Sweet 3-Peat: Eastfield Volleyball Wins National Championship
Dallas College Eastfield's volleyball team won its third straight national championship, beating Dallas Athletic Conference rival Dallas College Brookhaven 25-17, 25-14, 25-16 in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III Championship Saturday night.
The Harvester Bees (31-1) won their 28th straight match, and became the second team in NJCAA Division III history to three-peat.
Eastfield's Mia Santos hit .393 with 15 kills. Madison Mosley had 10 kills, and hit .381. Kira Smith and Myah Griggs each had five kills. Smith hit .444. Joslyn Rodriguez had 16 assists, and Mylah Arzaga had 14 assists, two aces and eight digs. Patience Gibson had 12 digs and three aces.
Brookhaven's McKenzie Mitchell had nine kills and seven digs. Holland Hickman and Mary Amick each had five kills. Amick had three aces. Brooke Tyler had 17 assists, two blocks and seven digs. Fiona Larsen had 10 digs.
Eastfield hit .333. Brookhaven hit .096.
The Harvester Bees trailed only once in the first set – 5-4, following an attack error. But Eastfield ran off the next three points – the last an ace by Mosley to claim a lead it would not relinquish. Santos' kill midway through the set gave the Harvesters a 15-7 lead. Smith's kill extended it to 20-14. Tyler had a kill on a setup from Larsen as Brookhaven (18-13) brought it to 22-16. But the Bees took the opening set on a kill by Santos four serves later.
The Bears won the first point in the second set on a block by Hickman and Tyler. But Eastfield used a 5-1 run, capped by a kill by Mosley to take control. Smith had a kill that put the Harvester Bees up 16-11 before Brookhaven's Kamryn Mitchell put away the next ball. Bailey Brooks had a kill to give the Bees a 21-12 advantage before Hickman stopped a five-point Eastfield surge with a putaway. The Harvesters wrapped up the set by winning four of the last five serves.
Eastfield ran out to a 7-0 lead on a kill by Griggs in the third set. Brookhaven cut it to 8-4 on a kill by McKenzie Mitchell. Smith gave the Bees a 14-6 lead with a kill. McKenzie Mitchell's kill touched off a three-point Bears' run to make it 17-11. Arzaga's kill on an assist from Aracely Nunez stretched the Harvesters' lead to 20-12. Sarah Parr and Jaylin Holmes had kills as Brookhaven cut it to 21-15. But the Bees ran off four of the last five points, punctuating the championship point on a kill by Santos.
Eastfield hit .417 in the second set and .333 in the third.
The Harvester Bees have gone 100-2 in the last three years under head coach Phil Nickel.
It is Eastfield's fourth national championship.