KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The Dallas Christian College volleyball team went 1-1 on day two of the National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association (NCCAA) Tournament and finishing 1-2 overall in Pool B. Needing to win both matchups to have a chance at advancing to the semifinals on Saturday, the No. 3 Seed Crusaders took care of business by sweeping the No. 7 Seed Johnson University Florida on Friday morning. However, the No. 2 Seed and fellow Southwest Regional foe, Manhattan Christian College, would defeat the Crusaders, 3-1, and conclude their season.
The Crusaders finish their season at 19-13 overall and had plenty of memorable moments this season. They won consecutive Southwest Regional Title for the first time in program history and thus made it back-to-back to the NCCAA Tournament in the same spanned. The Crusaders qualified for the ACCA Championship match and finished the year ranked fifth in the NCCAA Coaches' Poll.
Lauren Baker earned the 2021 Division II Dr. Vickie Grooms Denny Award
Baker and Caitlyn Yablon formed a senior tandem that earned First Team All-Region and ACCA All-American First Team. Christen Downey claimed Second Team All-Region and ACCA All-American Honorable Mention
The same trio of Baker, Yablon, and Downey, along with senior Keeley Price; would be named All-Scholars Winners
Dallas Christian Wins 3-0 over Johnson University
The set scores were 25-9, 25-13, and 25-14, as the Crusaders controlled this game from the onset. They would rack up 57 points and outdid the Suns 38-22 in kills. DCC also compiled 11 service aces, while not having any reception errors.
Elizabeth Morrow headlined the offense with 11 kills, as she committed two errors in 18 total attempts for a .500 hitting clip. Baker would follow with eight kills, while Downey and
Cameron Del Angel each notched seven.
Hannah Gallegos (15) and
Kelly Graves (11) each reached double figures for assists as the offense rotated smoothly through the duo. There were few attack attempts from the Suns with 84 total, but Yablon would eclipse double figures in digs with 11. She had a third of the team's 33 overall. Gallegos added seven and
Raezellejace Leano grabbed five. Yablon and Gallegos each served three aces, while Leano and Graves had two apiece. Downey added the other. The middle hitter was all over the stat sheet, as she posted a personal-best seven blocks with three as solos. Baker and Del Angel each came up with a pair of block assists to help the team to eight in the game.
In the opening set, it was the Crusaders that raced out to a 6-0 advantage. Leano was on serve for six points, as a couple kills by Downey and then an ace by Leano highlighted the run. The score was within four, but then seven straight points blew the margin to double-digits. An ace by Gallegos made it a 10-point lead for the first time at 16-6, and then Morrow smacked a kill to cap the outburst. DCC led by as many as 15 on Downey's lone ace, which was the other not mentioned above. The final tally of 25-9 signaled the largest lead of the set at 16.
The second set was more of the same, with the Crusaders scoring four times to start, and then after a service error, Downey got a kill to put Leano on the serve. The freshman defensive specialist was there for a long stretch as she forced her second ace in as many sets, and helped start a DCC seven-point run that made it 11-1. The Suns pulled to within seven twice, but the Crusaders would answer each time to get the lead back to at least 10. The largest lead was the final tally of 12.
Johnson University grinded through the early part of the third set. For the only time of the game, the Suns led 2-0 and would go up 4-3 before Baker had a kill to tie things and a Graves service ace followed an attack error by the Suns. Moments later a 4-1 run that had all points come from DCC kills including three by Morrow marked an 11-7 lead. The Suns twice pulled within a point with the final time being 14-13. A
Maya Harrington kill prevented a tie from happening and sparked three points in a row that was a footnote in an overall 11-0 run to finish the match.
Autumn Allmon hit a kill to begin the run and put Yablon on serve, who was there the remainder of the game, as all her aces occurred within that run. The senior was responsible for three of the final four points. DCC had four kills during the surge with two by a classmate in Morrow.
The Suns were led by Johanlly Sosa with nine kills, while Vanessa Orozco had 19 assists.
