Marian (Ind.) rallies to beat XULA in 5 in NAIA 1st round

NEW ORLEANS — Kacee Salyers produced 14 of her 20 kills in the final three sets Saturday to rally Marian (Ind.) to a 19-25, 22-25, 25-12, 25-18, 15-8 victory against Xavier University of Louisiana in the 2017 NAIA Women’s Volleyball National Championship Opening Round at the Convocation Center.

The Knights (28-5) advanced to the NAIA National Championship Final Site at Sioux City, Iowa, with pool play beginning Nov. 28 for 32 teams. Marian snapped the 13-match win streak of the Gold Nuggets (23-3), who finished with the best winning percentage in the program’s 10-season history.

Salyers, the Crossroads League Player of the Year, hit .406 in the final three sets after hitting .056 in the first two. Marian outhit XULA .288 to .040 in the final three sets after the Nuggets outhit the Knights .266 to .127 in taking a 2-sets-to-zero lead.

Marian closed the third set with a 17-2 run, ended the fourth set with a 13-4 run and held momentum in the fifth after scoring six of the first seven points. An Anne Strevels kill ended the two-hour, four-minute match.

Frannie Stephenson had 13 kills for Marian, and Sarah Clem and Hannah Trout had eight apiece. Vanessa Lay had 30 digs to lead five Knights in double figures. Strevels had seven blocks, and Clem had five.

Freshman Anna Dalla Vecchia set a school record with 34 digs — she held the previous mark of 31 with two others — and she had 10 assists to became the first XULA libero to produce a double-double. Juliana Tomasoni closed her collegiate career with 15 kills and a season-high 25 digs, and Kayla Black had 11 kills and 15 digs. Tiffany Phillips also produced a double-double with 12 assists and 12 digs. Adili Rikondja had seven kills and three blocks, Lauryn Taylor had nine kills, and Eva Le Guillou had 25 assists.

For the match Marian outhit XULA .221 to .127 and had advantages of 63-55 in kills, 101-97 in digs and 13-4 in blocks.

The loss was XULA’s first at home this season and the first since a three-set loss to Saint Francis (Ill.) in the 2016 NAIA nationals opening round. It was the Gold Nuggets’ seventh consecutive appearance at nationals and their seventh consecutive first-round exit. This is Marian’s first appearance at nationals.

Honored before the match as their teams’ NAIA Champions of Character recipients were Rikondja and Marian’s Julie Hoying.