#3 Kirkwood Wins Region 11 Tournament
Cedar Rapids, IA- The #3 ranked Kirkwood Eagles hosted the Region 11 Tournament inside Johnson Hall this past weekend. The winner of the tournament would receive the region's automatic bid to the NJCAA DII National Tournament. Kirkwood was the 1 seed, playing the 4 seed, DMACC. The 2 seed, Iowa Central, would be playing #3 Northeast on the other side of the bracket.
They say anything can happen in post-season volleyball and Saturday afternoon definitely proved that. Kirkwood and DMACC would battle inside Johnson Hall in a back-and-forth match that would end up going the distance. DMACC would strike first, taking the first set 25-17. Kirkwood would bounce back in the 2nd, however, and even up the set score at 1-1. The third set would go extra points, with Kirkwood having set point at 24-23 and DMACC battling all the way back to take the set 29-27. Resiliency is something Kirkwood has shown all year and the 4th and 5th sets would be no different. The Eagles would roll through the 4th 25-16 and not even give the Bears a glimmer of hope in the 5th set, winning the decisive set, 15-4.
Kaci Johnson would continue putting up video game numbers like she has done all season. The setter/right side had her 10th triple-double on the year with 13 kills on 22 attempts, hitting .545, 38 assists, and 13 digs. Sophomore right side Emma Meester hit .361 with 17 kills of her own and freshman outsides, Josie Bryan and Marissa Cahoy, combined for 25 total kills. Lily VanSeveren added 29 digs, and four Eagles had double-digit digs in the match, Hartman, Cahoy, Johnson, and VanSeveren.
With Iowa Central getting upset by Northeast in the other semi-final, the Eagles would be playing the Hawks in the final.
Kirkwood took an early lead in the first set and never let it go through its three-set sweep. Kaci Johnson would again show up in a big way. The freshman would have 17 kills on 30 total attempts with only 1 error. She would add 25 assists and 6 digs to her stat line as well. Emma Meester and Marissa Cahoy would show up big on the pins again, adding in another 19 kills combined.
Kirkwood has earned the automatic bid to the DII National Tournament in Cedar Rapids and will wait to see where they get seeded during the NJCAA DII Selection Show on the NJCAA Network.
