Top right: Adriana Contreras embraces injured Amy Smith as the two of them celebrate their national championship.
Bottom right: Upon their fifth game win, claiming the division III championship, Head coach Don Flora, assistant coach Randi Smart and trainer Beth Thompson rise out of their seats to join the team in celebration. This was Flora’s first trip to the NCAA Final Four. / photo by Tom Galaraga
by Christine Owen
Editor in Chief
Overcoming a season filled with challenges and setbacks, La Verne clinched their first NCAA Division III National Title since 1982 by defeating No. 1 ranked University of Wisconsin Whitewater and breaking its 43-game home winning streak that dated back to 1999.
Just as they had done the previous night against Juniata College, the Leopards endured a five-game match, defeating the Warhawks 22-30, 33-31, 16-30, 30-26, 15-12.
“It’s an amazing sense of setting a goal and reaching it,” said ULV head coach Don Flora. “It feels pretty darn good.”
With La Verne leading in overtime in game two, senior middle blocker Adriana Contreras found herself behind the line to serve for only the second time this year.
Usually Flora subs in a defensive specialist to serve for Contreras, but since he had used up all his subs, Contreras was forced to serve.
“She looked at me and took a deep breath,” Flora said.
With the score 32-31, Contreras served up an ace to win the game for La Verne.
After bouncing back to win game two, the Leopards appeared lifeless as they took a beating in game three, losing 16-30.
“We got rolled in the third game,” said ULV setter Ryan Winn.
Whitewater started a powerful duo of outside hitters , twins Melinda and Allison Erickson, both All American players while Allison was the Division III National Player of the Year.
The Leopards jumped to an early lead in game five and with the score 6-2, Whitewater called a time out. It did not help much as they had to call another one with the score 12-8. The Leopards were at match point with the score 14-10, but Whitewater gained two points before Contreras put down the last of her 15 kills to end the match.
“I wanted to get that kill for my team,” Contreras said.
“We made some crucial mistakes at crucial times, they did not,” said Whitewater head coach Kris Russell. “I’m disappointed, but hats off to La Verne.”
Senior Ryan Winn, junior Stacey Lupu and freshman Amy Kratochvil were named to the All-Tournament team, as were the Erickson sisters from Whitewater and Niki Mueller from Juniata.
Kratochvil led the Leopards with 18 kills and Winn had a match-high 64 assists.
The Leopards were forced to play without powerhouse Amy Smith after she tore ligaments in her knee during an attack hit in warm ups prior to Friday night’s match against Juniata. Smith ranks second on the team in kills, averaging 3.31 a game.
“On a warm up swing, she came down awkwardly,” Flora said. “She’s done.”
“That throws us off to not have her on the right side on the back row. Defensively, she’s one our best players,” Flora said.
To compensate for Smith’s absence, Flora moved freshman defensive specialist Jen Stout to Smith’s position and brought in junior Meridith Zembal to dig some balls.
“Her ball control tonight was stellar,” Flora said in response to Zembal’s 29 digs, a match-high for the night.
“It’s tough to not be out there and be a part of it,” Smith said, while sidelined on the bench during warm-ups.
Smith, also a track star, won SCIAC last year in javelin and high jump and was also a national qualifier. She said with her injury that she would be out for the spring season.
In addition to having to battle against the No. 1 team in the nation, La Verne found themselves having to deal with a loud crowd of 1,692 fans, who pulled out newspapers and pretended to read them as the Leopards’ roster was read by the announcer.
“It was hard to hear ourselves talking to each other on the court,” Stout said.
The Leopards had complained all weekend about not getting respect from other players and coaches at the tournament, but that changed when they clinched the title and defeated the favored team.
“Hey, everyone thought the Yankees would win and they lost,” Winn said.
Last year, the Warhawks lost the national championship match to three-time champion Central College (IA).
On Friday night, La Verne defeated Juniata College in the semifinal match in five games, 27-30, 30-28, 30-17, 24-30, 15-8.
“We knew it was going to be a battle [between] two very similar teams,” Flora said. “We expected to have to play our best game, and they pushed us.”
La Verne was scheduled to have a closed practice at 11 a.m. on Friday, a practice time that they forfeited.
“We have a very superstitious team,” Flora said, explaining that after suffering a tough loss in a prior season, it became the tradition not to practice on the first day of a tournament.
Zembal, a third year player, is the backup setter for La Verne and when called upon, contributed nine digs for the night. Stout contributed 10 kills and had a match high 31 digs.
“Meridith Zembal and Jen Stout took the game ball tonight; there’s no doubt about that,” Flora said.
Zembal has not seen much playing time on the court this year, but Flora said that was not a factor.
“This team trains so hard against each other every day she (Meridith) gets reps every day as hard and full speed as anybody else on the court.”
“I’m extremely proud of the way that I played, which is rare,” Zembal said.
Arriving at game five with two games apiece tucked away, the Leopards won the coin toss and took the court. With La Verne leading 7-2, Juniata called a time out. They returned to the court with some momentum and registered a kill to break ULV’s rhythm.
La Verne quickly came back and with the score at 12-8, in favor of La Verne, Juniata called another timeout in a last ditch effort to win the match.
Stacey Lupu recorded one of her 16 kills and followed with a solo block to bring the score to 14-8.
A group of about 50 La Verne parents and fans were on their feet for match point when the refs called a lift on Juniata and La Verne teammates rushed the court to congratulate their teammates.
“La Verne [is] a very good blocking team,” said Juniata Head Coach Larry Bock. “They out served us, they out passed us and they out blocked us.”
Not only that, but La Verne also out-hit Juniata, hitting a .348 in game five opposed to their Juniata’s .000.
Lupu led the Leopards with six blocks, half of the team’s total and had a match high 16 kills.
“It’s my job every game, just to step up and bring energy,” Lupu said. “My role first is to block. I am a middle blocker, blocking is my No. 1 goal that I’m focused on and then hitting.”
“That they did what they did without No. 5 (Smith), I take my fedora off to La Verne,” Bock said.
Out of his 25 years of coaching for Juniata, last night’s match up marked Bock’s 17th trip to the NCAA Final Four. Juniata has never won the tournament. Bock holds the NCAA Division III record after recently recording his 900th victory coaching women’s volleyball.
La Verne’s presence in the Final is important in a region that is dominated by teams not from the East Coast.
Flora said that this year, and even while at Whitewater, his team has gotten “no respect.”
“I don’t personally care,” said ULV setter Ryan Winn. “Respect us or not, we’ll show up. Respect us or not, we’ll win games.”
Yesterday, the team was honored at a reception in the Student Center that was hosted by the Athletic Department.
Zembal said that the team has already gotten championship watches and they plan to order sweatshirts.
Rings are being talked about, but Zembal said, “They are really expensive.”
“We’ve had to deal with a lot this season and never once have we turned on each other,” Smith said. “Never once have we given up.”
In Whitewater’s semifinal match on Friday night, the Warhawks defeated Wellesley College (MA) in three games, 30-19, 30-18, 30-19.
After losing to La Verne in the semifinal match, Juniata squared off against Wellesley before the final match Saturday night to determine the third-place team.
After dropping the first game to Wellesley, Juniata came back to win three straight in a row and clinch the third-place trophy, winning 27-30, 30-28, 30-26, 30-26.
Christine Owen
