After a third place finish at the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament this past weekend, the DePauw women's volleyball team is heading to the Division III NCAA tournament for the first time in 13 years.
The NCAC tournament didn't begin as DePauw had hoped, as they lost their semi-final match against Wittenberg University3-0. The Tigers were led by sophomore Lauren Falotico with 14 kills, followed closely by junior Mary Kate Etling with 12. First-year Elisabeth Wilson tallied on 11 kills. The third and final set was lost by a close score of 33-31.
DePauw's success came the next match, though, against Denison University. Last month, the Tigers lost to Denison 3-0, handing them their fourth of six total losses. Etling said this match was the highlight of the weekend.
"It was only a couple hours after we had just lost to Wittenberg and we knew that our chance at on automatic bid was no longer in reach. We came out to fight and to beat Denison," Etling said. "It said a lot about our team how we were able to shake off what had just happened and rebound quickly to beat a good Denison team."
Senior Tori Bowerman had confidence all along that the Tigers would succeed on their second crack at the Big Red squad.
"We knew we were a better team than them and wanted another chance to prove that," Bowerman said. "We went into the game with a lot of confidence and ended up playing very well as a team. The team was excited to show our real talent and happy to do so in three quick sets."
DePauw ended up defeating Dennison 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-23), a nice rebuttal from the season.
"It was sweet revenge [beating] them to end the conference tournament," Etling said.
Falotico then went on to represent DePauw on the NCAC All-Tournament team.
"Obviously no one strives to finish third place, especially with an automatic bid to the National Tournament on the line, but our team played some of the best volleyball all season this past weekend and unfortunately things did not turn out the way we wanted," Etling said. "But, we are still very hopeful that Monday at precisely 11 a.m., we are given some incredible news."
And that incredible news came Monday morning as the Tigers were notified they would be advancing to the NCAA tournament this weekend against Otterbein at Elmhurst College.
On Monday afternoon, more good news came for the lady Tigers' squad. Sophomores Faith Rowles, Keely McGrath and first-year Elizabeth Wilson earned All-NCAC honors after the third place finish. For Rowles, it was her second year in a row making first team All-NCAC. Falotico also earned honorable mention for the award.
The team hopes to take its positive mindset into the its NCAA matchup against Otterbein University.