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Centurions second season comes to an end with NJCAA play-in loss to SW Michigan

The Montcalm Community College Centurions women’s volleyball team lost 3-0 to Southwestern Michigan in NJCAA play-in tournament at Port Huron’s SC4 Fieldhouse Wednesday, Nov. 6.

The loss ends the season for the Centurions, who qualified for the National Junior College Athletics Association’s Great Lakes Region 12 tournament in only their second season.

The Roadrunners defeated the Centurions in three sets – 25-19, 25-18 and 25-19. Southwestern will move on to face Edison State, which is tonight at 6 p.m.

The Centurions finished the season in fifth place in the Northern Division of the Michigan Community College Athletics Association (MCCAA) and were 8-19 overall.

Second-year Head Coach Kara Youngs told her players before the game to just relish the moment, reminding them of the accomplishments of just getting to the postseason tournament.

“I told them to be in the moment. It was all or nothing,” Young said. “I reminded them that this was our first year to be able to do this so enjoy the moment, take in the stage, take it all in and enjoy it.”

New community college athletic programs are put on a one-year probationary period for NJCAA members, which this year was the first time MCC could qualify for postseason play. MCCAA, however, requires two years of probation, so MCC will be qualified for postseason play after Jan. 1, 2025.

In Wednesday’s play-in game, the Centurions got off to a strong start, establishing an 8-3 lead and building momentum, however, self-inflicted errors allowed the Roadrunners to make a comeback and steal momentum, Youngs said.

“We saw our momentum get chipped away and that allowed them back in the game,” Youngs said. “Their hitting percentage was a little stronger than ours. They kept the ball off the floor and they had amazing saves. They went all out keeping the ball alive.”

Youngs said her team could feel Southwestern carried their momentum into the second set and took an early seven-point lead. MCC, however, managed to pull within two but the Roadrunners once again finished strong to take the set, 25-18.

“The one big thing I kept reminding them was that everyone in this moment, their record is 0-0 going into the postseason,” Youngs said. “I told them to keep communicating, keep being positive and reminded them we practiced this and that seemed to relax them. It took the pressure off from the scoreboard.”

It was unfortunately the same scenario in the final set, with the Roadrunners never relinquishing that momentum they built up in the first set.

Youngs said she is proud of what her team accomplished this year and saw their trip to the Region 12 postseason tournament as valuable experience, both for her players and herself.

“The big thing was being able to be on that stage there. This was our first time there,” she said. “We know now what we need to keep recruiting, what positions we need moving forward. This is only our second year but, for me, I’m a first-time college coach seeing competition like this for the first time and seeing what it takes. It’s been a learning lesson the last couple years.”

Each player received a tournament T-shirt, which listed all the qualified teams on the back of it.

“I told them all how proud I am of them, that we made history,” Youngs said. “We had a lot of firsts on this team. I told them to be proud of the history they made, of this school and to be proud that they’re part of the foundation that we’re building on for this program.”

SCORE BOARD

                     1          2          3          T

SW Mich.        25        25        25        3

MCC               19        18        19        0