GREENVILLE, Ill. - The Westminster volleyball team defeated MacMurray in four sets to win the 2019 SLIAC Volleyball Tournament! The Blue Jays defeated Webster in five sets earlier in the day in the semifinals.
"We played a really good tournament today. We knew it was going to take playing two solid matches against two really good teams to come out on top. I'm really proud of my girls and how they step up to the challenge and played their hearts out! We worked really hard to be in this position and it says a lot about our team and how we performed. We accomplished something at our school that hasn't happened in the last 21 years! I couldn't be more proud of my girls today!" said Westminster Head Coach Natalia Koryzna.
The Highlanders hit .241 as a team to come away with a 25-22 win in the first set. In the second set the teams traded points early on until the Blue Jays went up 9-7 on a kills by Natalie Needy and a MacMurray attacked error. Westminster never looked back and with the score in their favor 12-10 added a five-point rally with to extend their lead to 17-10. The Blue Jays won the second set by a score of 25-17.
In the third set MacMurray jumped out to an early 10-4 lead. Westminster was able to cut the lead to 10-9 after two kills by Sarah Rivers, a pair of errors by the Highlanders, and an ace by Teresa Becker. Westminster trailed MacMurray for the next few points until they tied the game at 14-all on a kill by Becker. Each team scored on an attack error and Westminster retook the lead on a kill by Ashley Kistaitis. The Blue Jays held on to take the set 25-23 and go up 2-1 in the match.
Westminster controlled the fourth set and ended the game on kill by Kistaitis to take the set 25-18 and win the SLIAC tournament! Kistaitis record kills on the final five points for Westminster to close out the victory.
Kistaitis recorded 27 kills which ties her own school record for kills in a match and sets a new record for most kills in a four-set match. Erica Schrader led Westminster with 28 digs in the game. Becker recorded 48 assists in the match and Eryka Wanyonyi finished with 17 kills and 16 digs.
The Blue Jays will now advance to the NCAA tournament and their opponent and game information will be announced on Monday.
