Libero Avanna Martinez serving. Saint Xavier University Athletics.
On Saturday, Nov. 16, the Saint Xavier University (SXU) Cougars lost to the Viterbo V-Hawks in three sets. Despite this loss, the Cougars still have a bid to the opening round on Nov. 23rd. SXU will have an opportunity to make it to the NAIA national championship since they missed the National Championship last year.
Despite the loss,the Cougars had a remarkable playoff run and regular season. They came in as the second seed in the CCAC and started their playoff run against the Indiana University Northwest Redhawks.
The Redhawks came into the CCAC tournament as the seventh seed. They had an overall record of 14-18 and had already lost to the Cougars earlier on in the season. The Cougars came into this game with confidence, as their performance presented this onto the court.
The Cougars outplayed the Redhawks in almost every single category. However, the game became close in the first two sets because of the service errors that the Cougars committed.
The third set was a completely different story, the Cougars absolutely destroyed the Redhawks and won with a final score of 25-12. With this win, the Cougars moved on to the semifinals which was played on Thursday Nov. 14th. against the Judson Eagles.
The Eagles were the third ranked team in the CCAC behind the Cougars, posing a much bigger threat to their championship aspirations than the Redhawks. The match ended up going all the way to five sets with the Cougars barely pulling out the win.
Outside hitter Connie Lebel had an incredible performance that helped push the Cougars to the championships. Lebel finished the game with 24 kills and hit at an impressive .356%. Rightside hitter Courtney Hunter also played very well, accumulating 15 kills while hitting .382% on the match.
With this win, the Cougars moved on to the CCAC championship which was held on Saturday against the Viterbo V-Hawks. The last time the Cougars matched up with the V-Hawks, they lost in three quick sets. Safe to say the Cougars were itching to get their revenge.
This would be the Cougars toughest challenge yet, as the V-Hawks are currently ranked 13th in the nation. The match did not start off very competitive as the V-Hawks jumped out to a fast 10-4 lead.
Once the V-Hawks reached 20 points, the Cougars would start to go on a 7-1 run that would bring the game within a point. After a few unfortunate hitting errors on the Cougars end, it led the V-Hawks taking the first set 25-21.
After a challenging first set, the second set rolled around as the match started out close until each team hit five points. The V-Hawks would then go on a 15-4 run and put this set completely out of reach.
The Cougars had a miserable hitting performance, they had a total of seven kills on .028%. The V-Hawks on the other hand hit very well with 15 total kills on .333%.
With the third set rolling around, the Cougars started to feel a sense of urgency with the conference championship on the line. The third set started similarly to the second, as both teams went back and forth trading points.
Unfortunately for SXU, once the V-Hawks hit five points, they would turn their play up to another level. The V-Hawks would end up going on a 15-4 run and ended up being too much for the Cougars to handle. After this run the V-Hawks ended up winning the third set 25-9, earning them the CCAC championship.
Despite the Cougars hitting a match low -120% in this final set. There were still a few standout players in this match on the Cougar’s side. Rightside Courtney Hunter led all Cougar attackers with 8 kills, Lebel was right behind her with 6 total kills. Setter Samantha Hovey dished out eighteen total assists.
The Cougars finish the CCAC playoffs in second place and are still looking to make it to the National Championship. They will play on Saturday, Nov. 23 against the Aquinas Saints in the opening round which will determine if The Cougars will be playing in the tournament come December.