Championship Memories Saturday: 2017 CMS Volleyball Takes Program's First National Title
2017 NCAA Volleyball National Championship Links
National Championship Match vs. Wittenberg: Recap | Highlights | Full Match | Photo Gallery
Semifinal Match vs. Ithaca: Recap | Photo Gallery
Quarterfinal Match vs. Gustavus Adolphus: Recap | Photo Gallery
Video Feature: I Belong Here
Life as a middle hitter in volleyball means there's no guarantee you'll be on the floor for the biggest points. Typically, the two starting middles rotate, playing on the front row for three rotations, and then going to the sidelines when moving to the back row. The other middle then enters for the next three rotations, while the libero has the role as the back-row defensive replacement for both of them.
On the 2017 CMS volleyball team, the two middles were both first-years, Melanie Moore and Regan Dinovitz. They stepped in on a veteran team with eight seniors and had a major impact in taking the Athenas to new heights. In 2014, when the eight seniors were in their rookie seasons, CMS reached the NCAA quarterfinals before a tough 3-2 defeat to Wisconsin-Stevens Point (16-14 in the fifth).
In 2015, the Athenas fell in the second round to WashU, and then dropped their opening-round match to Colorado College the following year. But then in 2017, with Moore and Dinovitz providing a big lift, the Athenas made it back to nationals, and then went two steps further with quarterfinal and semifinal wins. On Nov. 17, they were a perfect 5-0 in the NCAA Tournament, up two sets to none in the finals against Wittenberg, and stood on the doorstep of the program's first national championship.
With CMS leading 24-22 in the third set, just one point away from winning it all, it was Dinovitz's turn in the rotation to hold down the middle. The trophy and awards table were positioned courtside, and the confetti in the ceiling was ready to be released, but there was still one more point to win. Moore could only watch, but obviously hoping that she had taken the court for the last time that season, if Dinovitz and the other five on the floor could keep their composure and finish it off.
"It was so tough," Dinovitz admitted about trying not to get too excited and staying in the moment. "I was super nervous at the end. I was singing to myself up at the net before we'd start the next point to just try to keep my mind off of overthinking everything."
CMS wouldn't have been in such a big spot without the performance all season long of both first-year middles. Moore set a new school record for highest hitting percentage in a season at .355 and adding 80 blocks, earning first-team All-SCIAC honors in her rookie season. Dinovitz hit a strong .281 herself, and moved into the top 10 in program history for blocks in a season with 108.
The efforts of Moore and Dinovitz supplemented the already potent attack from the senior outside hitters, led by All-American Margaux Arntson (358 kills), Crystal Anderson (250 kills) and Shelbi Stein (249 kills). With senior Clara Madsen at setter and senior Mikena Werner at libero, where both were first-team All-SCIAC selections, the Athenas were loaded with experience all over the floor.
"Having the seniors there was really reassuring," said Dinovitz. "I was just kind of trying to go along with everything, do my job, not get in anybody's way so having their confidence there really I think is what made us so successful. I could just listen to them, do what I needed to do and not really have to worry about anything else, so they definitely helped to keep me calm as we were playing all these big games."
"Even though many seniors were on the team, no one knew what it was like to get as far as we did, so it was a learning experience," said Moore. "Although through the whole experience, I valued how they stepped up and responded to challenges in stride regardless of what they were, and I admired the resilience and hard work they put in to help us get to where we were."
The run to reach the national championship match featured plenty of challenges and resilience, maybe more than the coaching staff would have preferred. The Athenas had the troubling habit of falling behind, but regrouped and won every time. All five of their first NCAA matches saw CMS win 3-1, with the first four coming after dropping the first set.
The opening round saw Texas-Dallas win the first set 25-22, before CMS regrouped to take a close second set 25-23 to tie it, with Stein earning the last two Athena points on kills. After a dominant third set win (25-15), CMS took the final three points in the fourth for a 25-23 win and a 3-1 victory to advance.
The second round saw Southwestern edge CMS in the first set 25-23, before the Athenas bounced back for a 25-20 win to tie it 1-1. The pivotal third set saw CMS lead 24-22 before the Pirates rattled off three straight to fight off two set points and earn a set point of their own. A Moore kill took away set point and tied it 25-25, and after an attack error by Southwestern, Dinovitz combined on the set-winning block for a 2-1 lead. CMS then rolled to a third-set win (25-14) to earn its second win of the tournament.
The regional finals saw CMS fall in the first set 25-21 against Colorado College before hitting its stride and earning back to back 25-17 wins. The fourth set had more drama, but the Athenas were able to earn match point on their second try for a 26-24 win and advance to the nationals, with their third straight 3-1 comeback win.
"The whole season we were continuously battling teams to five sets," said Moore of her team's ability to respond in big situations. "So I think that when points got tight, we already had that confidence in closing out a win under pressure."
In its first match at nationals in the quarterfinals against Gustavus Adolphus, the Athenas faced serious adversity, dropping the first set 25-16 and seeming out of sorts on the big stage. However, the script flipped and CMS put forth its most dominant stretch of volleyball of the tournament, rolling to three straight set wins for a 16-25, 25-17, 25-16, 25-14 victory and a hard-earned trip to the semifinals.
