ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Something about five-set matches seems to agree with Central Oklahoma.
The No. 6-ranked Bronchos slipped past MIAA rival Washburn in their second straight nailbiter at the NCAA Division II Central Regional semifinals Friday evening, improving to 5-0 in five-set matches this season,
UCO pulled out a 20-25, 25-21, 25-18, 19-25, 15-8 victory to move into Saturday's finals against host and No. 2 St. Cloud State. The regional champion advances to next week's Elite Eight in Sioux Falls, S.D.
It marks the first time the Bronchos have won two matches in the national tournament and head coach Edgar Miraku's crew also tied a school record for single-season wins in improving to 32-2.
"The girls showed a lot of resilience and I couldn't be prouder of them," Miraku said. "I thought our defense was poor in the first set, but we picked it up quite a bit after that. Offensively, like last night, we made some adjustments.
"Advancing to the finals in the Central Region is an amazing accomplishment. I'm very, very proud of them."
Jenna Karp was the catalyst for UCO, hitting .353 with 20 kills – tying a career high – and adding six assisted blocks. She collected five kills and two blocks in the deciding fifth set.
"All of us are so thankful to be here because we've never made it this far," Karp said. "To get all the way to the fifth set and not finish it, I just told them, "no, we've come too far and put in too much work" and I think everyone had the same mindset. We're not ready to be done yet."
Katie Le was a huge defensive presence for the Bronchos as the senior libero dug up 30 Washburn attacks to equal her season best while also serving up two aces.
"The game is going back and forth, the lead is changing back and forth, but if we play our game and play UCO volleyball we'll be fine," Le said. "We can't get rattled during those tight matches that could go either way and we didn't."
Three other players had double-digit kills for the Bronchos.
Mikaela Garvin hit .308 with 16 kills and three blocks, Lari Migliorino had 13 kills and five blocks and Sydney Huck added 11 kills, 16 digs and three blocks. Addison Wimmer chipped in eight kills, eight digs and four blocks.
Lindsey Houran was masterful directing the offensive attack, collecting 62 assists – her second-best outing of the season – to go along with 12 digs, two kills and three blocks. Riley Roberts contributed 16 digs and Kaitlyn Parrott eight to help the defense.
Karp was at her dominating best in the final set.
She opened with a shot down the line to give UCO a quick lead, but the Ichabods scored twice to go up 2-1. Migliorino and Huck had back-to-back solo blocks to make it 3-2, then it was tied at 3 and 4.
It was all UCO after that.
Migliorino's deep shot put the Bronchos on top to stay, Karp followed with a hard shot off a hapless WU defender and Garvin's kill off an attempted block put UCO ahead 7-4. Karp had two more kills and teamed up with Huck and Houran for assisted blocks as the lead grew to 11-6.
Another Karp kill had the lead at 12-7 before a UCO error gave Washburn its final point. Huck hit a corner shot, Migliorino scored off a block try and Garvin ended the drama with an emphatic solo block.
Washburn broke on top in the match by taking the first set, but the Bronchos answered.
Garvin had six kills and Karp four in the second-set win, with UCO scoring the final three points after the Ichabods had pulled within 22-21.
Central trailed throughout the early going of the third set, then took control with a 6-0 run that tuned a 13-all tie into an 18-13 lead. Huck knocked down three kills and Le had consecutive aces to key that spurt, with Migliorino smashing two kills down the stretch to close out the set.
Washburn closed out the fourth set with a 7-1 run to tie the match and set up the faithful fifth, but the Bronchos were up to the challenge – again.
