Scorpions line up before pre-game announcements at NAIA National Tournament Quarterfinals

Scorpions Fall To NAIA's Top Team, 3-0, in Quarterfinals
Posted November 30, 2007
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The big show put the UTB/TSC Scorpions on the national stage against the best NAIA women's volleyball team in the country.

UTB/TSC faced Fresno Pacific University and all its rich tradition, but came up short in all three games in the NAIA Women's Volleyball National Championship here Friday, November 30.

Fresno Pacific won by scores of 30-17, 30-24, 30-21, ending the Scorpions' season with a 36-9 record.

UTB/TSC came into the national tournament as the 12th seed out of 20 teams. The Scorpions swept through both the Red River Athletic Conference and the NAIA Region VI Tournaments, winning six straight matches by 3-0 records.

At the national tournament, they won three matches out of five tries, losing only to the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the land.

 "We have nothing to be ashamed of," Scorpion head coach Marcus Young. "We ran into the best team in the nation, and they had too much firepower for us. We hung with them as much as we could. It was a great season for us. I don't think a lot of people expected to be here in the quarterfinals."

The Scorpions were seeded as the third-best team in their four-team Pool B, but surprised ninth-seeded Lewis-Clark State College Wednesday and finished 2-1 in their Pool. A big 3-1 win over Madonna University Friday morning advanced the Scorpions into the national quarterfinals.

They shot a poor .083 in the first game of the match, but played better in the second and third games. The Scorpions were tied, 15-15, with FPU in Game 2 before the Sunbirds pulled away for a 30-24 victory. In Game 3, the Scorpions had a 16-15 lead before the Sunbirds flexed their muscles and won, 30-21.

Talita Milasauskas, the conference and region Player of the Year, finished with 14 kills, five blocks and five digs to lead the Scorpions. Claudia Alarcon added 11 kills and five digs, while Daianarah Bracero had 34 assists. Lesly Montes led the Scorpions in digs with nine.

The Sunbirds had four players over six feet tall, and got 16 kills from 6-0 Marin Canaday, 10 kills from 6-3 Thais Julio and 10 from 5-10 Fabiana Leomil. Fresno Pacific had two players from Brazil and two from China who played key roles in the victory. Setter Shu Liu had 46 assists and five kills.

UTB/TSC was the Cinderella team in the quarterfinals, coming in as the lowest seed remaining.

"This has opened up a lot of eyes around the NAIA volleyball circles," UTB/TSC Director of Athletics Dan Huntley said. "A lot of important people who didn't know much about us before know a lot about us now. This will help us in recruiting and in getting national recognition by those who vote in the polls. It's a great thing for our campus."

Ashley is the lone senior on the Scorpion squad, which is likely to receive a high preseason ranking in 2008 by advancing to the national quarterfinals.