81 dimes per set, ranking second in the conference in both categories.
Junior middle blocker Allyson Reid has officially become the program's all-time leader in career blocks after chasing former student-athlete Paige Stewart over the past three seasons, as she clinched her 431st career block in the CCC semifinals against No. 12-ranked Southern Oregon University, a match in which she sent nine balls back to her opponent to show exactly why she was a Second Team All-Conference selection.
The former CCC Freshman of the Year in 2022, sophomore opposite hitter Makayla Roginski, turned in another Second Team All-Conference performance during the regular season on the right side of Troutman, tallying over 300 kills and adding 96.0 blocks at the net. Meanwhile, true freshman middle blocker Emma Bischoff has introduced herself to the NAIA in style, garnering Honorable Mention honors this season thanks to a team-best .282 kill percentage, while also recording 193 kills and 113.0 blocks to trail only Troutman and Reid, respectively.
Corban concluded the regular season and conference tournament ranked top 20 in the NAIA in kills (1,538), assists (1,439) and attack percentage (.235), all of which will provide the Warriors with yet another great opportunity to make a deep run into the national tournament.
This marks the return to the NAIA Opening Round for a Saints program that hasn't qualified since the 2020 season, while their 31 team wins this year is only the second time since 1997 that Aquinas has reached the 30-win mark in the same season. Despite tallying absurd team attacking numbers (1,815 kills and 1,696 assists), Aquinas was unable to keep pace with No. 22-ranked Indiana Tech in their pursuit of a WHAC regular season title, and thus provided the Saints with an opportunity to earn their way back into the national tournament via the conference's second automatic bid.
The Saints will bring the second-straight 5-1 rotation that the Warriors have hosted in an opening round match on Tim Hills Court, with last year's Benedictine University at Mesa team boasting their own all-around setter that had run rampant on the Cal Pac Conference. This season, Aquinas setter Lydia Harper will most likely be the focal point of Coach McLain's gameplan if she hopes to return her team to Sioux City once again, as the 6'2 NCAA DI transfer was unstoppable during the regular season, dealing out 1,244 assists for the fourth most in a single season by a Saint in program history, while adding 195 kills offensively alongside 94.0 blocks and 302 digs defensively. The Navy and Gold will need to focus on shutting down the former Miami (Ohio) Redhawk and 2023 WHAC Newcomer of the Year in order to improve their chances of a postseason victory on their home court.
However, the buck doesn't stop with Harper, as two of her senior teammates, outside hitter Abbi Perkins and middle hitter Samee Teachworth, also threw together First Team All-WHAC performances during the conference season to boast the program both offensively and defensively. Perkins is the only student-athlete on the team with over 400 kills this season, while Teachworth led the WHAC in kill percentage (.311) and was third for total blocks at 124.0, adding an impressive 281 kills from the middle of the net.
Lastly, freshman middle hitter Lauren Chioini was selected to the All-Freshman team to stabilize the Saints' presence even further at the net, proving to be a difficult matchup for a Warrior offense that doesn't take no for an answer. Given how each program has established themselves at the net both offensively and defensively, this weekend's matchup will more than likely be decided in the serve-receive battle, as each team has shown weaknesses that can be exploited in the backcourt when given the opportunity.
Whichever team emerges victorious on Saturday night will earn a spot at the NAIA Final Site in Sioux City, where pool play will begin on November 29th at the Tyson Events Center. The official pool play groups and seeding will be made available following the conclusion of each opening round match via the NAIA national website.
Livestream of Saturday's match between the Warriors and Saints will be made available HERE, while free live stats can be found by clicking HERE.
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