GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Dallas Christian College volleyball team gave an inspirational performance on Friday, as its historic National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association (NCCAA) DII Volleyball Championship Run came up short in five sets to host school and No. 2 Seed Bob Jones University. The No. 3 Seed Dallas Christian responded to a 2-0 deficit in sets by winning the next pair by two-points, including a 26-24 score in the fourth set. The final two frames went extra points, as DCC placed the Bruin's championship celebration on hold with the last three points to force the winner-take-all set. It was the Crusaders that grabbed the early momentum to go up 12-4. Bob Jones, who was playing on its home court the Davis Field House, would go on an 8-0 run to erase the deficit. The Crusaders held serve with a 15-14 lead, but Brooke Beaver for the Bruins took over with three straight kills for the winning points.
Early on Friday morning, the Crusaders advanced to their first-ever title match after topping the No. 4 Seed Randall University, 3-2, in the semifinals. It was the third time in the past four weeks these conference rivals had met, and DCC stretched its record to 3-0 in that span with an unsurprisingly five-set bout.
The Crusaders opened up the match by winning the first set 25-14, but then the Saints claimed sets 2 (25-21) and 3 (25-19). DCC rallied back in the next two sets, winning 25-18 to force the clinching set 15-12. The Crusaders trailed 11-7 in the deciding frame before roaring back to tie it with four straight points. After Randall went ahead by a point, it was DCC that won for the third time in less than a month-span in five sets by scoring the last four points. Christen Downey registered three blocks in that span.
NCCAA Executive Director Dan Wood praised Dallas Christian for its tremendous effort and not to "minimize one of the most incredible comebacks I've ever witnessed at any level of athletics." He complimented the Crusaders Head Coach and Volleyball Alumni Tyese Little, by stating that is how you build a program is off that kind of foundation. He concluded, "You all should be so proud of that team and I can tell you I will not forget this night as long as I get to serve in this role."
The Crusaders did feature a young roster that includes freshmen: Hannah Gallegos, Kelly Graves, Maya Harrington, and Downey, who along with several juniors in Caitlyn Yablon, Elizabeth Morrow, Lauren Baker, and Cameron Del Angel being part of a Southwest Regional Championship and NCCAA DII Volleyball Runners-up.
Dallas Christian ends its remarkable season at 13-8. Its 3-2 tournament record had both come against Friday's champions. The Crusaders won six of their final eight outings.
Bob Jones captured the third straight NCCAA DII National Championship and moved the team to 15-6 overall and 5-0 in tournament play. The Bruins knocked off the No. 1 Seed Maranatha Baptist, 3-1, in the other semifinals match. Two of BJU's tournament wins came against the Crusaders, as it took the top seed out of Pool B with a 3-0 win over DCC on Thursday.
Morrow and Downey did earn selections to the NCCAA DII Volleyball National All-Tournament Team. The duo joined Yablon on the NCCAA Awards page, which can be found here.
(No. 3 Dallas Christian vs. No. 2 Bob Jones)
The home team rattled off the first five points and would lead to an eventual 15-5 lead in the opening set to take early lead in sets with a 10-point spread. DCC competed in the second set, erasing a margin as wide as four points to tie things at 13 and 14. The Crusaders still never led in the championship through two sets, as they nipped a 22-19 gap to one that featured a pair of kills by Morrow. Kills by the Bruins secured the first two set-points.
Dallas Christian got its first lead in the title match with a Downey kill that saw the Bruins interfere with the netting in the third set. The Crusaders went out to an 8-4 lead, but then allowed five straight points to trail one. Morrow got a kills to spark a 6-0 surge that had Gallegos on the serve. She registered consecutive service aces to cap a 14-9 lead. Later down 19-17, Del Angel tallied two kills in a four-point run to flip the score. Knotted at 21, Morrow and Downey notched kills to help lift the team in the set and get on the board.
The Crusaders kept their good fortune going in the penultimate set with a slim lead throughout. Up 22-18, the Bruins scored six-of-seven points to slash a three-point hole and take their first lead of the entire set at 24-23. With the Bruins faithful on their feet, DCC's Baker swung big for a tying point and go-ahead point. An ace for Graves extended the action to a fifth set.
DCC roared out to the strong lead with the first five points. This included a quartet of kills in a row by Morrow (two), Harington, and Downey. The Crusaders stretched the advantage to 8-1, then 9-2, and eventually 12-4 after three points in a row. Baker had four kills in the set and that included three in that latest span to help build the largest lead for the Crusaders. Similar these team's match a little over 24 hours ago, the Bruins got strong serves to disrupt the serve reception of the Crusaders and suddenly the lead evaporated. Still, Baker put down a kill to keep DCC up 13-12. Del Angle followed with a kill for the 14-12 lead. Two hitting errors kept Bob Jones alive. However, the Beavers made a swinging error to put DCC back up 15-14. Their leading hitter Beaver finished the thriller though as both teams gave big hits in the last three serves. The Bruins withstood a tough DCC offense, as their defense generated 111 digs and 9 blocks.
