STANFORD, Calif. – The 2013 season saw the Hampton University volleyball team make history on several fronts.
The program’s first-ever MEAC Tournament title.
The program’s first-ever MEAC Northern Division regular-season title.
The program’s first-ever MEAC Player of the Year in junior rightside Vendula Strakova.
On Thursday evening, the Lady Pirates made their first-ever NCAA Div. I Tournament appearance at Maples Pavilion against the No. 7 seed Stanford. The Cardinal advanced with a 3-0 (25-10, 25-10, 25-11) win, ending Hampton’s season.
“It’s been a thrill to be in the tournament for the first time ever,” first-year head coach Karen Weatherington said. “It was a great atmosphere to play in, and every opportunity is a chance to learn a lesson.”
Strakova led the way with 11 kills to go along with nine digs on defense. In two years with the Lady Pirates, Strakova has 1,034 career kills, ranking her fifth in program history in career kills.
Senior setter Bibiany Fonseca tallied 19 assists, and she ended her Hampton career with 2,104 assists – the fourth-most in program history.
Senior libero Sheileen Pagan had a team-high 11 digs.
“We definitely learned a new level of mental toughness,” Weatherington said. “We learned that things like team chemistry, that we work on through the season really manifests itself in this championship season.”
Stanford, the No. 3 team in the nation according to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll, opened the first set on a 7-1 run, though the Lady Pirates (19-11) cut that lead to 10-5 on a Strakova kill later in the set.
The Cardinal answered with an 8-2 run to take an 18-7 lead, and they later led 22-9 before Strakova added another kill to cut the lead to 22-10. But Stanford scored the next three points to close out the set and take a 1-0 lead.
Stanford led 9-3 early in the second set, before Hampton scored two of the next three points to cut the lead to 10-5 on a kill from junior outside hitter Sonja Maksimovic. The Cardinal then went on a 6-2 run to take a 16-7 lead.
Sophomore outside hitter Allysa Medina (Menifee, Calif.) registered a kill on the next rally to cut the lead to 16-8, before the Cardinal scored seven straight points to take a 23-8 lead – before taking the second set 25-10 and going up 2-0 in the match.
Stanford jumped out to an 11-1 lead to open the third set, and they led 19-4. The Lady Pirates then went on their first sustained run of the night, scoring six of the next nine points to cut the lead to 22-10 on a kill from Strakova.
But the Cardinal answered with three of the next four points to end the match.
The Lady Pirates struggled to an .022 hitting percentage, tallying 22 kills and 20 errors in 90 total attacks. Stanford (25-5) hit .452 (43 kills, five errors in 84 attacks) for the match and held a 6-1 edge in service aces.
Carly Wopat led the Cardinal with 11 kills. Inky Ajanaku added 10 kills.
Even with the end of the 2013 season fresh in everyone’s minds, Weatherington was already anticipating things to come in 2014 – and beyond.
“One of the toughest things you’ll ever do in this business is win a championship,” Weatherington said. “And as anyone can attest, the only thing tougher is to repeat. I think the confidence (Gained) in making it to this level is great, and the sheer luck of the draw to come out here and play Stanford … the epitome of volleyball, the Pac-12, where volleyball is done at such a high level, showed us that we can have those high aspirations.
“I tell this group that they’re the cornerstone of our future … losing five (players) is tough, but the four that led us tonight that we have next year, we have a bright future.”