Saint Xavier went undefeated in conference play with their championship game win over Indiana University-South Bend. This was the first time in school history the Cougars have gone undefeated in conference play.
Head Coach Bob Heersema won CCAC Coach of the Year, the sixth time he has earned this award. Assistant Coach Eugene Pinkhasik was awarded Assistant Coach of the Year.
Courtney Hunter, Kaleigh Ritter, and Nadia Atton were named to the All-CCAC First Team. Libero Avanna Martinez earned All-CCAC Second Team honors.
Atton earned the women’s volleyball CCAC Player of the Year award, she ranks third in the NAIA with 513 kills and is one of three players in the nation to have 500 or more kills. Ritter was named CCAC Freshman of the Year, she ranks fifth in the NAIA with 11.35 assists per set and seventh overall with 1,237 assists.
The Cougars opened up CCAC tournament play on Nov. 9 against ST. Ambrose University with a win. On Thursday the 11 the Cougars beat Trinity International University in four sets to advance to the championship game.
On Saturday, SXU took on a very tough IU South Bend in the CCAC Tournament Championship game at The Shannon Center.
Saint Xavier dropped the first set to IU South Bend 19-25, but didn’t let that get in the way of their goal.
Tied at 24 in the fourth after a kill from Jessica Belseth, the Cougars were looking for strong serves from Belseth to get a much needed push to the end.
On the last play of the fourth set, it couldn’t have been more fitting for Atton to get the kill (assisted by Kellylyn Kotowski) to end the game and crown Saint Xavier CCAC Champions.
Belseth had 15 kills and six digs on the day. Ritter had 52 of the 56 SXU assists in the game, a career best for her and the third time this season she has posted 50+ assists in a game.
Atton achieved another career milestone this season, reaching the “500 club”. She is just the fourth player in SXU women’s volleyball history to record 500 or more kills in a single season. She currently ranks fourth in Cougar history for kills in a single season (513).
The Cougars look forward to the NAIA tournament opening round, beginning the 20 of November. They will be travelling to South Dakota for their game against Dakota Wesleyan.
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