They won their fourth Horizon League tourney in the last six years without dropping a set and will play in the NCAA tourney for the fifth time in seven years (they earned an at-large berth in 2019).
The first round starts Dec. 4. The bracket will be revealed during the Selection Show at 6 p.m. Sunday on ESPN.
“I had a good feeling. Our team was really positive all weekend. They were in the right place from a mental standpoint and working toward a common goal. That’s all you can ask for as a coach,” Green said.
The Raiders (21-10) blazed past regular-season champ and No. 1 seed Northern Kentucky (22-9) on the Norse’s home floor Sunday. Appearing unbeatable with a 17-1 league record, they had no answers for the constant barrage coming from the other side of the net.
Tourney MVP Mya Ayro, unleashing her power stroke again after an injury knocked her out of four key league games, had a match-high 14 kills, while Katie Sowko added 10 in the 25-18, 25-16, 25-19 victory.
Lauren Yacobucci, the 2024 league setter of the year, had 33 of the team’s 35 assists.
“Being the 2 seed, I think it took a lot of the weight off of us. But you’ve got to go out there and do it. In these tournaments, in all areas, you’ve just got to be aggressive and go for it. And our players were really ready for their moment.”
In a 25-15, 25-10, 25-17 win over third-seeded Youngstown State (17-14) in the semis Saturday, Ayro had 15 kills and Sowko 12, while Yacobucci had 38 of the team’s 46 assists.
The Raiders took a .218 hitting percentage into the weekend, which was 155th out of 343 teams nationally. But they connected at a .430 clip against YSU and .313 rate against NKU.
Asked what his team did especially well, Green said: “Almost everything, to be honest. We executed at a really high level.
“It was a goal of ours to peak at the right time, and we were very ‘strategic’ on when we finally did it. We couldn’t ask for a better time to play some really good volleyball,” Green said.
Yacobucci and libero Ella Gaona joined Ayro on the all-tourney team.
Earlier in the week, Yacobucci and Reilly Zegunis were named first-team all-league, and Ayro and Sowko made the second team.
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