The Kirkwood Community College Eagles have made the national tournament for volleyball, making it their sixth straight year going to nationals.
At the beginning of the year, the college hired a new head coach in Dave Brown, following the retirement of coach Jill Williams. The team started the season ranked number 10 in the nation.
In the initial month of August the Eagles started 5-1 with their only loss being to number 3 ranked Gulf Coast State in fifth and final set losing the entire match by a score of only two points in a very competitive match up, which was good enough to move them up to being ranked number sixth.
In September, the Eagles were not too hot going 14-5 bringing their season record to 19-6 on the season and by the end of the month they fell from being ranked sixth to becoming 11th and one rank below where they started on the year.
After the not so great month of September, the Eagles went from playing some of their worst playing in the previous month to playing the best they have the entire year being red hot going 11-1 in the final month of the regular season. They went 30-6 losing their only game to number two Cowley and finishing up with the best regular season winning percentage since 2013 and moving all the way up to fourth in the nation.
Going into regionals, Region 11 which covers all of Iowa and parts of Illinois, Kirkwood would be the second seed behind Des Moines Area Community College where they won their first game against Southeastern where at times it was too close for comfort but eventually won 3-0. The next game they would travel to Des Moines to play Iowa Central where the Eagles didn’t look like themselves losing 3-1 in upset fashion.
Regardless of the outcome in regionals Lily Van Severen took home an honor of being a member of the All Regional Tournament by the ICCAC conference where after they would wait on their fate if they make nationals or not.
On Nov. 9, the Eagles would get the call securing one of four at-large bids for the national tournament, held in the Alliant Energy Powerhouse in Cedar Rapids as well as six different Eagles gaining All Region awards with Emma Cross and Lily Van Severen making All Region First Team, Alyssa Tegeler and Emma Meester making All Region Second Team and Lexi Hearn making All Region Third Team as well as Lilly Van Severen becoming the Region’s Freshman of the Year taking home that honor.
Dave Brown on how statistics and having a routine go into preparation
I think its like statistics in the video that just adds into it. I like to have a routine and have the girls have a routine before game days. I like to have something you can fall back on when things get crazy. Like when it’s the last conference game of the year and it means a lot [or nationals] you can fall back on a game plan and routine. And the numbers, statistics and film are important to me because they prepare us, but preparation basically just helps us feel more comfortable in big moments so when we’re struggling or stressed in a game we can fall back on the game plan and that’s what we use the statistics and film for and even though its not everything it is very important for us.
Categories: Sports
