Spartans Volleyball Claims Second Consecutive A-R-C Tourney Championship
Nov 10, 2019
The Spartans claimed their second consecutive American Rivers Conference Tournament Championship on Saturday.
The 2019 DIII women's volleyball championship bracket will be announced on Monday, Nov. 11 at 12:30 p.m. ET. The bracket will be revealed in a selection show available to watch right here on NCAA.com
WAVERLY, Iowa — The 2019 American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) Volleyball Tournament saw the No. 3-seed Dubuque Spartans (22-10, 5-3 A-R-C) take down No. 1-seed Wartburg (24-8, 8-0 A-R-C) 3-1 from Levick Arena on the campus of Wartburg College.
This year's Dubuque Spartans were looking to make it back-to-back tournament champions, and that they did. This marks the program's fourth conference tournament title in program history (‘82, ‘95, ‘18, ‘19). Tonight's title also earns Dubuque the league's automatic qualifier to the 2019 NCAA Division III Volleyball Tournament.
Dubuque outhit the Knights throughout the four sets, .137 to .077. The Spartans had 219 attacks with 60 kills while Wartburg finished with 208 attacks and 44 kills.
It was A-R-C honorable mention Darby Hawtrey leading the Spartans on offense with 20 kills. Freshman and 2019 All-Conference performer Grace Hintze followed with 16 kills and fellow All-Conference performer, senior Kara Wright put down 13. Setting up the UD offense was A-R-C honorable mention, sophomore Kate Messino, who finished with 50 assists. Senior defensive specialist Grace Strawser recorded a match-high 41 digs to help the Spartans collect their second straight conference tournament title.
With 13 kills Zaiah Quirk paced the Knights offense. Kylie Bildstein recorded 12 kills. Claire Marsh recorded 20 assists. Marsh and A-R-C MVP and Defensive MVP Katie Foster tallied a team-best 30 digs.
The 2019 DIII women's volleyball championship bracket will be announced on Monday, Nov. 11 at 12:30 p.m. ET. The bracket will be revealed in a selection show available to watch right here on NCAA.com
64 teams will make the tournament field, and eight sites with host regional tournaments. The winner of each regional tournament will advance to the championship site, and those eight teams will complete in a single-elimination format.
Regionals will take place Friday-Sunday, Nov. 15-17. Regional sites that include a team with a no-play Sunday policy will be conducted Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 14-16.
CHAMPIONSHIP INFO: View the 2019 interactive bracket | Full broadcast schedule | Buy tickets
The championship will be Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 21-23 at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, hosted by the American Rivers Conference.
