Historic Season Comes to an End

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – A historic season for the Asbury volleyball team came to an end during the 2011 NCCAA National Tournament on Friday as the Eagles fell to 0-4 in pool play after a 3-0 loss to Dallas Baptist.  The Eagles were one of the most competitive teams despite not winning a match, scoring 20 points in 14 of 17 sets during the week.

Asbury (42-11) hit only .191 against the Pioneers, which happened to be their best percentage during the week.  Dallas Baptist (21-17) would hit .296 in the match with 15 of their 50 kills coming from Christina Steinkrug.  Asbury was led by Allison Rehner’s 11.  Rehner led the team with 40 kills during the tournament.

Kelly Cole capped off a solid week with 20 digs, recording 124 during the four matches.  Mackenzie Burke added 25 assists and had 92 for the week.  Burke also had 48 digs during the tournament, second most on the team.  Sarah Sterling would add eight kills in the match and 31 for the week, while Dena Busse, Lindsay Ibold and Brittney Rader added 30, 29 and 28 respectively.

The Eagles set the school record for wins (42) during their historic run while winning a share of the KIAC Regular Season and the NCCAA Mid-East Region for the first time.  This was only the second time they competed in the NCCAA National Tournament.

Asbury would also set school records for kills (2285), assists (2061), block assists (380), points (2943), sets played (186) and matches played (53).  Several Eagles would set single-season school records as well, including Lindsay Ibold’s .381 attack percentage and 107 block assists.  Libero Kelly Cole set the mark with 992 digs and a 5.36 digs per set average. 

Five players played in all 185 sets while seven played in all 53 matches, both new school records.  This was also only the third time that two players registered 400 or more kills in a season as Ibold racked up 459, 4th all-time, and Allison Rehner totaled 446, 6th all-time.  The 2002 and 2005 teams also had two players with 400 kills, there has never been a season with three as Dena Busse just missed out this year with 398.