GREENWOOD----The Lander women's volleyball team came so close Sunday to earning its first-ever trip to the NCAA national tournament. The inspired, second-seeded Bearcats pushed top-seeded USC Aiken to the five-game limit in the Peach Belt Conference tournament championship game before falling, 24-30, 30-24, 30-27, 28-30, 15-5, in Horne Arena. (Tournament Website)
Lander ends the season 23-10 overall, a school-record for wins in a season. USC Aiken (26-4) earned the PBC's automatic berth into the national tournament.
USC Aiken pounded out 86 kills to win its second straight conference tournament title. Mandy Gerolstein had a career-high 25 kills while MVP Stephanie Durham had 18 kills and 25 digs for the Lady Pacers, who hit .280 as a team. Amanda Timm added 17 kills for the Pacers, while Jasmine Edney added 14. Lauren Cedeno had 73 assists and 14 digs while Veronica Seidle had a game-high 32 digs.
The match was only the third PBC Tournament final to go the full five sets, the last coming in 1998.
Andrea Griffin led Lander with 19 kills and 11 digs. Kay Stewart and Ashley Ferry each added 16 kills, Stewart also had eight blocks. Candace LaRocca recorded 58 assists and Kerri Sorensen had 12 kills and two block assists. Melissa Trippany led Lander in digs with 19.
Kills from Durham and Edney boosted that back to 25-21 and USCA won the game 30-27 on a kill from Gerolstein. USCA hit .404 in game three.
USCA seemed to be heading for the title in game four as they were up 23-17 when Lander went on a 7-0 run on the serve of Trippany to take a 24-23 lead. USCA led again 25-24 when Lander went on a 6-3 run to close out the game 30-28. Stewart provided the exclamation point with a kill on the final point.
USCA opened the fifth and deciding game with a 6-2 run powered by Gerolstein, who had two kills and a solo block. USCA extended that lead to 10-4 following a Durham kill and the rest was all defense as the Lady Pacers stifled every Lander attack on the way to the 15-7 win. Missy Deardorff went cross-court for a kill on the championship point.
2007 All-Tournament Team
Rachel Young, UNC Pembroke
Jessica Howard, Augusta State
Candace LaRocca, Lander
Andrea Griffin, Lander
Mandy Gerolstein, USC Aiken
Most Valuable Player
Stephanie Durham, USC Aiken
