Peter Dindinger – NMMI Sports Press
HUTCHINSON, Kan. – Riding a 20-game winning streak heading into the NJCAA Division I national championship, the sixth-seeded New Mexico Military Institute Broncos were trying to achieve something that had never been done before in program history.
An obstacle in the form of the eighth-seeded Iowa Western Reivers stood in the way of winning a coveted national title.
NMMI already had a five-set victory over the Reivers back on Oct. 16.
On Saturday night, the Broncos fought hard until the very end, unfortunately the ball didn't bounce their way in the final set as Iowa Western captured its second-straight national title with a five-set victory, 18-25, 25-22, 21-25, 25-23, 15-12.
NMMI finishes the year 33-5 while the Reivers went 33-4 overall, finishing on a four-game winning streak.
Katarzyna Niderla and Marian Ovalle were both named to the all-tournament team.
It was everything expected out of a high caliber match between two solid programs.
The Broncos got on the board first in the opening set with a kill by Niderla. The score was tied up at one-all before NMMI went on a 3-0 run.
NMMI later increased its lead to five before Iowa Western came back to tie up the set at 11-all.
A kill by Dana Manu helped fuel another 3-0 run that made the score 14-12 in favor of NMMI.
Barbara Guedes Rezende tallied a clutch kill to give the Broncos a five-point lead late in the set. NMMI led by as much as six to eventually take the opening game 25-18.
The second set had four different lead changes.
NMMI had trailed 12-9 before fighting its way back to a 13-13 tie after a pair of clutch kills from Manu.
Iowa Western broke the tie and never trailed from that point on, taking a seven-point lead.
The Broncos chiseled down the deficit to four points after a kill by Ovalle. NMMI was in reach by two points, but the Reivers pulled out the win to tie the match.
With the suspense building more and more, the third game had 11 lead changes.
Each team exchanged punch after punch before NMMI used a 4-0 run to pull away in the middle of the set.
The Reivers inched back into the game by trailing by three, but the Broncos this time held on to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
NMMI had trailed by as much as four in the middle of the fourth set before battling back to tie the score at 14-all.
After a block by Rezende, the Broncos led by one.
Iowa Western came back and there were four different lead changes before the Reivers narrowly outscored NMMI 4-3 to tie up the match with a 25-23 fourth-set victory.
The final set added nine different lead changes to the already intense match.
Each point was a battle as the momentum shifted quickly from one side to another in a matter of seconds.
On four occasions, NMMI held a one-point lead but couldn't gain a cushion to lean on.
Iowa Western used a 3-0 run to close out the set and match to come out on top.
Manu led the way with 21 kills, nine digs and two block assists while Niderla finished with 16 kills and four block assists.
Ovalle added with 10 kills and Darcy Dodd chipped in with nine.
Mio Yamamoto finished with 20 digs while Karya Suvariouglu had 42 assists and seven digs. Megan Waghorn tallied 12 assists.
Iowa Western narrowly had seven more kills than the Broncos. NMMI finished with 61 kills to the Reivers' 68.
Rezende led the defensive effort with eight block assists.