With the fall season quickly coming to an end, the Spalding Golden Eagles athletic department has a lot to be happy about. This past weekend they saw their volleyball team advance to their 4th consecutive USCAA National Championship game. While they suffered a heartbreaking defeat in 5 games at the hands of Florida College, they once again proved to be a national force in the sport of volleyball.

The team came into the National tournament ranked #2 in the country (behind Florida College) with a record of 24-9. Pool play began on Thursday afternoon when the Golden Eagles took on Rochester College. While they slipped up in game one losing , 21-25, they would not suffer another game defeat in the tournament until the semifinals when they lost the second game to the University of Dallas. They would eventually beat that team to advance to the National Championship game.

To say the championship game kept you on the edge of your seat would be the understatement of the century. Not only did it go to five games, but regulation play could  not decide the eventual national champion. With the two teams knotted up at 6-6 in the final game, neither team took a 2 point lead until the final point of the game when a kill by Tournament MVP, Kerri Taylor, won the championship for the Falcons by a score of 18-16.

This is the 4th consecutive year the volleyball team has played in the final game and 4th consecutive year they have played against Florida College with the Golden Eagles capturing the title in 2008. This year marks another 30 win season for Bridget Yates and her team, their 3rd year in a row accomplishing that feat. While the defeat this weekend is a hard pill to swallow, the team has no reason to have their heads down as this season marks one of the most successful in school history. The team won the SLIAC championship which makes them the first team in school history to win a title in their new conference. They were honored with 3 players being named to the All-American Team, Alex Marquardt, Paige Dellis, and Jessica Luker. And even though they did not bring home the title, that was just a mere blip in what was otherwise a great season.

Even though the volleyball team could not bring home a title, another team in the school will now hoist their first banner in the program’s history. The Men’s Cross Country team outraced 11 of the best schools at the USCAA National Championships this past week to bring home the title. This championship is the first for Coach Alessandro and the Men’s Cross Country team and 3rd overall in the school’s history.

Besides winning the title, the other story of the day was Sophomore runner, Abram Deng who finished first overall in the race and was named the individual national champion. Deng was well prepared for this race as only a week ago he set the school record in the 8K by an astounding 32 seconds in the SLIAC conference meet. In that race he finished 6th overall which landed him on the All-Conference Team. Deng’s teammate, Haile Jemane, also ran the race of his life this weekend as he also had a visit to the podium finishing third overall.

The Golden Eagles were certainly not the favorites heading into the race with Dine College in the field. Dine has won that last 9 national championships and was picked to win their 10th this weekend. Spalding played spoiler as they edged out Dine who finished in 2nd place, 38 points behind Spalding. With the team having no seniors, it looks to hoist more banners in the future, as they return all their runners in hopes of defending their national championship.

Tags: Men's Cross Country, Women's Volleyball //