INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Committee has announced the field of 64 teams which will compete in the 2023 NCAA Championship and UMass Dartmouth has been matched up against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the opening round, hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass.
It marks the first-ever match-up between the two programs. Game time will be 2pm on Thursday, November 16 on the campus of MIT. There will be four games played on Thursday, including 11:30am, 2pm, 4:30pm and 7pm.
The Corsairs, who earned the automatic qualifier after winning the Little East Championship on Saturday over Plymouth State, are making their first-ever trip in program history to the NCAA Tournament. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps – the eighth-ranked team in the nation according to the most recent AVCA Poll – is making their 10th overall, and sixth-straight appearance at Nationals. The Athenas were the 2017 NCAA Division III National Champions.
Led by second-year head coach
Justin Turco, the Corsairs are 20-6 on the season, having gone 8-0 in conference play – which earned them the top-seed in the LEC Tournament after a 3-2 road win at Plymouth State on November 4.
The Corsairs – who have now won 13 straight contests since falling to Emerson on September 27 – went on to host UMass Boston in the Semifinals on November 9, posting a 3-0 win to set up a rematch against the second-ranked Panthers. It was a back-and-forth battle that saw UMass Dartmouth post a 15-12 win in the fifth set to secure the 3-2 win and its first-ever LEC crown.
UMass Dartmouth has continued to put forth a strong effort across the board and ranks among the Little East's best in a number of categories, including first in digs (18.49), along with third overall in points (15.10), hitting percentage (.181), assists (10.62), kills (11.60) and blocks (1.38). They also rank sixth in service aces (2.12).
Among the Division III leaders, UMD ranks 28th in digs per set, while sophomore libero/defensive specialist
Emily Pogorelec is 15th overall in digs per set (5.70).
Individually, the Corsairs are led by junior outside hitter
Kate Wade, who has recorded a team-high 269 kills, having played in all 26 matches. In 87 sets played, Wade is averaging 3.09 kills per set – which ranks second in the Little East. She has also added 15 assists and 33 service aces with 287 digs to go along with 20.0 total blocks (4 solo).
Senior outside hitter
Devon Laing ranks second on the team with 193 kills (2.38 per set), while junior opposite
Chelsea Sanker has 187 kills for a 2.13 average. Pogorelec – the Little East leader in service aces per set (0.68) and digs per set (5.70), has recorded five kills, 79 assists and 61 aces to go along with 513 digs.
Additionally, senior middle hitter
Maggie Sullivan has posted a team-best 65.0 total blocks, including 18 solo. Her numbers put her fourth overall in the LEC with a 0.71 blocks per set average. Setters
Skye Peters – a rookie – and sophomore
Sabrina Bordone have shared the primary duties at the net with Peters recording 487 assists to rank sixth in the conference with a 5.29 average. Bordone has recorded 327 on the season with a 4.04 average.
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps earned its ticket into the NCAA Tournament on Saturday with a 3-0 win over 19th-ranked La Verne in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championship. It marked the ninth conference title for the Athenas, backed by Tournament Most Outstanding Performer Georgia McGovern, who had 38 assists to become the second setter in CMS history to record 1000 assists in a season.
Under the direction of 11th-year head coach Kurt Vlasich – the 2021 AVCA National Coach, Claremont enters the NCAA Tournament with a 22-5 overall record. The Athenas went 14-2 in SCIAC action, led by Jenna Holmes, the 2022 AVCA Division III National Player of the Year, who has posted 353 kills for a 3.92 per set average. She boasts 30 assists, 38 service aces and 267 digs on the season.
Junior right side Brenna Bell has notched 203 kills and 62 total blocks, while classmate and middle blocker Audrey Sawyer boasts a team-best 63 total blocks. Junior defensive specialist Dede Carranza owns a team-high 45 service aces and 456 digs for a 5.07 average, while McGovern ranks second in the nation in assists per set with an 11.15 average.
As a team, the Athenas lead the SCIAC in a number of categories, including aces per set (2.18), assists per set (13.57), hitting percentage (.276), kills per set (14.57) and team service aces (190). CMS leads all Division III teams in assists per set and kills per set.
The winner of Thursday's First Round game will advance to Friday's Second Round, where they will face the winner of the other First Round game between Salisbury (20-7) and Williams (16-9). Saturday's Regional Championship will decide who advances to the Quarterfinal Round on November 29. In addition to the host Engineers (29-4), the Cambridge site also features Alfred (14-13), Cortland State (25-3) and Gettysburg (23-5).
