The excitement awaits.
Welcome to Division 2 volleyball.
16 teams with an opportunity to win a national championship.
All matches will be played at Alliant Energy Powerhouse Arena
in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Well, the games this week are going to go like, really great
Definitely going to take down the number one seed.
Let’s go Raptors!
I've told them since the beginning
of the season, like you have to practice and be able to play in the big game.
Like that's what you prepare for. That's where you want to be.
And essentially, this is the biggest game you can play in.
Last year when we got here, you know, they were prepared.
They were going to shock the world and first match.
We were shell shocked 100%.
Like, we hadn't seen anything to this level of competition before.
I tried to tell other people on my team, you know, I don't be surprised.
These are the best of the best that we're playing.
We had a better record, I would say, than this year.
And so coming in, we thought,
oh, like we can take on any team.
I remember we got and the whole team got in the elevator
and there was three or four players from Cowley
and all my girls just looked up and they were all way taller than us.
And I was like, Oh, well, okay.
We went to nationals and all of a sudden these Amazon women are coming at
us in the face.
It was crazy.
But now we have our own Amazons.
And so we went to Florida and we got more experience and we harness
that and put it into play.
Good afternoon
here on the Njcaa network and we welcome you to Alliant Energy
Powerhouse Arena in Cedar Rapids for the 2022 Volleyball championship.
As we have number one seed versus the number 16
seed, Montgomery Raptors.
So in that first set, Montgomery hit 438
and still lost 25 to 12
because Johnson County hit 750.
Montgomery County, they get four from Babb,
who at 571, Federline with two and Jackson with two.
And she was perfect
and that's how it ends.
And overpass Troutman 11 just
25 to 11 was the third
finishes out 19 kills for Montgomery.
I'd say with that type of game, since we're the 16 seed near
the one seed, that's the kind of game where you go in
and just think to yourself, I have nothing.
We have nothing to lose.
You know, like we come out and all we can do is impress people
by getting points against them since they are such a good team.
The girls were devastated and upset, but we had 19 kills.
We had a positive hitting percentage.
There was a lot of positive things that came out of that first game and
they didn't see it.
But Dan and I saw the improvement from last year.
Like after today, I was hungry today and ...
Yeah, now I’m starving!
No, I really, really, really want this.
Like, I want to.
Ready for game day number two.
We're really hyped.
Definitely when this we get to do.
What we know how to do and. So.
When you go to nationals like these teams are close,
like these girls are not like separated
and different groups like they have drive, they have will,
they have heart for the game, but they're also like very close and family.
I think they're goofy, fun loving group.
They they like to have fun sometimes I question like, how did I get here?
How they I up with this group.
And I think
the experience is really important.
Coming out here with your team
spending all these nights, it's just a really cool experience.
I think that on the court and off the court lifting each other up
at practice, when you see each other around school,
like having that team and like family
bond is really important.
So we've had to help each
other up after our losses and then hype each other up when we win.
We played 36 something games before coming here,
so we're just very prepared for whatever
it kind of threw at us.
Thayer serves it up and away
we go.
Another point for Montgomery five Nothing.
Schulze going to swing away.
BLOCK Mann,
22-17 Montgomery.
The way we came out was probably
the best times I've ever seen my team play,
and we were having so much fun and the energy was so good.
But you just get so excited
at the thought of like that we could do this,
or just how much fun you're having and being around there.
But we were getting tears in their eyes
and like the first set of the game just because of how grateful we were.
And that'll do it.
Illinois Central defeats Montgomery three.
When we came out and had the five oh lead, it was kind of like
I felt like the girls felt like, Yeah, we're supposed to be here.
We can compete.
Win or lose, we're a family, we're a team.
We win together, we lose together.
And that's what we tried our best to do is just kind of like
make sure that every moment we have together, we spend it together.
After the game when everyone's super upset and emotional and they start
sharing their feelings about the season, you really realize how much
you know your team has made an impact on you.
Two point swing and we're right there in the match.
Whereas last year, not so much in the match.
So, you know, hopefully next year and years to come,
we'll get back here and win some matches.
You're all together every single day from August to November
and hearing people say how much they love you and how much support goes around
and the team makes this entire thing so special.
So I'll always remember that.
Before you know it, the season's over
like it is for me and like I'm done playing at MC and
I mean, I wish I could go back and say, I wish I, like, spent more time
doing this with them or that because the bond is irreplaceable.
I mean, you can replace a game with another game winning
playing.
I mean, just like the people you're around is like what really matters