SIOUX CITY, Iowa - The Madonna  University volleyball team will take some positive momentum into the offseason as they wrapped up their 18th trip to the NAIA National Championships at Tyson Events Center on Thursday afternoon with a five-set win over No. 24 Reinhardt University (Ga.).

Playing in pool G, both teams entered the day 0-2 in the tournament, but it was the Crusaders who will head home with their first final site match win since advancing to the bracket round in 2015. Madonna won the match in five sets, 25-16, 22-25, 25-15, 23-25, 15-11.

It was a bittersweet victory for the Blue and Gold as their season ends and MU says goodbye to senior Erica LaBaere who had 11 kills and five blocks in the win. One of the youngest teams in the field, the Crusaders will return all but LaBaere next season, including Jodie Kelly who led the team with 17 kills and added 21 digs. 

"We will miss Erica," said Head Coach Jerry Abraham. "She had a good day today and it was awesome to see her go out on a game like that. She played her best at the end of the year and was a big reason we made it here."

Betsy Cook, a sophomore setter, dished out 54 assists while freshmen DJ Sargent, Tauri Hintz, and Jannelle Kwasiborski added eight, seven and 12 kills, respectively. Kwasiborski also led the defense at the net with six blocks. Olivia Sweeney led the back row with 24 digs and will also return next season.

"We are excited about what the future holds. We gained a lot of experience this year, have a strong group returning and plan to mix in a few recruits and who knows what will happen."

The day could not have started any better for the Crusaders as service maestro Ryan Castle, a junior, served six straight points to open the match which included a service ace, kills from LaBaere and Kelly and a solo block from LaBaere. The Crusaders dominated the rest of the set and won set one 25-16 on a kill from Luisa Wiewgorra.

"We came out with a bang and were hitting on all cylinders in the first set and it was great to see," added Abraham. 

Set two was close throughout, with neither team really pulling away until the end as the Eagles scored four of the final five points for the 25-22 win. It was aggressive serving that turned the tide in set three as Sweeney served first for MU and served seven straight points, with seven miscues from Reinhardt giving the Crusaders the 8-1 lead. The Waleska, Georiga program cut the lead to four, 17-13, but the Blue and Gold closed strong as they won eight of the final 10 points for the 25-15 win. Kelly had two kills and a service ace in the run while Kwasiborski had a kill and a block and Cook and Hintz also added a kill. 

Game four was much like game two in that the teams traded the lead and side-outs throughout the match, the last coming at 21. Reinhardt followed with three straight points, but an error and a block by Kwasiborski and Hintz cut the margin to one, 24-23, but the Eagles put down the final point to even the set.

Madonna appeared to be running away with the fifth set as they won 13 of the first 17 points to take a 13-4 lead. Kelly and Kwasiborski each had four kills to score eight of the Crusaders 13 points for the commanding lead. Reinhardt scored seven of the next eight points to cut the lead to three, 14-11 before Kelly ended the match with a kill. 

"We had an up and down second game and credit to Reinhardt, they are a good team. It was nice to see us finish strong as it's something we've struggled with at times this year. It was a great way to end the year. Overall we played well this week, just ran into some really tough teams, but we were able to finish strong and I believe it will carry into the offseason and hopefully give us some momentum as we head into 2020," stated Abraham. 

Madonna outhit Reinhardt .161 (58-27-192) to .083 (52-36-193) and the Eagles were led by Shelby Glawson and Tessa Colden with 11 kills each.

The Crusaders finish the season 26-14 giving the program 25-plus wins for the 32nd time in program history and 1,229 wins overall. The team will returns a host of talented players for 2020 and will look to begin another run of consecutive trips to the national championship.

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