Sweet Repeat: Harvester Bees Cruise to National Championship

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – It was a sweet repeat. And for these Bees, that's an awful lot of honey the past two years.

Dallas College Eastfield's No. 1-ranked volleyball team repeated as national champions, sweeping No. 2 Minnesota West Community & Technical College, 25-16, 25-9, 25-13, in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III championship Saturday night at Alliant Energy PowerHouse.

It is the Harvester Bees' third national title in program history and second under third-year coach Phil Nickel.

Eastfield (34-1) never trailed, and hit a whopping .514 in the second set. The Harvesters held Minnesota West (35-5) to eight kills in the first and third sets and four in the second in a dominating performance that's become synonymous with the Bees the past two years.

Sophomore hitter Brenly Walker had 11 kills, and hit .409. Sophomore hitter Azoria Davis finished with 10 kills, 10 digs and three blocks, and hit .304, while being named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. Sophomore setter Taryn Doiron had 41 assists to finish the season with a nation's best 1,211. Sophomore hitter Carli Banks had nine kills, two blocks and a .421 attack percentage. Sophomore middle blocker McKenzie Anderson had eight kills, three blocks and a .316 hitting percentage. Sophomore middle blocker Kendall Wilson had eight kills and four blocks, and hit .500. Sophomore libero Ava Cole had 10 digs and two aces.

Doiron and Anderson joined Davis on the All-Tournament Team, and Nickel was named the Heidi Hutchinson Coach of the Tournament.

The Bees hit .330 in as balanced an attack as you'll find. They outblocked the Bluejays, 8-1. Eastfield had six aces. Minnesota West did not record one.

The Harvesters raced out to an 11-3 lead in the first set on a block by Anderson and Banks. Claire Bohlen's kill pulled Minnesota West within 13-8. Cole's ace capped a four-point run to double the Bees' lead to 18-9. Ally Nelson kill kept the Bluejays within 21-13, following a putaway by Wilson. After a kill by Minnesota West's Kylee Larsen made it 23-15, Walker and Wilson sandwiched kills around a Bees error to take Set 1.

Eastfield had 15 kills and five errors in 35 swings for a .286 attack percentage in the opening set. Minnesota West hit .036.

The Harvesters jumped out to 10-3 lead in the second on the heels of Davis' kill. The Bluejays used three Eastfield errors to cut it to four before Anderson pounded three straight balls to the floor. A Minnesota West error and kills by Walker and Doiron prompted a Bluejays' timeout with the Bees up, 16-6. Davis tacked on an ace, and Anderson put down another kill after the timeout to make it 18-6 before the Bluejays salvaged a sideout on Ella Hesse's kill. Eastfield stretched the lead to 22-8 on putaways by Walker, Banks and Wilson in succession, followed by a Minnesota West attack error. Walker and Banks banged down the final two points to push the Bees within a set of the title.

The Harvester Bees opened an 8-2 lead in Set 3 on Walker's kill. Minnesota West pulled within six on an Eastfield error before Walker and Banks terminated the next two points. Abby Loosbrock's kill left the Bluejays within 17-9, but Banks' blast started a seven-point Bees' surge that included kills by Davis and Wilson on setups from Doiron and a block by Davis. Loosbrok's kill capped a four-point swing for Minnesota West, but Eastfield became champions again on the ensuing serve.

It was the 29^th sweep of the season for the Harvester Bees, who ended the year with nine straight. They won their last 14 matches.

Eastfield, which won its first title in 2017, has gone 69-1 in the past two years.