Jackets Headed Back to NCAA Tournament

ASHLAND, Va. --- The Randolph-Macon volleyball team secured its second consecutive Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Championship with a 3-2 victory over top-seeded Washington and Lee Saturday afternoon in Roanoke.

With the win, R-MC improves to 25-7 and earns the league's automatic bid to the 2010 NCAA Division III Tournament. The Yellow Jackets will find out where they are playing and their opponent on Monday morning when the NCAA announces the field live on www.ncaa.com.  The tournament kicks off on November 12th.

R-MC, which won by game scores of 20-25, 25-18, 25-20, 24-26 and 15-10, got 17 kills and 18 digs from Mallory Carter, while the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, Jessica Sears, had 12 kills and a team-high 23 digs in the win. Fellow all-tournament team member Raena Winton had nine kills in the win as well. Courtney Anderson and Sam Block combined for 39 assists, with 22 and 17, respectively.

On the defensive side of the net, R-MC got key contributions from Caroline Brown, who came off the bench to record 22 digs from her libero position. Mallory James had seven assist blocks, while Tori Puryear had 1 solo and five assisted stops for the Yellow Jackets.

For W&L, sophomore libero Cameron Hill notched a career-high 31 digs and first-year outside hitter M.A. Boles added 19 digs and a match-high 20 kills.  Senior defensive specialist Jenna Finger added 13 digs and a pair of service aces.  Junior middle blocker Lindsey Dee added 12 kills and junior outside hitter Megan Daily had 11. Dee also had four blocks.

First-year setters Meghan Meleski and Nikki DelZenero accumulated 27 and 20 assists, respectively.

After dropping the first game, R-MC rallied to take game two and three, before the Generals forced a fifth and deciding game with a win in the fourth stanza.

In the fifth game, W&L jumped out to a 1-0 lead before R-MC rallied, taking a 4-1 advantage on a kill by Winton.

The Yellow Jackets would go up 5-1, before Washington and Lee took two of the next three points to make the score 6-3. R-MC reeled off the next four points, taking a 10-4 lead on a Carter service ace. A Sears kill put R-MC up 12-6 before Washington and Lee won four of the next six points to cut the deficit to 14-10.

That would be as close as they would get as Winton sealed the second championship in school history with a kill off an assist from Anderson.

R-MC earned a ticket to the finals earlier in the day with a 3-1 over Virginia Wesleyan. In that match, Winton led the way with 14 kills, while Carter added 12 and nine digs. Sears had 10 kills and 24 digs, while all-tournament team selection Marli Dabareiner had 18 stops as well.

2010 ODAC All-Tournament Team
Michelle Boucher, Lynchburg College
Kala Guy, Virginia Wesleyan College
M.A. Boles, Washington and Lee University
Megan Daily, Washington and Lee University
Raena Winton, Randolph-Macon College
Marli Dabareiner, Randolph-Macon College
Jessica Sears, Randolph-Macon College - MVP

This release is courtesy of the Randolph-Macon College sports information department, with contributions from Washington and Lee University.