South Portland, ME - The Mustangs traveled down to South Portland to take on the top four teams in the Yankee Conference in the YSCC Tournament Championship. With their regular season success, they were able to secure the #1 seed going into the tournament and were matched up against the #4 seeded NHTI in the first round. The winner would go on to play the winner of #2 Paul Smith's vs #3 SMCC for the championship.
Before the tournament started, the regular season awards were given out for Regular Season Champions, All-Conference, Player of the Year, and Coach of the Year. The Mustangs were well represented for all of their success they had in the regular season. Libero Gloria Seaman was named as an Honorable Mention, outside hitter Gia Cooper and middle hitter Kenzie Bills were both named YSCC All-Conference, setter Angelina Leonard was named the YSCC Player of the Year, and head coach Kyle Chapman was named the YSCC Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season.
In the semifinals, #1 seed CMCC squared off against #4 seed NHTI. The Mustangs had beaten NHTI in the previous two meetings, but the games had been tight, hard fought. Head Women's Volleyball Coach, Kyle Chapman, even said before the games, "NHTI is a well-coached team. If we do not come out playing clean volleyball they, or any team in this gym for that matter, can take us down." The game turned out to be another tight game from start to finish, but the mustangs were able to hold on and sweep NHTI yet again in straight sets (25-20, 25-22, 25-19). Setter Angelina Leonard did a great job distributing the ball, allowing multiple hitters to have over 5 kills on the match. Middle hitter Kenzie Bills led the offense with 8 kills on a .28 hitting efficiency, and outside hitters Gia Cooper and Tiara Begishe followed close behind with 7 and 6 kills respectively.
With the win against NHTI, the Mustangs were able to advance into the YSCC Championship and face #3 seed SMCC. In both regular season matchups, the Mustangs had won but they were close games decided only by a couple points. Coming off a big victory in the semis, SMCC started off the match strong. As a team, SM had 14 kills and were able to pull away with a 19-25 victory in set 1. Unfortunately for the Mustangs, defensive specialist Emily Grady got injured in the course of that first set and was not able to return the rest of the match. In set 2, Isabella Leatherman stepped in as defensive specialist and played fantastic the rest of the way through, tallying several digs and going on a serving run that helped secure an easy victory in set 2, 25-12. After winning set 3, the Mustangs started off set 4 really slow, and even got down big, 5-13 at one point. After a timeout, the Mustangs were able to pull it together and play closer to their potential. They fought their way back and were able to close out the match in set 4, 25-21. Kenzie Bills had a great offensive and defensive performance, putting up 8 kills on .240 hitting efficiency and 3 blocks. Begishe and Seaman anchored the Mustang's defense with 19 and 20 digs respectively. Cooper found a great rhythm offensively and was able to rack up 7 kills on .150 hitting efficiency.
After the conclusion of the tournament, there were more awards given out. Begishe was named the YSCC Tournament's Most Valuable Player and Bills was named the YSCC Offensive Player of the Tournament.
After the match, Coach Chapman, said, "It has been an honor and a privilege to work with this group this season. They are a fantastic group of young women that have gone through a lot of adversity, and they are stronger for it. I am so proud of what they have accomplished and cannot wait to see what we can do at the USCAA National Tournament."
With the win of the Yankee Conference Tournament, the Mustangs have secured themselves a bid for the USCAA National Championship Tournament which will be held on November 8-11 in Uniontown, PA.
