NEWPORT NEWS REGIONAL TOURNAMENT
NCAA Division III First Round
vs. Allegheny College
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Date: Thursday, Nov. 21
Time: 3:30 p.m. (CST)
Location: Newport News, VA
Arena: Freeman Center
Series: First Meeting
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ABOUT ETBU
Ranking: #8
NPI: #12
Record: 28-1
ASC: 8-0
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The Tigers will be making their fifth NCAA Tournament Appearance and second straight. ETBU earned the automatic bid after winning the American Southwest Conference Tournament Championship over Mary Hardin-Baylor, 3-2. ETBU is now 28-1, winning 27 matches in a row, and went 13-0 at home with a current 28-match home winning streak.
Graycee Mosley, Calllie Humphrey,
Lexi Moody, and head coach
Mallory Matthews were honored by the ASC. Mosley was named the ASC MVP for the third year in a row, while Humphrey was the Newcomer of the Year and Moody the Setter of the Year. Matthews was named the Coach of the Year.
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ETBU is averaging 14.0 kills per set (.236 percentage), 1.9 service aces, and 16.4 digs per set. Mosley leads the team with 493 kills at 5.10 per set.
Avery Reid has 378 kills, averaging 3.50 with a .272 attack percentage. The assists are split between Moody (5.59 per set) with 598 and
McKenzie Mansell (5.37 per set) with 569.
Grace Williamson has 99 kills, while
Anita Hancock adds 79. Humphrey averages 4.78 digs per set (516 digs), and Mosley is at 3.69 (399).
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ETBU's only loss came on August 31 to #8 Trinity University (Texas), 3-2. From that point on, ETBU has won 27 matches, going 4-0 in five-set matches. They have also swept 13 teams this year.
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ABOUT ALLEGHENY COLLEGE
Ranking: NA
NPI: #59
Record: 26-5
PAC: 10-0
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The Gators enter the NCAA Tournament with a 26-5 record, winning their past 11 matches and the 2024 President's Athletic Conference Championship for the automatic bid. They went 10-0 in the PAC regular season and then defeated Saint Vincent, 3-0 (25-14, 25-23, 25-21) for the program's first PAC tournament championship. Five players were named All-PAC in Dagney. Javes was the Player of the Year, Jacy Diaz earned the Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight time, and head coach Kelly Barzak was the Coach of the Year. Also making the All-PAC first team were Angelee Bawek and Meagan Robare, and Duru Akbas was an honorable mention.
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AC is averaging 12.7 kills per set with a .184 kill percentage, 2.4 service aces, and 19.2 digs per set. Bawak has 410 kills (3.69 per set), and Javes has produced 402 kills (3.62 per set), leading the team in kills. Robare has 694 assists, averaging 6.20 per set, while Javes averages 0.61 blocks (68) per set. Diaz leads the defense with 674 digs, at 6.02 digs per set.
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Three of AC's losses came from Sept. 6-7 in Cleveland, Ohio, as they fell to Earlham, 3-2, Case Western Reserve, 3-0, and Mount Union, 3-0. For their five losses, they fell to Baldwin Wallace on Oct. 1, 3-0, and Carnegie Mellon on Oct. 4, 3-2.
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NCAA TOURNAMENT
Overall Record:Â 3-4
ETBU has played in four NCAA Division III Tournaments, winning a match in three of those years. Last year was the first appearance in the postseason in 20 years after ETBU made three straight appearances from 2001 to 2003. ETBU upset #15 North Park University in Oshkosh, Wisc., last year to open the tournament and then took #20 La Verne five sets. The two other wins in the NCAA Tournament came against Maryville College in 2001 and 2003.
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2023 (1-1)
N16 vs #15 North Park, W, 19-25, 25-21, 28-26, 25-15
N17 vs. #20 LaVerne, L, 15-25, 25-23, 25-14, 23-25, 11-15
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2003 (1-1)
N13 vs Maryville, W, 30-25,30-28,30-26
N14 at Trinity University, L , 23-30,18-30,21-30
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2002 (0-1)
N14 vs Savannah Art/Design, L, 24-30,30-21, 29-31, 21-30
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2001 (1-1)
N8Â Maryville College#, W, 30-25, 30-26, 26-30, 25-30, 15-7
N9Â Â Trinity University#, L, 17-30, 24-30, 25-30
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COMMON OPPONENTS
ETBU and Allegheny have one common opponent in LeTourneau University. At the beginning of the season, Allegheny went five sets vs. the YellowJackets in Ohio at the Cedar Point Sports Complex, 20-25, 26-24, 17-25, 25-21, 16-14. ETBU played LETU three times in 2024 winning two matches, 3-0, and the final meeting was 3-1 in the ASC Tournament.
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ASC CHAMPIONS
Winning back-to-back American Southwest Conference Tournament Championships, ETBU has now won five championships for the program, which is second-best in the conference. They held off Mary Hardin-Baylor in five sets, 16-25, 25-19, 25-15, 25-27, 19-17, as the final two sets went into extra points. ETBU opened the ASC Tournament defeating LeTourneau University in four sets, 19-25, 25-15, 25-21, 25-14, to advance to the championship match.
