GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The (RV) Walla Walla Women's Volleyball team battled back from two sets down, but could not complete the comeback in a five-set battle against (RV) Cornerstone of Michigan in a NAIA Volleyball National Tournament Opening Round match on Friday.
The Golden Eagles (27-7) advanced to Sioux City, Iowa with the victory with set scores of 25-15, 25-19, 18-25, 25-16 and 15-5. The Wolves completed their historic season with a record of 14-13.
After a wild Cascade Conference Tournament that saw the Wolves participate in three straight five-set battles, winning two, Walla Walla traveled around 2,000 miles for a fourth consecutive match that went the distance.
Sahara Browning led WWU with 22 kills and added two aces. The junior finished the season with 465 kills and 511 total points.
Paula Flores had 13 kills, two aces and led the team with 19 digs. Myckayla Shaver had four total blocks and Olivia Cheek had 28 assists for the Wolves.
Cornerstone had a balanced attack led by 11 kills by Josilyn Potter and 10 kills from both Gabby VerBerkmoes and Aubrey Johnson. Potter had five of the 15 aces for the Golden Eagles. VerBerkmoes had six total blocks, Gianna Warwick had 18 digs and Payton Hutchinson led with 24 assists.
Walla Walla outperformed the host team in several categories in the match. The Wolves had more kills (58-44), assists (53-43) and digs (74-53). The struggle for WWU came from the 15 service aces by Cornerstone and 24 attack errors from Walla Walla.
It was a total Jekyll and Hyde performance by the Wolves in their first appearance in the NAIA Opening Round in program history. In the three lost sets for WWU the team combined for 19 errors and no set had a hitting percentage over .079. In the two set victories there were only five errors from the visitors and both sets cleared .320 in hitting percentage.
Despite the loss, Walla Walla rewrote the record book and had the greatest season in school history since WWU joined the NAIA in 2009. It was the first winning season for the Wolves, WWU earned victories against a ranked opponent six times and received votes in every NAIA Coaches Poll except for the one released before the season.