DALLAS, Texas – The 2021 National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association (NCCAA) Volleyball Division II Southwest Regional is being hosted at Dallas Christian College on November 4-5. This means the third seed DCC will look to repeat as the champions while hopefully having a strong home crowd throughout the event.
 
It starts on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. against the sixth seed Barclay College.
 
DCC VB HYPE VIDEO

A year ago, the Crusaders would be one-of-four teams at the 2020 Southwest Regional hosted by Arlington Baptist University. Several teams opted not to travel due to budget constraints and COVID-19. DCC would knock off Randall University in five thrilling sets in the semifinals, and then topped Arlington Baptist University in four sets. The host school at the time had pulled an upset on top-seeded Manhattan Christian College.
 
This season will not be as simple for the Crusaders, as eight participants expanded the tournament to three rounds. The seeds are as follows: No. 1 Manhattan Christian, No. 2 Randall University, No. 3 Dallas Christian, No. 4 Arlington Baptist, No. 5 Ozark Christian, No. 6 Barclay College, No. 7 Spurgeon College, and No. 8 Southwestern Adventist University.
 
TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

DCC enters with a 12-10 record, but have dropped three straight to non-regional opponents. Per the latest rankings, DCC was fifth in the NCCAA Top 10 Rankings for the second straight release. The team has been ranked as high as fourth this campaign. Manhattan (#2), Randall (#4), and Arlington Baptist (#7) also hold top 10 rankings and have all season. 

The Crusaders are 6-2 at home overall and won five of the last six at the friendly confines. The Crusaders are 7-3 within the region, but it gets tricky as the sixth and seventh seeds did not play DCC this year. The Crusaders first-round opponent is one of those two teams in Barclay. The only team that DCC has played and not been victorious with has been top-seeded Manhattan. The Crusaders split with Arlington Baptist in two games, but the home matchup was a five-set thrilling triumph for Dallas Christian. The team picked up two wins with Randall, one with Ozark Christian, and two at Southwestern Adventist for the other games that were of record for DCC.
 
In the national statistics, the team has fared remarkable in a couple of categories. Notably number of kills by the team is 764 and ranks 11^th according to the category leaderboard. Digs was another strong category for digs with 1,230 to rank 13^th. The best category for the Crusaders is kills per set with a 10.19-clip.
 
Lauren Baker is by far the leader in kills (213) and kills per set with a 2.92 mark. The next highest is Christen Downey with 155 kills and a 1.82 average. The senior has been cold the past few weeks, but the team leader has been a force all season, pacing the offense when droughts occurred and was often the top hitter for the squad on most given days. Cameron Del Angel rounds out the top trio of hitters with 111 kills. Elizabeth Morrow is right at the century mark with 99. Setting this quartet up for the year has been Hannah Gallegos and Kelly Graves. The tandem has combined for 484 digs and each has eclipsed 200 for a team.
 
Caitlyn Yablon is another key cog to last season's regional and national postseason run. Yablon is the team leader in digs with 376 and the NCCAA All-American from 2020 commands the back row. Keeley Price is another senior and then Maya Harrington should make an impact, as the duo each played during DCC's magical tournament run. Even newer faces are helping join forces with the Crusaders, as Olivia Withers served the most aces on the team with 27. The freshman along with Raezellejace Leano have each provided a lift in serves and defending the back row with Yablon. The duo has combined for 44 service aces and are tied for second in digs behind just the libero with 155 apiece.

"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."