ROCK HILL, S.C. - The 10th ranked Clinton College volleyball team defeated region rival Carolina University (NC) 3-2 in a thrilling five sets to win their first-ever South Region Tournament Championship Wednesday night from J.W. Martin Gymnasium.
With the victory, the Lady Golden Bears volleyball program, in just their fourth season of existence, punched their ticket to next month's NCCAA National Tournament in Point Lookout, Missouri from Dec. 2-5.
Clinton completed a furious rally coming back from a set down to defeat the Bruins 15-10 in the fifth set. Clinton won the first in a competitive duel 26-24 before Carolina took the second 25-18 and the third 25-21. Clinton rallied to take the fourth 25-20 before the exciting fifth set win.
Clinton was led by 17 kills from senior middle blocker Alexia Cunningham along with her nine blocks as she hit .448 while fellow middle Monica Burns totaled 7 kills and 7 blocks with three digs and an ace. Also playing well was senior outside hitter Sierra Smith as she hit .370 with 11 kills, four digs and only one hitting error.
Sophomore setter/right side Sierra Faulkner almost recorded another triple double tallying nine kills and nine digs with 32 assists and 7 blocks along with 5 aces. Freshman libero Charla White also registered 17 digs with 4 assists and 2 aces while freshman outside Madison Weber had 10 digs, 3 kills, an ace and a block.
The Lady Bears are now 19-8 on the season and 6-1 in NCCAA play and were coming off victories in five of their past six matches including back-to-back wins over NCAA Div. II foes Albany State and Johnson C. Smith last week.
Head Coach Tangela Faulkner's program has also set a school record for wins in a season with 19 passing the 16 wins set last season when the Bears were 16-12 and fell in the South Region championship game. Coach Faulkner has totaled 47 wins at the school over her three seasons.
It was a heavyweight fight," commented Coach Faulkner. "We needed our crowd tonight. The energy they brought was through the roof! Our focus all year has been to 'hold the rope' and our team did just that."
"For a four-year old program, what we did tonight is unheard of," continued Coach. "Yesterday, our team had the mindset of doing what had never been done before! With a team of mostly freshmen and sophomores, they were fearless. Our goal was to outwork the other team, outlast them, and outsmart them and we did just that tonight! We defended the Den!"
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