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Bears keep title streak alive by downing unbeaten Juniata in III

It didn't take long for Washington (Missouri) to establish its dominance in the Division III Women's Volleyball Championship final against Juniata.

The Bears scored the first eight points and never looked back on their way to a 15-8, 15-9, 15-7 victory over the previously unbeaten Eagles December 7 at Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

The title was Washington's sixth straight and seventh overall. The Bears won their first championship in 1989.

Juniata closed the first-game gap to 10-8 before the Bears tallied the final five points. Washington had to rally from a 4-1 deficit in the second game, then bolted to an early lead once again in the finale.

Jennifer Martz led the Bears' attack with 13 kills and only two errors in 16 attempts. Setter Stephanie Habif contributed 28 assists and Nikki Holton added four service aces.

"Our success is a result of how we train every day and the way we play every day," said Washington coach Teri Clemens, who has engineered all seven Bears titles. "The result is a national championship sometimes."

The Bears, who played all five of their tournament games on the road, finished the season 38-6 and extended their streak of wins over Division III opponents to 45.

Juniata was making its third appearance in the championship game. The Eagles finished second to the Bears in 1993, but were riding the crest of a 43-0 campaign coming into the rematch.

"We had a couple of good streaks," Eagles coach Larry Bock said of his team's play in the title match. "But we had less than typical ball handling and everything was out of sync."

The Eagles may have been spent due to a grueling 11-15, 15-7, 15-17, 15-1, 15-13 semifinal victory over host Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Juniata had to erase a three-point deficit late in the rally-scored fifth game to pull out the win.

"A 13-10 lead in rally scoring is a grave," Bock said of the Eagles' predicament. "I thought the third game was crucial, but my team surprised me pleasantly in the fourth. That had to carry some momentum into the fifth game."

Melissa Myers led the Eagles with 25 kills in the marathon match. Robin Diehl added 17. Wisconsin-Oshkosh, runner-up in 1994, got 12 kills and four service aces from Sara Lorens.

Washington also struggled to win its semifinal match, downing St. Olaf, 9-15, 15-8, 18-16, 15-5. Emmy Sjogren's 19 kills paced the Bears while Martz added 16. St. Olaf held leads of 10-1 and 12-3 in a pivotal third game before the Bears rallied.

"The third game just killed us," St. Olaf coach Cindy Book said. "We went into a mode where we gradually let them back in and that hurt."

St. Olaf recovered to defeat Wisconsin-Oshkosh in the third-place match, 15-9, 15-10, 13-15, 15-10. Trisha Neveau and Jean Harmsen had 13 kills apiece to enable the Oles to complete a 33-4 season. Wisconsin-Oshkosh finished its season at 40-5.

The all-tournament team consisted of Martz, Habif and Jennifer Cafazza from Washington; Juniata's Myers; Jen Kuzma of St. Olaf; and Amy Ward of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

CHAMPIONSHIP

Juniata 8 9 7

Washington (Mo.) 15 15 15

Juniata K E TA Pct. SA DG BS

Kristin Hershey 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0

Marci Katona 3 5 11 .000 0 11 0

Lisa Snyder 0 1 1 .000 0 2 0

Wendy Koziel 4 2 11 .182 0 2 0

Robin Diehl 9 1 19 .421 0 1 1

Carrie Zeller 1 5 12 .000 0 2 1

Amber Zahorchak 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0

Anne Bock 4 5 18 .000 0 6 0

Melissa Myers 10 4 26 .231 2 7 0

Jennifer Rebert 1 1 8 .000 4 9 0

Totals 2 24 106 .075 6 40 2

Washington (Mo.) K E TA Pct. SA DG BS

Jenny Cafazza 8 3 15 .333 0 5 0

Nikki Holton 2 1 11 .091 4 17 0

Stephanie Habif 3 0 4 .750 0 5 0

Lovey Grider 3 1 11 .182 0 0 0

Meg Vitter 0 0 0 .000 0 3 0

Jennifer Martz 13 2 16 .688 0 1 0

Brielle Killip 0 0 0 .000 0 1 0

Holly Ratkewicz 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 0

Emmy Sjogren 6 3 20 .150 2 7 1

Totals 36 10 78 .333 6 39 1