The King's College Women's Volleyball Team made more history this afternoon as they defeated Five Towns College 3-0 (25-9, 25-12, 25-15) to win the Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship. This is the first conference championship by any team at King's since the college moved to New York City. The win improved the team's record to 12-6 as they won their final eight games and ten of their last eleven. The 12 wins is the most by any team at King's since the athletic program in New York City was started in 2012. The 2018 men's soccer team finished 10-5 overall, and in 2013 the women's soccer team finished 10-4.
Remarkably, the 2019 HVIAC Conference Champions are made up of 3 sophomores and 7 freshman. The team started off somewhat slowly as they worked to find chemistry with so many new players while also being without the services of sophomore Samantha Klozik, the 2018 HVIAC Rookie of the Year, who missed the first 6 weeks of the season with an injury. But under the guidance of first year head coach, Grace Croley, the team improved each week as the season went on.
The Lady Lions were more determined than ever as they took the court today and received major contributions from many players. To no one's surprise, Klozik was all over the court and had 3 kills, 2 assists, a service ace, 14 digs and 4 points. Her savvy sophomore teammate Renae Maganza tacked on a kill, 3 assists, 3 service aces, 5 digs and 4 points. Freshman Olivia Tanski chipped in with a kill for 1 point and fellow freshman Natalie Smith provided some defensive work with 4 digs. Another freshman Callie Donaghue had 3 kills for 3 points and a dig.
Prior to the match freshmen Alex Kemsley and Avery Johnson were acknowledged by the conference for making the HVIAC All Conference Team. Johnson was strong and versatile as usual as she posted 9 kills, 2 aces, 7 digs and 11 points. Kemsley led the Lady Lions in points with 19 behind 11 kills, 6 service aces, 2 digs and 2 blocked shots.
Another freshman, Abby Roth, quite possibly saved her best match of the season for the biggest stage as she had 3 kills, 21 assists, 7 service aces, 4 digs, a blocked shot and 11 points. For her performance she was selected as the Championship Match Most Valuable Player.
Before the team was awarded their championship trophy after the match, they had some other hardware to collect. For her efforts this season, Coach Croley, who is a King's volleyball alum, was voted the 2019 HVIAC Coach of the Year by her peers, and Alex Kemsley was voted HVIAC Rookie of the Year.
The team and coaching staff are well deserving of these awards and accolades. They demonstrated what is possible with hard work and were rewarded for their commitment and dedication. With such a young roster, there is no reason to think they cannot make another championship run in 2020 and beyond. For now we hope they enjoy this moment for themselves and salute them for how well they represented The King's College on and off the court this season.