Editor’s Note: The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion women’s volleyball team traveled to Baltimore to compete in the NCAA Regional Championships in November. Staff photographer Lexi Giacobbe, a member of the team, shares her experience.
Lexi Giacobbe
Staff Photographer
BALTIMORE—The La Verne women’s volleyball team became NCAA Regional Champions on Nov. 22, after an intense reverse sweep against Johns Hopkins. The Leopards closed off the game, 15-13, in the five sets.
I don’t think I’ll ever forget the feeling when my teammate Lauren Gott, junior outside hitter, tipped the ball and it hit the floor.
“I really wanted to hit the ball but I knew a tip was going to score,” Gott said.
For a second, everything went quiet. I was in shock then our whole team rushed the court with hugs. We collapsed to the floor cheering and crying. A wave of gratitude and joy rushed my heart.
“I felt incredibly grateful that I got to experience this with such an unforgettable and talented team,” senior outside hitter Mya Ray said. “It’s a memory I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.”
All I could think about were the early mornings, the countless reps, the laughs and every moment we pushed each other to be better. I was lucky enough to live that moment from the inside.
This win was not just a trophy. It felt like the reward for months of trusting each other, believing in ourselves and refusing to quit. Looking around at my teammates, I could see the same joy and relief on their faces. We did this together.
On Nov. 18, we landed in Baltimore, Maryland. We enjoyed team dinners and group meals, spent our days practicing and scouting and made the most of our time together as a team on the trip.
“I really enjoyed spending quality time with my team at the pizza restaurant,” junior outside hitter Emma Yogan said about Kechy Pizza Company in Baltimore. “The banana pudding was the best thing I’ve ever tasted.”
Keeping up with academics hasn’t always been easy, but thanks to our amazing academic support staff, we have everything we need to stay on track.
Most of our professors are incredibly accommodating, yet the responsibility still falls on us to keep up with our work while on the road.
Throughout the trip, our team has spent hours in study halls with our coaches to make sure nothing slips. And when exams need to be taken on the road, assistant coach Randi Taylor-Toomay is able to step in and proctor our tests.
Less than 48 hours before our opening round game, we had no idea where we were going to play or who our opponent would be. Suddenly, we were on a flight to Maryland, three time zones away, forced to adjust quickly. But adapting is something our team excels at.
We’ve been trained for moments like this: high-pressure situations, emotional games and long, unexpected trips.
We opened our weekend against Penn State–Behrend. After dropping the first set, 25-22 – a “fluke,” as our team likes to call it – we regrouped quickly. We don’t take lost sets lightly.
We fired back with dominant scores of 25–5 and 25–5, and closed out the match with a commanding 25–3 win.
The next day, we swept St. John Fisher, 3-0, to move up to the championship match against Johns Hopkins. It was an emotional match after being down in the first two sets, and being down in almost every set, we managed to bring ourselves back and beat Hopkins in five.
I won’t lie, I was scared that my four years of playing at La Verne were coming to an end. Nerves rushed through my body, but I had to push them aside. I prayed to God and leaned on Him in that moment. Next thing I knew, I was sprinting onto the court for game point in the fourth set. We were down, 24–23.
I passed the ball to freshman setter America Reynaga and she set Mya Ray, and suddenly the match was tied. With a chance to fight back and push it to a fifth set, we did just that. In that moment, every fear disappeared, and I was fully confident we were turning the game around.
“I was super confident in our ability to pull off the reverse sweep, and trusted God’s plan for us,” Ray said.
As we held that trophy surrounded by the noise of the gym and the warmth of our team and families, it finally hit me that we weren’t just celebrating a win. We were celebrating a journey that brought us all the way here, to a moment we’ll carry with us forever.
I’ve spent the last four years on this team, and I can’t say it’s been easy. Being a student-athlete and competing at such a high level has been challenging, exhausting and at times overwhelming.
But it’s also something I’m incredibly grateful and blessed to have experienced. These years shaped me, pushed me, and gave me a second family.
Gritty, relentless, and passionate – three words head coach Jeff Hendershot uses to describe this team. And he is right.
We showed that every day, every practice, every road trip and every moment we chose each other over doubt.
In the end, this championship isn’t just a trophy. It’s proof of everything we’ve overcome and a reminder that when we play with heart, nothing is out of reach.
As we head out to the National Championships to play against Wisconsin Eau-Claire we remind ourselves that the job is not finished.
Lexi Giacobbe can be reached at alexa.giocobbe@laverne.edu.
Editor’s Note: The Leopards are playing for the National Championship this week in Bloomington, Illinois. They beat Wisconsin-Eau Claire, 3-1, Wednesday to advance to the Final Four, where they beat Berry College of Georgia, 3-2, on Thursday. They will face Wisconsin-Oshkosh in the National Championship match at 2 p.m. Saturday. The match can be seen on ESPN+.
Lexi Giacobbe is a senior communications major with an concentration in public relations. She is a staff photographer for the Campus Times and La Verne Magazine, a staff writer for the magazine, and previously served as a staff writer for the Campus Times. She is also a member of the University of La Verne volleyball team.
