By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Toledo, OH---The No. 17 Express fought No. 1 Cowley County in a raucous NJCAA D-II National Semifinal, but they fell to the defending national champions in four sets, 26-28, 27-25, 22-25, 19-25.
The Express missed a big chance in the first set when they failed to win it after being up 24-21. They came back to win another tough set in the second to tie it up. However, they couldn't make enough plays in the final two sets as Cowley moved to 38-0.
Dakia Sellers, for the third straight match, led the Express in kills - this time with 16. Alyssa Meis added 15, while Jazmine Thomas had nine.
Sellers added to her single season program record in kills, as she now has 615. She broke the old record of 595 yesterday, while Meis has now also broken the old record with 607, but she trails Sellers by eight with one match left.
Molly Hilfinger had a team-high 41 assists, and she broke the program's single season assist record in the loss tonight. She now has 1,489 assists this year, which breaks Cearra Barr's record of 1,477 from 2004. Hilfinger now holds the single match, single season and career assist records for the Express.
Lisa Urbanski had a team-high 25 digs, but Hilfinger added 15, Meis added 14 and Brandi Schimming added 12. Thomas led the Express in blocks with one solo and six assisted. Kenzie Kleinhenz added four assisted blocks, while Tiffani Hobbs, Sellers and Meis each had three.
Urbanski now has 941 digs this year, which is 66 short of breaking Ashley Hill's record of 1,006 from 2004. Tonight, she moved into third place on the single season list, passing the 940 total from Ellie Comes in 2011. Comes, however, sits one ahead of Urbanski for second place with her 942 total from 2010.
Overall, the Express had 47 kills, 43 assists, 82 digs, one solo block (Thomas), 20 assisted blocks and two aces.
The Express (37-10) will take on Parkland College tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. in the 3rd place match of the NJCAA D-II National Tournament. Parkland lost in five sets to Grand Rapids Community College in the other semifinal, after the Raiders came back from down 0-2 to stun Parkland.
Meanwhile, Cowley County and Grand Rapids will play in the national championship at 6:30 p.m. in the SHAC. Cowley will be looking for their second consecutive title.