The King's College Women's Volleyball team captured the 2021 Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship with a 3-1 win against the Five Towns College Sound. This is the second straight HVIAC conference championship for the Lady Lions. The team also won the tournament in 2019, but due to the covid pandemic, the HVIAC did not have any regular or postseason competition in 2020-21.
Four King's players are now two-time HVIAC conference champions: Seniors Samantha Klozik and Ruby Anastacio, and juniors Alex Kemsley and Abby Roth.
The Lady Lions and Sound had split two matches earlier in the season with King's taking a 3-0 decision in the first match, while Five Towns prevailed 3-2 the second time around to take first place in the regular season standings.
As the championship match began on a beautiful day at the Five Towns campus in Dix Hills, Long Island, it looked like Five Towns would pick up where they left off in the last match. The two teams traded points at 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, and 5-5. But King's began to pull away with a 10-5 lead behind the service of senior Samantha Klozik. Five Towns was not going down so easily and drew even at 16-16 and 17-17 before King's went ahead again and seemed in control at 22-18. The Lions led 24-21 and were on the verge of victory in the first set but were stunned by five straight Sound points including 4 service aces by Emely Ramos as Five Towns won the set 26-24 for a 1-0 lead in the match.
The Lady Lions had faced adversity in the past and after a brief huddle with Coach Richard Christensen they took to the court for the second set. The Lions jumped out to leads of 10-5 and 13-7 before Five Towns narrowed the gap to 14-10. But King's stretched their lead to 17-10 and 18-12 behind the strong play of sophomore Bella Rush, junior Alex Kemsley and Klozik. The Lions closed out the match 25-14 with Klozik serving and a timely kill by freshman Rachel Guerra. The match was now tied 1-1.
With the match now even, King's seemed more relaxed and found the rhythm in their game. The third set began with King's surging to leads of 7-2, 12-6, and 18-10 behind the service of freshmen Eliana Adler and HaileyPaige Gilroy as well as junior Abby Roth. The Lady Lions turned ferocious with six kills over the next seven points for a 24-14 lead including 4 by Kemsley. King's won the third set 25-17 to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
The Lady Lions were closing in on consecutive HVIAC conference championships, but Five Towns was not going down without a fight as the team went back and forth at 2-2, 3-3, and 4-4. King's reeled off 6 points with Adler serving for 10-4 lead. The margin grew wider at 17-7 as Klozik served while Rush and Guerra pounded a few kills. With King's leading 19-11 veterans Roth, Kemsley, and Klozik seemingly took over the match. Kemsley crushed a kill off an assist from Roth to make it 20-11 as Kemsley took the ball for service. The junior quickly fired two service aces for a 22-11 King's advantage. Kemsley served again, Five Towns returned, but Roth set up Klozik for the kill and a 23-11 lead as a victory was now in sight. Kemsley served again with another volley back by the Sound, this time Kemsley set up Klozik for another kill and the 24-11 lead. Matchpoint...Kemsley serves, Five Towns returns, Roth sets up Klozik who fires away for the 25-11 win in the fourth set, a 3-1 victory in the match, and the 2021 HVIAC Conference Championship!
The Lady Lions featured some newcomers this season that were instrumental in the championship today. Sophomore rookie Bella Rush was a strong presence with 13 points, 11 kills, 2 aces, and 13 digs. Freshman Eliana Adler pitched in with a kill, 2 aces, and 7 digs, and freshman Rachel Guerra notched 7 kills and 2 digs. Fellow freshman HaileyPaige Gilroy contributed a kill, 2 assists, and 6 digs. Junior Elizabeth Aguilar and sophomore Melinda Huspen did not make their way onto the scoresheet but provided valuable depth to the team.
Veteran poise and leadership were extremely evident for King's today. Junior Abby Roth the 2019 Tournament MVP did not disappoint today as she piled up a massive 41 assists, 18 digs, and a service ace. Fellow junior Alex Kemsley had a match high 15 kills and 2 aces for 17 points to go with 2 assists and 8 digs. Senior Samantha Klozik was named the Tournament MVP with 14 kills and 4 aces for a match high 18 points as well as 2 assists and 17 digs.
Prior to the match Klozik and Rush were named to the HVIAC All-Conference Team. During the closing ceremonies, Klozik was named HVIAC Player of the Year and Rush earned HVIAC Rookie of the Year accolades.
This remarkable season is not yet over. The team will travel to Virginia Beach later this week for the United States College Athletic Association National Championships after receiving a bid earlier this week.
