No. 3 IWU Volleyball won their second consecutive Crossroad League tournament with a 3-1 win over No. 22 Marian University.
The Wildcats earned a bid to the NAIA National tournament as they went a perfect 21-0 in Crossroads League play this season.
Freshman Camara Murry said, “Marian [has] always been competitive, but this time they took their competitiveness to another different level.”
Murry had led the Wildcats with 21 digs and an ace against Marian.
“We knew they were going to be a tough team,” Head Coach Candace Moats said. “It was going to be a battle.”
Senior Julia Price added 12 kills, hitting .207, as well as 2 blocks for the Wildcats.
“We want what we did last year, but that’s only gonna happen one game at a time,” Price said. “It starts with Saturday.”
The Wildcats are on a 28-game win streak heading into the Opening Round.
“There is a lot of pressure because there’s a lot at stake, especially for the seniors,” Murry said. “We all know the seniors want to come off the court with no regrets.”
The Wildcat-Tornado matchup is a repeat of last year’s NAIA Opening Round, where IWU won 3-1.
“[The Marian] game gave confidence to the people on the bench because you can never know when it’s your time to be put in the game,” Murry said. “That really gave our whole team confidence that anybody can go in and do what they need to do.”
Back-to-back Crossroads League Coach of the Year Candace Moats is looking forward to post-season for the team.
“I’m most excited [for] the adjustments that were made with what [the team] brought and the fight that it took from everybody,” Coach Moats said.
The Wildcats take the court Saturday, Nov. 23, at 7:00 pm in hopes of returning to Sioux City, Iowa, for the NAIA National Championship.
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