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Avery Reid was named the ASC Tournament MVP with 23 kills and six blocks in the final match.Â
Graycee Mosley had 16 kills and 17 digs as a member of the ASC All-Tournament team, andÂ
Callie Humphrey was also a member, collecting a career-high 32 digs vs. the Cru. ETBU finished with 30 total blocks, withÂ
Grace Williamson having nine,Â
Emily Sitton having seven, andÂ
Emily Millikan having six. BothÂ
Lexi Moody andÂ
McKenzie Mansell recorded 22 assists.
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ASC AWARDS
ETBU earned four major American Southwest Conference awards as eight players were All-ASC.
Graycee Mosley, Lexi Moodi,Â
Callie Humphrey, and the ETBU coaching staff received ASC awards. Mosley earned her third straight ASC Most Valuable Player award, becoming the second ETBU player to reach this feat behind Allison Castillo (2001-2003). ETBU is the only school with two players winning the ASC MVP award three years in a row. Â Moody has become ETBU's first ASC Setter of the Year since the award was started in 2019. The program's third ASC Newcomer of the Year is Humphrey, as Kourtney Adams (2009) and Jill Boyd (2004) were East Division winners. Head coach Mallory was named the Coach of the Year, the first time ETBU had won it twice since 2002, when Suzanne Wingrove won it twice (2001, 2002). This is Matthews' third ASC Coach of the Year award, as she was twice the East Division winner at LeTourneau University for the 2019 and 2020-21 seasons.
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Making the All-ASC first team are Mosley, Moody,Â
Avery Reid,Â
Anita Hancock, andÂ
Grace Williamson. Humphrey andÂ
McKenzie Mansell were members of the All-ASC second team, and
Raylynn Pitts was named honorable mention. It was the fourth year in a row that Reid was named an All-ASC first-team member and the fifth player to reach that goal in program history. She is just the third ETBU player on the first team all four years, with Jill Boyd (2004-07 – 4 first team) and Arden Tunnell (2002-05 – 4 first team).  Jane Hays (2006-09 – 3 first team, 1 second team) and Casey Hugman (2001-04 – 2 first team, 2 second team) were named All-ASC four times, too.
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CLIMBING THE RANKS
This year has brought national attention in the AVCA rankings as ETBU climbed into the top 10. This past Tuesday, they received the program's highest ranking of eighth with 1,501 points. They jumped Marietta College from the ninth spot. ETBU started the season unranked and moved to 25
th in week one. Each week they moved up to 23
rd, 17
th, 13
th, 11
th, and ninth in week six. Week seven through eight, they were 10th, and then they were 11
th in week nine. In week 10, they went back to the 10
th before moving to ninth last week and eighth this week.
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It is the longest ETBU has been ranked in the top 25 and the first time they have been ranked since 2002. That season, they were in the top 25 for four weeks, reaching as high as 23
rd.
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Week-By-Week Rankings
Week 12: 8
th (1,501 pts)
Week 11: 9
th (1,420 pts)
Week 10: 10
th (1,366 pts)
Week 9: 11
th (1,307)
Week 8: 10
th (1,348)
Week 7: 10
th (1,345 pts)
Week 6: 9
th (1,307 pts)
Week 5: 11
th (1,176 pts)
Week 4: 13
th (981 pts)
Week 3: 17
th (738 pts)
Week 2: 23
rd (272 pts)
Week 1: 25
th (167 pts)
Preseason: RV (83 pts)
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LOVING HOME
ETBU is now 28-0 at home going 13-0 the past two years in Ornelas Gym. ETBU's win streak in Ornelas Gym started on October 21, 2022, with a 3-0 sweep of Howard Payne. They finished that year with a 3-1 win over Sul Ross State. Last year, ETBU had two five-set matches they won over Mary Hardin-Baylor and Southwestern to keep the streak alive. The 2024 season brought one five-set match against Mary Hardin-Baylor on Nov. 16 as the Tigers continued the winning streak. The old winning streak was 18 matches from 2012 to 2014.
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RANKED OPPONENTS/NCAA PARTICIPANTS
Putting together one of the most demanding schedules in the nation, ETBU played three nationally ranked-teams this year. The second match of the year was then #8 Trinity University as ETBU fell in five sets. It has been ETBU's only loss of the year. Two weeks later, ETBU defeated then #9 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in five sets in California. Their final nationally ranked opponent came on Nov. 2 when they defeated Southwestern in four sets in Georgetown. All three matches were on the road for ETBU.
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College of St. Benedict, CMS, Trinity all made the NCAA Tournament as ETBU went 2-1 in those matches. CSB is in the Whitewater, Wisconsin Regional as Trinity and CMS are playing at the Atlanta, Georgia Regional held at Emory University.
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CAREER RECORDS
Four players are currently in the record books for the top 10. Check out where
Graycee Mosley,
Avery Reid,
Lexi Moody, and
McKenzie Mansell.
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Graycee Mosley
Kills – 3
rd (1,464)
Digs – 7
th (1,164)
Service Aces – 10
th (113)
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Avery Reid
Service Aces – 6
th (131)
Kills – 7
th (1,365)
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Lexi Moody
Assists – 4
th (1,768)
Service Aces – 12th (96)
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McKenzie Mansell
Assists – 8
th (944)
Service Aces – 14
th (90)