CMS took a 1-0 lead for the first time in the NCAA Tournament in the semifinals against Ithaca, after leading 24-20 and holding on for a 25-23 win on a Stein kill. Ithaca bounced back for a closing 5-0 run to win the second set 25-23 win to tie the score 1-1, but CMS again showed championship resolve, taking the third 25-21 and the fourth 25-18, both on Arntson kills to advance to the first national championship match in program history.
In the finals against Wittenberg, CMS broke its NCAA Tournament mold and came out strong, winning the first set 25-18 and not letting up, taking the second 25-19 for a 2-0 lead. Although they had battled back from behind every time throughout their postseason run, it was a relief to be in front at the intermission with national championship pressure at stake, instead of tied 1-1.
"It was so huge," said Dinovitz. "I remember we came into the locker room after being up and were just dancing and having fun. Everything really seemed to line up that day and we were just kind of enjoying the ride which was a really cool experience."
The championship started to feel closer and closer, as the Athenas took six-point leads at 17-11 and 20-14. Wittenberg didn't go down without a fight, though, as Aubrey Cox had three straight kills to close the CMS lead to 23-22, and the pressure started to mount.
Any volleyball player has lived through matches with wild comebacks and big momentum swings, so the chance to close out the national championship 3-0 was one that CMS didn't want to let get away. If the match got to 2-1, the Tigers would have renewed life and confidence, and the pressure would shift to the CMS side, where the fear of letting a 2-0 lead slip away could cause some natural tension. Moore trusted her team's mindset to handle whatever pressure presented itself, though.
"In any game, a win is never absolute," she Moore. "It is easy to feel good when things are going well, and bad when things are going bad, but staying present and taking each point one by one helps keep the team grounded and not looking ahead too far."
Cox went for her fourth straight kill to tie the match, but had an error to give CMS the 24-22 lead. Phoebe Madsen and Arntson then took the floor for their turns in the rotation, joining Dinovitz, who had entered at 23-20 when Moore went back to serve. On the first championship point in CMS history, Madsen served and Wittenberg had an overpass on the return, sending the ball Dinovitz' way.
For a fleeting moment as the Tiger pass was carrying over the net, it looked like Dinovitz might have an easy put down to win it all. The Wittenberg setter had an impressive recovery, though, quickly shifting from set mode to block mode, and produced a stalemate at the net, with both players having two hands on the ball. Instead of dropping on the Wittenberg side for the championship, the ball came back to CMS, and Dinovitz instinctively played the ball in the air to keep it alive.
"The last point I totally goofed a joust and had to play a ball up," said Dinovitz. "The whole time I was just thinking, 'please don't mess this up.'"
The reprieve for Wittenberg lasted only a couple seconds, though, as Dinovitz played the ball up where Madsen could easily track it down. Madsen used a dig-style set to send the ball to the right side to Arntson, who backpedaled into position to prepare to come forward for the attack, the same way she had probably done a million times before in practice drills and regular season matches on her way to All-America honors. She came forward and swung with a hard crosscourt kill attempt easily past the two-person block.
Wittenberg's desperate one-armed dig attempt only re-directed the ball into the stands. It was Arntson's 18th kill on the day in 27 attempts, as the All-American came through on the biggest stage. Of course, it also meant the point, the set, the win, and the national championship.
Cue the confetti, and the celebratory pigpile.
"At the time, the experience was very surreal," said Moore, who probably got as much elevation on her celebratory jump sprinting in from the sidelines as she did on her kills. "I definitely could not process it at the time, but looking back on the event, I am overwhelmed with a feeling of overwhelming joy."
"It was so crazy," said Dinovitz. "I was just really happy that we did it. We put in so much hard work to get there and it was just the biggest feeling of relief that we did it and we came all that way and ended up being successful. It would have been so tough to go home after getting that close to winning. I was just really proud of us all for making it happen."
The championship was historic for the program, and in many ways, the entire athletic department. CMS had won national championships the previous two years in men's tennis and men's golf (and would add two more in 2018 from women's tennis and women's golf), but due to the inherent quirks with the academic schedule, those came after students had already left campus for the summer. As a fall sport, the volleyball team got to win one right in the middle of the semester, with students on the three campuses able to share in the experience from afar, and celebrate the championship with the team when they returned.
Even though the confetti eventually fell on the Athenas in Grand Rapids, Michigan, over 2000 miles away from Claremont, the team was well aware of the support they were getting.
"My favorite part of the whole experience, beyond the actual match and winning the physical title, was the sense of community that encompassed the entire experience," said Moore. "During regionals, leading up to nationals, I could feel the CMS community's whole buzz supporting and rooting for us every step of the way. From texts from my friends and family to emails from my teachers to even mass viewing events on campus, I felt like the joy of the journey was shared not just with myself and the team, but it was a communal experience. When I think back on winning the championship, I do not remember the game itself, but I remember my team, my family, and the community that supported us every step of the way."
The sort of championship memories that will never go away.