The Crusaders placed a trio of players in double-digits for kills with Morrow (15), Baker (14), and Downey (13) leading the way. Downey had four solo blocks. Yablon had a tournament-best for her in digs with 43. Morrow followed with 20 digs for a double-double, while Gallegos garnered a double-double with 27 assists and 11 digs.
After these team's played yesterday, it was an obvious advantage in serves and serve receive with a 10-3 edge to Bob Jones. In this match, the team's were equal with eight service aces.
Beaver claimed a game-high 21 kills and 29 digs for one-of-four double-doubles. Victoria Glaze followed with 15 kills and 21 digs, while Kayla Oberstar (10 kills, 17 digs) and Faith Rahn (10 kills, 13 digs) also achieved the feat. Brittany Annand had 55 assists.
(No. 4 Randall vs. No. 3 Dallas Christian)
Morrow had five of her 14 kills in the opening set to spark DCC to a big lead that was as large as eight (15-7) at one juncture. The widest margin the score reached in this set was 12. An ace by Baker and a Del Angel pinpointed those margins twice before Summer Doty had a pair of kills for the final Dallas Christian points.
Sets two and three went to Randall, but like these team's past two meetings it did not prevent from allowing these evenly competitive squads to go the distance. The Crusaders did not waver in spirit either as they went down in sets after a 7-0 scoring streak toward the end of the third led to Randall, who was the top seed out of Pool A, with a 2-1 sets lead.
In the fourth set it was the Crusaders ability to respond to adversity, as Summer Doty, who left with an injury in the second set, would return courtside to cheer on her Crusaders who needed to win to keep playing. Her motivation on the sidelines worked as Baker used consecutive kills to break a 3-3 deadlock and gave Dallas Christian a lead not relinquished in the remaining stanza. Her first successful attack lit up a 15-6 run that saw the Crusaders lead by eight on a few occasions. Morrow strung three DCC points in a row on kills, while Downey and Baker continued to work the front row with big kills. Baker had back-to-back kills on light tips that changed the pace to put DCC up eight on each one. The Crusaders reached a double-digit lead for the first time at 21-11 and would hold their largest lead at 11 in the set.
Downey notched the first two DCC points with kills, and Gallegos had a marvelous dig on the second scoring sequence. Randall got on the board and strung five-of-seven points to go up 5-4. Del Angel would come up with a kill to level the score at five and then the Harlingen, Texas, native scored a point with a big defensive play as she got the block to flip the lead again. The Saints seemed to seize momentum with four straight scores that forced a DCC timeout. Little's break in the action worked as Morrow slammed a kill for the side-out. Randal surged back again to a four-point margin (11-7), but a couple of misfortunes gave DCC the ball down two. Gallegos was on serve during four points in the 5-0 run.
She said the key for her in that pressure situation was to "put the ball in play so we can get it together and keep our run."
Downey pulverized a huge kill to knot things at 11. The play of the game was block assist by Downey and Morrow to answer a Randall point and make it 12-12. A block assist came up critical again as Harrington and Downey stuffed an attack for the 13-12 lead. After another DCC point, Randall called for time, and then the freshman Downey out of Brownsboro, Texas, had the solo block to punch the team's ticket to a National Championship game. DCC scored eight of the last nine points and improved to 3-0 on the year (at the time) in five sets, all playing head-to-head to the Saints.
Downey was big to play the net at the end of the match in those last serves. She said it was "so my team could preserve their energy to finish the match."
Before the clinching point, the Saints used their final timeout to try and mount a last chance push. Little had one message to get her ladies to tally the final point and reach the championship match.
"I told the girls that trust, communication, and hustle are key in these last points. It's dig or die!"
Baker notched a double-double with a personal-best in kills this season with 17 and eclipsed 20 digs. Morrow displayed one of her five double-doubles on the campaign with 14 points and 16 digs. Downey rounded out the trio in double figures for kills with 13. Gallegos and Graves each had at least 20 assists. These squads were equal in the kill's column with 60 apiece. Yablon's 27 digs led the squad and a quintet in double-digits for that column. The Crusaders totaled above triple-digits in total digs in both outings on Friday.
Randall was led by Teagan Hamilton in kills with 17 and second in digs with 20. Andi Fudge contributed 13 kills and 19 digs. Lauren Hogan had the team's third double-double with 22 assists and 11 digs.
