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COUNCIL BLUFFS — The last team to qualify for the NJCAA Volleyball Championship eventually turned the national tournament at the Mid-America Center into CSI: Council Bluffs.
College of Southern Idaho, which had to win a playoff match to get into the field of 16, claimed its ninth national title Saturday with a surprisingly one-sided 25-18, 25-19, 25-18 victory over No. 8 Missouri State-West Plains.
The championship was CSI’s first since 2005 and first under fourth-year head coach Heidi Cartisser, who said the reason she and most of her players are at the school is because of its legendary volleyball tradition.
The Golden Eagles won six consecutive titles in the 1990s, seven in an eight-year span. Now she and her team are a permanent part of that history.
“It’s absolutely amazing, and I can’t even describe it,” Cartisser said. “If I could win a national championship and have it be my first at CSI, I would want it to be with this group.”
The Golden Eagles (32-6) opened the match by scoring nine of the first 10 points, four of which came off blocks. Tournament MVP Jessica Peacock added a pair of kills, then everyone else in the CSI offense got involved.
Sophomore middle blocker Torrey Hulsey had four kills and three blocks in the opening set alone. She finished with 15 kills and five blocks while hitting at a .652 clip.
“We just came out with a lot of emotion and a lot of confidence going into this match,” she said. “I think being so pumped and everything, we just came out swinging hard and killing balls.”
Third-place match
No. 3 Western Nebraska bounced back from its devastating loss in the semifinals to beat the tournament’s top seed for third place.
The Cougars (42-4) got 12 kills from Brooke Blomenkamp in a 25-17, 27-25, 23-25, 25-17 win over No. 4 Salt Lake (Utah).
Shelbi Zaldain had 12 kills for the Bruins (29-9).
Fifth-place match
No. 7 Miami Dade got 15 kills from Yenifer Calcano in a 25-20, 25-12, 25-18 win over No. 5 Iowa Western.
Reiver errors, and two kills and a block by Calcano led to a 9-1 run by the Sharks (32-5) in the opening set. IWCC never got back into the match after that and saw its season end at 42-6.
Seventh-place match
No. 15 Hillsborough (Fla.) overcame a late surge by No. 17 Frank Phillips (Texas) and an injury to star Aida Bauza to pull out a 25-19, 14-25, 25-18, 24-26, 15-12 win.
Bauza, who played in only the first two sets, led the Hawks (31-10) with 10 kills. Anzelika Lukjanska had 22 kills and 14 digs for the Lady Plainsmen (29-13).
Ninth-place match
No. 13 Hutchinson (Kan.) rallied from seven points down in the opening set and six points down in the finale to edge No. 10 San Jacinto (Texas) 25-23, 24-26, 25-19, 26-24.
Kate Morrell had 18 kills to lead four Blue Dragons (33-9) with double-digit kill totals. Christie Dorch had 15 kills and 16 digs for the Ravens (32-9).
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