The Brookhaven College Bears volleyball team entered this year’s National Junior College Athletic Association Division III Volleyball Championship tournament with top ranking and left the tournament still No. 1. The Lady Bears swept the tournament with a perfect 9-0 record. The college community came together to recognize and celebrate the team on Dec. 3.
Coach Jason Hopkins introduced the team members. Many of the players were selected for honors at the tournament. Callie Martin, Stephanie Sanderson and Katie Schlup were selected for the All-Tournament team and Martin was an honorable mention to the All-American first team. Brooke Shelton garnered the tournament’s top honor as Most Valuable Player and was selected for the first All-American Team. Hopkins failed to mention his own honors as the 2008 NJCAA Div. III Heidi Hutchinson Coach of the Year, as well as the Div. III Region V Coach of the Year.
“We are very proud of our accomplishments this season,” said Coach Hopkins. “The team worked hard all season long, from the start of our first day of four-a-day practices until the final point scored in the national championship match.”
The Lady Bears have been at the national tournament for five consecutive years, winning the championship in 2004 and 2005, taking third place in 2006 and fourth place last year. Two players, Shelton and Holly Kieschnick, both completed the tournament with sprained ankles, Kieschnick from pre-tournament practice and Shelton during the first Friday match against Anne Arundel Community College.
“The team has had this in their mind all season long, and especially coming in as the number one ranked team in the nation and the number one seed in the tournament,” said Hopkins. “I have to give our sophomore tri-captains, Susan Rodriquez, Kieschnick and Shelton, a lot of credit for leading this team all the way through.”
The 2008 NJCAA Division III Volleyball Tournament was Nov. 14-15, at the University Center Rochester-Sports Center in Rochester, Minn.
