Northwest Missouri State volleyball prepares for NCAA tournament play against St. Cloud State
Nov. 17—Northwest Missouri State volleyball made the 64-team cut on Oct. 14 for the 2022 NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball Championship, and will travel to Wayne, Nebraska, to compete. The Bearcats have now collected their second straight and third overall tournament selection in program history.
Bearcat volleyball entered the 2022 MIAA volleyball tournament as the No.1 seed, and swept the No. 8 Missouri Southern Lions in the opening round.
Their tournament run was cut short after falling in three sets in the MIAA semifinals to Washburn. Despite this, the 'Cats still believe in where they can go.
"Our team is obviously very, very competitive, so we kind of broke down the match as much as we could and we were like, 'oh, well, maybe if we lose this one, like, we'll get that loss out of our way and we'll be good to go for a while,'" sophomore Abby Brunssen said. "Like last year, Washburn lost in the semifinals and they found themselves in the championship game of the national title."
That chance for a national title is still very much alive, as Northwest earned the No.4 seed in the Central Region. This seeding will match them up against No.5 St. Cloud State, who earned a spot in the tournament by winning the Northern Sun Conference tournament title.
On the season, the Huskies are 26-5 and are No. 7 in the nation. The team, and the NSIC conference as a whole, provide a different type of play style than head coach Amy Woerth and her team are used to.
"The Northern Sun is now known for having larger, larger players. They're taller, just bigger in general," Woerth said. "From the standpoint of that, they're used to putting the ball away and having the rally being over. We like to extend the rally and have the rally be longer, thus having to be in better shape."
Both programs will come into this matchup only knowing what they watched on film, as the teams last met on Sept. 13, 2013 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, with the Bearcats coming away with a 3-1 victory.
Northwest is 3-5 all-time vs. St. Cloud State, but Woerth feels confident in what the 'Cats put out on the floor each night.
"Our team chemistry is very high. We have two deadly pins when it comes to Jaden Ferguson and Peyton Kirchhoefer," Woerth said. "Then obviously Abby (Brunnsen) sitting here to my left, and she does a great job holding down the middle to be able to put some balls away for us in transition."
Last season, Northwest fell in the first round of the NCAA tournament 3-2 against MIAA foe Nebraska-Kearney. This time around, the team can see its goal up ahead, and are ready to accomplish something the program has never seen.
"Winning the national title is our ultimate goal and that's going to stretch you. It's going to put some pressure on you, and having pressure on you is a good thing," Woerth said. "You know, the beauty of all this is we still have all of our goals in sight."
"This has been a goal for us for a long time. There's five of us, and we're all a pretty big part of this team," Brunnsen said. "But I think we're ready for the challenge and it's just exciting to be able to experience that."
The matchup is set for 5 p.m. on Nov. 18 in Wayne, Nebraska. Tickets for the NCAA Volleyball Central Regional are $12 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and will be available at the door.
Calvin Silvers can be reached at calvin.silvers@newspressnow.com.
