UAA volleyball team exits NCAA Tournament in 2nd round

The season ended for the UAA volleyball team Friday night when the nation’s top-ranked team eliminated the Seawolves in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

A four-set loss to undefeated Cal State San Bernardino in the semifinals of the NCAA Division II West Regional championships wrapped up a 23-7 season for the Seawolves.

Playing on its home court, San Bernardino defeated UAA 25-11, 23-25, 25-20, 25-14. The loss snapped a seven-match winning streak for the Seawolves, who started the season 7-4 but went 16-3 after that. Among their wins was Thursday’s first-round tournament victory over UC San Diego.

“It’s always disappointing when your season comes to an end, but I can’t fault this team’s fight and determination,” coach Chris Green said after the match. “We could have hung our heads after playing so poorly in the first set, but we played some of our best volleyball of the year in the second.”

Leading the Seawolves were Eve Stephens (14 kills, 11 digs, 4 block assists(, Vera Pluharova (8 block assists), Hannah Pembroke (10 kills), Ellen Floyd (38 assists, 4 block assists) and Kayla McGlathery (8 kills, 2 block assists).

The good news: All of those players should be back next year, a nice little silver lining to take into the offseason.

Pembroke is a freshman. Stephens and Floyd are sophomores. Pluharova and McGlathery are juniors.

The Seawolves had just one senior this season -- Vanessa Hayes, who ended a memorable four-year career with six kills and eight digs. She and junior defensive specialist Anjoilyn Vreeland, who is ending her career early to focus on academics, are the only key losses expected for next season.

“Eve’s just a sophomore, our setter’s just a sophomore, and we have two middles who are juniors,” Green said at a post-match press conference. “So we have a good core (coming back).”

Hayes, who switched positions from middle blocker to outside hitter during her junior season, finished 11th on UAA’s career kills list with 979 and fourth in victories with 97.

Hayes was the only player remaining from the team that lost the national championship match in 2016. It was her third time in the playoffs – UAA was eliminated in the first round in 2017 and didn’t qualify for the tournament last season.

“It was really nice to make it back and to not only win in the first round but give a good fight in the second round,” she said.

San Bernardino (29-0 heading into Saturday’s region championship match) got 15 kills and 10 digs from Alexis Cardoza, the West Region player of the year.

The Coyotes looked like a top-ranked team in the first set. Their 25-11 win was UAA’s worst first-set loss of the season.

UAA came back to win the second set. It scored the final three points to break a 22-22 tie, bookending an ace from sophomore Talia Leauanae with kills from Stephens.

The third set was tied 15-15 before the Coyotes seized command with an 8-3 run. The fourth set was all Coyotes.

San Bernardino outhit UAA .258 to .119, getting 51 kills to UAA’s 43. The Coyotes outdug UAA 56-51 and won the serving battle with eight aces to UAA’s two. The Seawolves won the blocking battle with 16 blocks against nine for the Coyotes.

“At times we saw some great volleyball,” Green said of his team’s effort. “That’s what we want to see at the end of the year.”