CHULA VISTA, Calif. – In a day filled with emotional come-from-behind wins, the No. 2-ranked Corban University Beach Volleyball secured a spot in the NAIA West Championships after completing the reverse sweep in five of their ten pairs played, taking a 4-1 decision against No. 6-ranked University of Saint Katherine before avenging their only NAIA loss of the season against RV Southern Oregon University in the tournament semifinals.
"Today was a wild ride for the team and our coaching staff," Warriors' head coach Dan Stephens shared shortly after their wild pair of wins throughout the day in southern California. "We got off to slow starts and had to build momentum and fight our way back into each competition. We showed resilience and came up victorious in both matches. It made for a loud and exciting atmosphere for the players and spectators, it was a lot of fun! We need to cp things off tomorrow to get that bid to nationals, so I'm hopeful our players are able to rest up and prepare for another battle."
The Warriors (19-3) entered today's matchup with the Firebirds (14-8) having not played a single NAIA ranked opponent this season outside of the receiving votes teams in the Cascade Collegiate Conference represented by SOU and The College of Idaho. Despite the outside comments assuming this year's Corban squad was "overrated", they sandy Warriors left no doubt after rebounding from a pair of opening set losses, with both their twos and fours scratching and clawing their way back into a third set, where they both emerged victorious.
From there, all it took was a clean 2-0 sweep in the five-pair, represented by redshirt sophomore Sydney Sanford and freshman Cammie Masanda, who clinched the dual result with 21-16 and 21-17 set scores. Junior Megan Dennis and freshman Emma Bischoff handled business in the battle of Pairs of the Year, with the CCC's top duo taking down the Cal Pac's top pair in straight sets, 21-18 and 21-17. USK closed out the match with a win in the threes to prevent the sweep against the nationally ranked Warriors.
With Southern Oregon narrowly falling to No. 9-ranked Westcliff University in their final pool play match, this set up two All-CCC and All-Cal Pac semifinal matches to determine who would represent each conference in the championship dual tomorrow morning. This would be the fourth head-to-head matchup with the Warriors and Raiders this season alone, where Corban has held a 2-1 advantage, but SOU took the most recent result.
Just like in their opener against the Firebirds, both the second pair of junior Jessica McMillian and freshman Danae Stokes and fourth duo consisting of redshirt freshman Erin Scott and freshman Allyson Reid dropped their opening sets to their Raider counterparts but were able to force decisive third sets with some incredible teamwork. Trailing 17-11 at one point in the second, McMillian and Stokes were able to end the set on a 10-2 run, while Scott and Reid both found their groove late to take a 23-21 result. Now holding all the momentum, both duos took the third set to provide Corban with a 2-0 pair advantage.
Determined to not let their season end in the semifinal stage of this week's tournament, Southern Oregon stared adversity in the face and once again took the first set in both the ones, threes, and fives to set up a potential reverse match sweep of the Warriors, needing to win all three pairs to advance to the tournament championship. Their five-pair of twin sisters Natalie and Natasha Perez were able to secure a two-set win to advance the match score to 2-1, with both the ones and threes headed to third sets.
With both courts going simultaneously right next to each other, both programs and their supporters would race back and forth between each point, timeout, and stoppage to cheer on their duos, with the threes eventually becoming the first to finish. Despite having less than a week to work alongside each other thus far, sophomore Emmi Marks and freshman Kiley Power played just as well as any of the pairs in action today, but their SOU opponents found just enough points at the end of the third to take a 15-12 win and force the last remaining pair into a winner-take-all moment.
Facing an 11-9 deficit at the break point, Dennis and Bischoff needed to remain perfect over the final points remaining if they wanted to complete the semifinal victory, which they were able to do in style by allowing just one more point for the remainder of the set after the third pair wrapped up on the far side court. Thanks to some timely attacks and defensive positioning, the Warriors' top duo went off on a 6-1 run to send the Raiders home for the year and set up an intense rematch for tomorrow morning's championship match.
No. 2 Corban 4, No. 6 USK 1
1. Megan Dennis/Emma Bischoff (CRB) def. Morris/Anne Mayfield (USK) 21-18, 21-17
2. Danae Stokes/Jessica McMillian (CRB) def. Katie Alexander/Natalie Hill (USK) 20-22, 21-8, 15-9
3. Bailey Combs/Camille Harvey (USK) def. Emmi Marks/Kiley Power (CRB) 22-20, 21-17
4. Allyson Reid/Erin Scott (CRB) def. Makenzie Nutting/Denisse Sanchez (USK) 11-21, 21-13, 15-12
5. Cammie Masanda/Sydney Sanford def. Emily Wilson/Gabby Alexander (USK) 21-16, 21-17
No. 2 Corban 3, (RV) SOU 2
1. Megan Dennis/Emma Bischoff (CRB) def. Madi Gray/Tessa Zimmermann (SOU) 20-22, 21-18, 15-12
2. Danae Stokes/Jessica McMillian (CRB) def. Grace Gulbrandsen/Kira Sandoval (SOU) 12-21, 21-19, 15-12
3. Lucretia Benolken/Kendal Hadwick (SOU) def. Emmi Marks/Kiley Power (CRB) 21-13, 14-21, 15-12
4. Allyson Reid/Erin Scott (CRB) def. Annie Hite/Skyy Nihipali-Bo. (SOU) 18-21, 23-21, 15-9
5. Natalie Perez/Natasha Perez (SOU) def. Cammie Masanda/Sydney Sanford (CRB) 21-15, 21-18
In a rematch of their pool play game to open competition today, the Warriors and Firebirds will battle it out for the NAIA West Championships tomorrow morning at 9am, with the victor securing one of four automatic bids to the National Championships at the end of April.
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