Wright State volleyball wins Horizon League championship, earns NCAA bid

The trophy represented the program’s first Horizon League tournament championship, first automatic bid to the NCAA tournament and second straight NCAA bid.

“This is as good as it’s going to get, and this team deserves it,” Raiders coach Allie Matters said.

The Raiders defeated Illinois-Chicago in five sets, 19-25, 25-19, 22-25, 25-15, 15-6, with a strong finish and important contributions from starters and backups.

The Raiders made the most recent NCAA tournament in 2019 with an at-large bid. But with the tournament shrunk from 64 to 48 teams and no nonconference wins, Matters knew her team had to win to get in. They will be relaxed – yet eager – when they gather to watch NCAA selection show Sunday at 4 p.m. on ESPNU and learn who their first-round opponent will be on April 14.

To enjoy Sunday’s announcement, however, the Raiders (16-1) had to find their mental edge after losing the third set to fall behind 2-1. They led 12-8 in the third before UIC (14-3) rallied to win the set.

“Mentally it’s tough, it’s a roller coaster,” Matters said. “It’s like when you’re high you’re high and when you’re low you’re low. ‘Oh my God, are we going to lose, are we going to be good.’”

The mental push and the killer instinct emerged early in the fourth set when Sam Wolf, a sophomore backup outside hitter, made two kills for a 3-3 tie.

“You’ve got to be ready for anything, and my coach always tells me be ready,” Wolf said. “Everybody on this team can play.”

The Raiders dominated the net the rest of the match with kills and blocks and rolled to a 10-point win. A quick 5-1 lead in the final set put the Raiders in final control.

“We all never gave up,” senior outside hitter Mallory Ladd said. “We wanted this so bad throughout the whole match. Every single person was like, ‘We got this. Just keep going, keep pushing.’”

Matters said, “When they’re mentally strong and when they feel absolutely fearless, they do extraordinary things. And that was pretty damn extraordinary if you ask me.”

Matters said UIC is not known as a strong blocking team, but the Flames slowed down the Raiders for three sets. However, they couldn’t sustain it in the fourth and fifth.

“We were finally able to rely on what our game plan was,” Matters said. “It was just the timing of it was later than I would’ve liked.”

Ladd and Wolf stepped up with big games while UIC focused on limiting top hitters Ceila Powers and Teddie Sauer. Ladd had 15 kills and a high .379 hitting percentage. Wolf had 10 kills with a .400 percentage.

“When teams game plan for Teddie Sauer or Celia Powers, then its, ‘All right, if that person can’t get the job done, then who’s our plan B,’” Matters said. “So at different times of the match we relied on different players.”

Nyssa Baker, the league’s top blocker, had nine blocks, nine kills and was named the tournament MVP. But she was more excited about the contributions Ladd and Wolf made.

“We rely on every single person on and off the court,” Baker said. “And for them to come in and do what they did, I couldn’t be more proud.”