Volleyball wins MVC Tournament title

Senior and MVC Tournament MVP Ashley Andrade gets the kill against Southern Illinois Saturday afternoon during the MVC Championship match which was held at Charles Koch Arena. The Shockers won with a three set sweep.

For the first time since 2004, the Lady Shocker Volleyball team won the Missouri Valley Conference championship.

With the title, the team will appear in the NCAA post-season tournament.

The team competed in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament for the championship title this weekend at the No. 1 seed and faced Illinois State.

The Shockers defeated the Redbirds 3-2 and advanced to the finals.

For the championship match, the Shockers stood against Southern Illinois. The team swept the Salukis 3-0 for the title.

“We just kind of stuck with it, all three sets, and I think that’s what really helped us,” senior Chelsey Feekin said.

With a slow start, the Shockers were down 7-2 in the first set but held tight to the competition. Following a service ace by redshirt freshman Dani Mostrom, the score was tied at 11 and the Shockers pushed to take its first lead 13-12. The team won 25-20.

The Shockers started the second set with a four-point run and later stretched the lead to 7-2. Putting up a fight, the Redbirds slashed the Shockers lead to 14-12, but WSU pushed to win the set 25-17.

The Shockers fought a hard battle to cap the title 25-18 in the final set and bring home the championship trophy. This earned the team a spot in the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Tournament. They made it to the Sweet 16 bracket last season.

“We played some good defense and we’re scrappers today,” head coach Chris Lamb said. “We survived long rallies.”

Ashley Andrade was named MVP of the tournament. In the match against Illinois State, she had 18 kills with three errors and 30 attempted attacks. Against Southern Illinois, she managed eight kills with two errors and 18 attempts and two blocks.

“Those moments of diversity challenge you, but when you can work through that and come away with a conference championship, it’s huge,” senior Elizabeth Field said. “That tells us we have a team that is really strong physically. I can’t even tell you how proud I am of these girls and our coaching staff.”