Heading into its first NCAC tournament, the DePauw volleyball team (21-12, 11-5 NCAC) knew its would have to get through two national caliber teams.
In the first round, the team faced a talented Hiram College team (26-8, 13-3 NCAC) adept up front with the block and skilled with the serve. Those two strengths of the Terriers proved to be too much for the Tigers, and won the match in straight games over DePauw, 3-0.
Head coach Deb Zellers, who knew very well that her team would have to play its best against a very talented opponent, was proud of the way her team performed.
"All week we worked on our hitters going against a very tough block," Zellers said. "I thought we had a really good game plan, and we executed that game plan very well. As much as I was disappointed in terms of working around their black, we did a very good job."
Senior hitter Abby Balbach, who was selected to the all-conference first team, led the Tigers with eight kills while being assisted by senior setter Bri Holder, who compiled 29 assists.
"Hiram is a very good team, and they made it into national tournament," Zellers said. "They beat us twice, and what I wanted mort than anything was for our team to not to fear failure. I wanted us to go for it and execute our game plans."
A main theme all season for the Tigers has been to not play tight, communicate and do the small things which they can control.
"We did the things we needed to do, but Hiram is a very good team who did a lot of good things with strong offense and strong serves," Zellers said. "When it came down to it, they were able to get more offense off of their serves, than we were able to do on ours."
For next season, five seniors will graduate, leaving younger players eager to take to the court and the opportunity for the program to initiate a fresh start.
"They represent five starters out on the floor for us," Zellers said. "We don't have a lot of numbers. We're looking to bring a large freshman class in and strong from the beginning. It's an opportunity to renew a little bit and reflect on what you're doing and maybe put some changes in to some places."
Along with Balbach on the NCAC first team, senior Paige Thompson was named to the conference second team and senior Kylee Lehrman received an honorable mention and was named to the NCAC all-tournament team.