ELGIN, Ill. – The Warriors are champions of the NCCAA, capping off a historic first season of men's volleyball at Jessup. With back-to-back sweeps on Saturday, the Warriors went 12-1 in their 13 sets in the NCCAA Tournament to cement themselves as the best in the nation.
Head coach
Kyle Steele, who also guided the women's volleyball program to the NCCAA National Championship Game, closes out the men's volleyball season with a record of 15-9.
Jessup punched its ticket to the championship round with a sweep of Oakland City to start the morning. That wrapped up pool play with the Warriors sitting 3-0, but their opponent was unknown. What ensued was a situation where the other three teams in Elgin finished pool play 1-1, setting up a tiebreaking scenario.
To determine the Warriors' opponent, tiebreaking sets were played. When all was said and done, Roberts Wesleyan was the team to secure a shot at the title against Jessup.
The win against Oakland City saw the third big match of the weekend from
Jan Lopuch, as he totaled 15 kills.
Carter Depue was behind him with 11.
Anthony Dobie also had a big performance in the win as he tallied nine kills to help his team.
Taylor Marks set up the offense with 38 assists.
Logan Marks finished with 11 digs, followed by 10 from
Carter Depue.
The match with Oakland City got underway at 10:30 a.m. local time. With another match following Jessup's and then the tiebreakers, the championship match did not start until almost 6 p.m. in Illinois. With over six hours of deadtime it would be understandable for the Warriors to come out rusty in the finale, but no signs of rust were shown out of coach Steele's squad.
Jessup jumped out to a 25-21 win in the first set, giving them their tenth set victory in a row.
RWU gathered themselves early in the second set, forcing Steele to burn a timeout down 13-10. The timeout set up Jessup to go on a 10-0, nine of the points coming with Dobie at the service line, as it propelled the Warriors to a commanding 25-17 set victory.
Leading 2-0, Jessup found themselves 25 points away from ending their first season as national champions.
That 25th point came on a service error by the Redhawks, as Jessup stormed the court with trophy in hand to celebrate a 25-19 set victory and a national championship.
Lopuch closed the championship match with 15 kills, earning him the honor of Most Outstanding Player of the NCCAA Tournament. He was joined on the All-Tournament Team by
Taylor Marks and
Carter Depue.
Saturday's National Championship is the tenth in Jessup University history.
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Jessup University is a provisional member of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Division II and the PacWest Conference. For additional information regarding Jessup Athletics, visit www.jessupathletics.com; visit www.jessup.edu for more information on Jessup University. Follow Jessup Athletics on social media: Jessup University Athletics (Facebook) and @JessupAthletics (Instagram & X).
