Raptors Volleyball Crowned NJCAA DII Region XX and Mid-Atlantic District Champions

The Montgomery College Raptors volleyball team won three games this past weekend and walked away as the 2019 NJCAA DII Region XX Champions and 2019 NJCAA DII Mid-Atlantic District Champions.

On Saturday, the Raptors entered the tournament the #3 seed and swept their quarterfinal opponents #6 Potomac State College (25-14, 25-12, 26-14). Daniella Zajac had 14 kills with 11 digs, and Anya Chepurnova had 14 kills. 

On Sunday, the Raptors upset the #2 seed Northern Virginia CC Nighthawks in the semifinal match 3-1 (19-25, 25-17, 26-24, 25-22). The Raptors got off to a start slow as they dropped the first set but bounced back to win the next three. The last two sets of the game came down to some critical rallies that the Raptors capitalized on. Offensively, Zajac had 19 kills, Chepurnova recorded 16, and Julia Collins added seven. Defensively, Skyler Thiessen led with 15 digs, followed by Chepurnova with ten, and Kira Ng dished out 41 assists. 

In the championship match, the Raptors downed the #1 seed Hagerstown CC Hawks 3-1 (23-25, 25-17, 26-24, 25-22). Again, the Raptors fell behind early trailing  4-10 but rallied back to close within two points. In the second set, MC took advantage of some unforced errors by Hagerstown to even the match. The third set was a nail bitter as both teams went back and forth. Hagerstown took a three-point lead for a moment, but the Raptors came out on top in the third set and used that momentum to close out the game in the fourth set. 

Anya Chepurnova boasted 30 kills with a .466 hitting percentage to go along with ten digs in the championship match. Zajac added 17 kills while Julia Collins added five kills, and Kira Ng dished out a season-high 56 assists with 12 digs. Defensively, Skyler Thiessen recorded 18 digs. 

Chepurnova was named the Region XX Tournament MVP, and Daniella Zajac, Kira Ng, and Skyler Thiessen were selected to the NJCAA DII Region XX All-Tournament Team. The Raptors will advance to the 2019 NJCAA Division II Volleyball Championship November 21-23 in Charleston, West Virginia at the Charleston Civic Center. The official seeding and tournament bracket are to be announced soon, but information on the tournament is on the NJCAA website: https://www.njcaa.org/sports/wvball/2019-20/div2/national_championship/index 

Congratulations to our MC Raptors volleyball team and good luck at Nationals!

MC Volleyball's NJCAA DII Region XX Tournament Highlights:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0RLEj5g7rI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZH5SzVYOeM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Imh45FAC7PQ