UC Clermont Claims 2021 Division II National Title

Virginia Beach, VA – UC Clermont defeats Penn State Mont Alto, 3-0 to win the Division II Volleyball National Championship

The championship match got off to an exciting start as the teams tied five times in the first ten points.  With the game tied at 10, the Cougars jumped out to a four-point lead on a pair of kills from Kara Heckmuller followed by an ace from Alyssa Roberts and a kill by Kennedy Brown.  Mont Alto broke the streak with a kill from Gracie Vaughn, but UCC kept the momentum following up with a 6-0 run to take a 20-11 lead.  The Lions rallied back to get within 5 (17-21), but it wasn't enough as kills from Zoe England and Aja Knott closed out the set as UC Clermont took the 25-18, set one victory. 

Set 2 started in a similar fashion as the teams exchanged the lead twice before UC Clermont took a 9-8 lead on a Sarah Andrews kill.  That proved to be the turning point in the match as the Cougars made a 3-0 run followed by a 4-0 run to expand their lead to 17-10.  Another pair of kills and an error from Mont Alto gave Clermont a 20-12 lead on their way to a 25-14 victory. 

In set 3, Clermont led from the very start hitting .500 as a team with 11 kills as they won 25-12 to secure the 2021 National Championship.  With four players hitting over .400, the Cougars we led by Kennedy Robinson, Aja Knott and Kara Heckmuller who each contributed 8 kills followed by Zoe England with 7.  England and Maura Holscher led in assists with 14 and 13 respectively.  Defensively, Isabella Melotik, with 10 kills led the way. 

In today's third place match, Penn State Greater Allegheny fell to Penn State Dubois by a final score of 3-0 with Sydney Kaschalk earned an All-Tournament Team award. 

All-Tournament Team

Sydney Kaschalk – Penn State Dubois

Kylee Gooding – Penn State Mont Alto

Gracie Vaughn – Penn State Mont Alto

Isabella Melotik – UC Clermont

Kara Heckmuller – UC Clermont

Tournament MVP

Zoe England – UC Clermont

Player of the Year

Kristina Aeschbacher - Penn State Fayette

Coach of the Year

Alyssa Finocchi - Penn State Greater Allegheny

Student-Athlete of the Year

Alessandra Banta - Penn State Hazleton