Box Score
Scorpions Qualify for Nationals!
Posted November 17, 2007
LUBBOCK -- It's one of the greatest feelings in the world -- reaching your dream goal.

Katie Japp passes ball next to teammate Claudia Alarcon (20)

UTB/TSC completed a perfect stretch at the NAIA Region VI semifinals with a 3-0 win over Texas Wesleyan University Saturday, November 17, to earn a berth in the NAIA National Volleyball Championships in Columbia, Mo.

The Scorpions won all three of their matches by convincing 3-0 margins.

They celebrated by running all over the Rip Griffin Center like little children, giving each other bear hugs, and shedding tears along the way.

Texas Wesleyan finished its season with a 32-16 record, including four losses to the Scorpions.

"It's awesome that we were able to reach our goals," senior co-captain Jenny Ashley said. "This has been like a dream senior season for me."

The Scorpions, now 33-7, are the 18th-ranked team in the NAIA. They will find out their seeding in the national tournament on Monday.

Ashley had one of her best matches of the year with 11 kills and 11 digs and a .421 hitting percentage. It was her fourth double-double of the year.

Region VI Player of the Year freshman Talita Milasauskas had another solid match with 12 kills, 12 digs and five blocks. Claudia Alarcon added 10 kills and Daianarah Bracero seven, along with 36 assists.

"It's been a lot of hard work to get to this level," Milasauskas said. "We played really hard in this postseason. Everybody wanted to win, and everybody played well, because nationals was the goal."

It was one of the Scorpions' best defensive efforts of the season, with 71 digs to show for it, and five players in double figures in the category. Bracero had 14 digs, Milasauskas 12, Ashley and Katie Japp 11 each, and Viviana Lozano 10.

"We had three goals this year, and we've achieved all three of them," head coach Marcus Young said. "We've won 30 matches, won the conference tournament, and won the regional tournament to qualify for nationals. Now we've got to rethink that because we'd like to do well at nationals."

The trip to the national tournament will be the second for three members of the team. Ashley was a freshman with the Scorpions in their last trip to the National Junior College Athletic Association national tournament in 2004 in West Plains, Mo.

Alarcon and Bracero advanced to the NJCAA national tournament in their freshman and sophomore years when they were played fo Miami Dade College.

"We know that nationals is going to be tough, because only the best are going to be at nationals," Milasauskas said. "But we're ready to go there and play hard. The opponents will give us a hard time, but we give teams a hard time, too."