Cornerstone Claims Women's Volleyball Tournament Title

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - (TOURNAMENT PAGE) - Cornerstone rallied from a two-set deficit for a five-set thrilling victory in the championship match of the 2022 Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Women's Volleyball Tournament inside Mol Arena. The Golden Eagles won 22-25, 25-27, 25-14, 25-13, 18-16.

Both Cornerstone (32-3), as the WHAC regular season, and Indiana Tech (28-7), as the WHAC tournament runner-up, will receive automatic bids into the NAIA Women's Volleyball National Championship Opening Round.

Cornerstone jumped to a 6-1 lead in the opening set and kept a slight lead until Indiana Tech tied it at 22. The Warriors scored the next three points for a 25-22 win to take a 1-0 lead.

The second set opened with Cornerstone taking an early lead, but nothing more than a point or two. The teams traded points and Indiana Tech tied it up at 19. CU got a solo block from Kaylee Dykema to go back on top and force a Warrior timeout. IT tied the score again out of the time out at 21 only for Olivia Keelean to give Cornerstone set point. Tech did not falter, and responded with back-to back kills from Noelle VanOort and Taylor Paul and a service ace from VanOort closed the set at 27-25 and a Warrior 2-0 match lead.

The third set started with back-and-forth play until Cornerstone went on an 8-0 run to gain an 11-5 advantage. The Golden Eagles continued to press and controlled the flow for the rest of the set for a 25-14 win.

The fourth set belonged to Cornerstone as the Golden Eagles put together runs of 6-0 and 8-0 to cruise to a 25-23 win to tie the match at 2 apiece and force the final set.

The fifth set went down to the wire. Each team led multiple times throughout play, but neither could game more than a four-point advantage when Tech forced a CU timeout up 8-4. Cornerstone rolled off the next five points out of the break for a slim 9-8 lead only to see the Warriors reclaim it at 10-9. Five points later, Cornerstone took another timeout with Tech up by two at 13-11. The strategy worked again as the Golden Eagles had match point after a pair of Warrior errors. A VanOort kill and a service error by CU put Tech at match point, 16-15. Kathryn Detweiler answered for the defending champs and another kill by Rylie Walters gave CU a 17-16 lead. Regan Vaugn served up an ace for the final point of the match.

Stat Leaders
Kills: Dykema 14 (CU); Paul 12 (IT)
Assists: Lenz 54 (CU); Schriver 29 (IT)
Digs: Morris 48 (CU); Blust 25 (IT)
Blocks: Dykema 7 (CU); Cummings 6 (IT)

All-Time Tournament Champions and Seeds

1992:
1993:
1994:
1995:
1996:
1997:
1998: (1) Madonna
1999:
2000: (1) Madonna
2001: (2) Cornerstone
2002: (1) Madonna
2003: (2) Cornerstone
2004: (1) Madonna
2005: (1) Madonna
2006: (1) Madonna
2007: (1) Madonna
2008: (2) Madonna
2009: (1) Indiana Tech
2010: (1) Indiana Tech
2011: (1) Indiana Tech
2012: (1) Madonna
2013: (1) Madonna
2014: (1) Davenport
2015: (1) Lourdes
2016: (1) Lourdes
2017: (2) Cornerstone
2018: (2) Cornerstone
2019: (1) Lawrence Tech
2020: (1) Cornerstone
2021: (1) Madonna
2022: (1) Cornerstone