The time has come for the four UCSD women’s volleyball seniors to hang up their shoes, as the final chapter has been written about their storied careers as Triton players.
But don’t think for a minute they are upset with the way the season came to an end.
“”Initially, we were disappointed,”” senior outside hitter and captain Nicole Courtney said. “”But we’re proud of how far we went, and it was an accomplishment even to make it to nationals. Of course we’d like to win, but really only one team can end the season without being disappointed.””
Despite the season-ending loss to No. 2 University of Minnesota Duluth in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II National Championships on Nov. 16 on the University of West Florida campus, the team finished the season with the Pacific Region championship, its first since 2001, and a 26-3 overall record.
“”These girls are fantastic people,”” head coach Tom Black said. “”They definitely worked harder than any other team in the country and that’s what got them in the Elite Eight. It’s been a really rewarding process as their coach.””
The stormy weather in Florida could have been an omen for the Tritons as the Bulldogs handed UCSD its third and toughest loss in a series of four games, 30-32, 26-30, 30-28, 20-30.
“”We needed to bring our ‘A’ game and we didn’t,”” Courtney said. “”We planned to take them down with our serve and we just had too many errors.””
In game one, the Tritons trailed 12-6 early and used both timeouts. They then rallied to pull within 16-13 and eventually tied the game 20-20. Junior outside hitter Rebecca Bailey sent down a kill giving UCSD the lead 21-20.
The Bulldogs fought off four Triton game points to tie the game 30-30 and went on to win 32-30.
“”We were playing pretty well and we just needed to side out once,”” Black said. “”There was the hitting error that gave Duluth momentum. It was just unfortunate.””
Both teams battled back and forth for the first half of game two before the Bulldogs broke open a five-point lead 16-11. The Tritons stormed back, cutting the lead to just one, 24-23, on a block by senior setter Kristen Halvorsen and freshman middle blocker Sylvia Schmidt.
The Bulldogs closed the game on a 6-3 run giving them the 30-26 win as well as a two-game advantage.
“”We’ve been down two games before,”” Bailey said. “”We just tried to put the two games behind us and play every game separately, but it’s a different thing at nationals.””
Trailing early in game three, UCSD tied the game at 13-13 on a Bulldog attack error. Senior middle blocker Brianna Koche put the Tritons up 14-13 with one of her 16 kills on the match.
The teams then traded points until University of Minnesota Duluth was able to score consecutive points and take a 25-23 advantage. UCSD then tied the game at 27-27 on another Koche kill. After a Bulldog service error and a Koche kill, the Tritons had taken game three 30-28.
UCSD trailed early again in game four but took the lead 8-7 on junior opposite Amber Ries’ kill. University of Minnesota Duluth would regain the lead and stretch it to 19-15.
The Tritons only got as close as 20-17 the rest of the game in the season-ending 30-20 loss.
“”I think we got tentative and nervous at the end of that game,”” Courtney said. “”We weren’t playing aggressively, and that’s when you make errors.””
UCSD finished the game with double-digit kills from four players, with Ries’ 19 leading the way. Courtney added 13 kills to make her season total 351.
With the loss of four seniors, all of whom were regular starters, it’s now the underclassmen at the helm.
“”We worked really hard and played more efficiently than any other in the league this year,”” Black said. “”[The underclassmen] are already training for next year and now that they’ve made it to the Elite Eight, they’re expecting to be there again.””