DCC falls to Manhattan 3-1
The set scores were 25-14, 22-25, 13-25, 12-25 in favor of the Thunder.
Dallas Christian enjoyed the early momentum by winning the first set by its largest margin in the three meetings between these teams this year. Still, the Crusaders could not solve the ranked Thunder of Pool B for a third time, as they were outdone in kills by 20 (52-32).
Morrow was the team leader a second time that day with eight kills. The senior outside hitter produced her top numbers in the month of November during tournament play, as she recorded at least five kills in all matches. She matched a career-high 18 kills in the Regional Championship match versus Arlington Baptist and surpassed double figures in kills in five-of-10 postseason games.
Baker and Downey had had seven kills. Baker racked up a team-leading 318 kills for the season and posted double-digit totals for kills in 16 matches, including all three Regional games. She managed 18 in the NCCAA Tournament game versus Pensacola Christian, and was responsible for the most kills by a Crusader in a single game this year at Manhattan Christian (21) on September 11.
Downey produced double-digit kill totals across eight contests this season for the Crusaders and ranked second on the team overall. The middle hitter posted a team-high 39 blocks and team-high 26 solo blocks. Downey brought the energy to the floor with her vocal leadership and contributed on serves and digs.
Gallegos made 20 assists, as the sophomore setter notched double-digits in nine of the final 10 games. Her 20 total marked the seventh time to eclipse that total and second to only the 28 she had in the Regional Championship. Gallegos added 11 digs for her seventh total double-double. Yablon worked hard with 22 digs to lead the team's 74 and paced a trio that also included freshman
Olivia Withers with 13.
Yablon ends her career having posted double figures in digs in 29 outings this season. That included the final 15 games for the libero. She managed 20 or more digs in 13 matches.
Leano was another first-year in the elimination game that had two of the team's three service aces.
In the opening set, the Crusaders moved to a 5-2 lead thanks to four straight points that had Downey on three of the serves. Del Angel made a block and Baker had a kill. The lead stayed around three until another trio of points expanded the margin to five at 10-5. Morrow made consecutive kills and Downey had the final one on that run. After a Manhattan Christian point, Downey smacked another kill and Del Angel sparked another stretch of points in a row that ended up being four and making it 15-6 and forcing a MCC timeout. The Thunder clipped the gap to 16-10, but another big streak of five points opened the floodgates to 21-10. Del Angel landed another kill and teamed up with Allmon on the block before Baker had kills on two of the next three points. DCC wrapped the scoring up with a four of the final seven points and Morrow had the last point with a kill from Graves on the set.
Things played more even throughout the second set, with Manhattan going up 11-8 with three straight points. DCC benefitted from a couple miscues by the Thunder, but a 4-0 run pushed their lead to six at 16-10. The Crusaders had to play catchup and almost would with a five-of-six points to claw within a point at 20-19. They never overcame the deficit as the sides exchanged the same amount of points and DCC got to within 23-22. It was kills by Brenna McKellis and Dani Sinclair for Manhattan that leveled the sets.
Manhattan would pull away in the next two sets and move on to the semifinals round after going 3-0 in Pool B. The Thunder had defeated Pensacola Christian College in five sets earlier that day. The Thunder ranked second most of the season in the NCCAA Coaches' Poll and had been top seed at the regional consecutive years, but were eliminated by Arlington Baptist both times in the semifinals of that tournament.
Pool A saw No. 4 Seed Johnson University Tennessee defeat No. 6 Seed Pensacola, 3-0, while No. 1 Seed Bob Jones University defeated No. 2 Seed Manhattan, 3-0, for the semifinal results. No. 1 overall on the year Bob Jones would take home its fourth straight championship by sweeping Johnson University, 3-0, on Saturday evening. However, the final two sets of that match were determined 25-23 in each.
"Dallas Christian educates and mentors students to be people of influence engaging in their calling to the work of Christ in the church and in the world."
