SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The University of Providence volleyball team was eliminated from the NAIA National Championship by the top-ranked University of Jamestown in three sets on Wednesday. The Jimmies (29-1, 15-1) topped the Argos (22-3, 18-2) 25-22, 25-16, 25-18.
"I think their height and length really bothered us," head coach
Arunas Duda said. "We just struggled putting the ball away and struggled in transition a little bit. I think that really hurt our rhythm going forward. They're number one in the country for a reason. They block well at the net, defend really well and took us out of our system. It was a tough matchup, but a well-fought game. We just ended up on the wrong side."
Cydney Finberg-Roberts led the Argos with 31 assists.
Jensyn Turner led the charge offensively with nine kills.
Sadie Lott added eight kills while
Ember Schwindt notched six.
Sacha Legros led the Argos defensively with 14 digs, while
Adysen Burns and
Taylor Christensen added nine.
The loss concludes one of the most decorated seasons in Argo history. The team won the
first outright regular season conference championship in program history en route to winning their
third straight Frontier Conference Tournament Championship. The Argos also broke out the longest winning streak in program history, notching 20 straight wins during the season.
"It was absolutely one of the most fun seasons I've ever coached," Duda said. "They're such a great group of girls. They have no reason to hang their heads. They should be extremely proud of what they accomplished this year. We definitely represented our conference and our university well. They went out and battled every match. When you do that you shouldn't have any regrets."
The successes are even more impressive when you consider the amount of adversity the team faced this season. While every other team in the conference came back and practiced in the fall, the Argos did only online classes in the fall semester due to COVID-19. The team had only a few practices before the season started.
"Look how hard they prepared themselves to come back and battle all season long," Duda said. "We started out 2-2 and then rattled off 20 straight matches. If that doesn't talk about mental toughness and preparation then I don't know what does. They're a resilient group."
The team had four seniors on the roster this year, though with the NAIA granting an extra year of eligibility, two of them,
Sacha Legros and
Jensyn Turner, will return. The other two seniors,
Renae Davis and
Ember Schwindt, played their final game as an Argo.
"For us, culture is extremely important," Duda said. "Those are two kids that have been excellent, excellent additions to our culture. They're free spirits, they have fun, they enjoy themselves, they give 100% in practice. They're both 4.0 kids in two very difficult disciplines. They are ideal examples of what you want an Argo athlete to be. For us they're immensely important and hopefully they left a lot for our younger kids to follow."
This marks the third season in a row that the Argos have qualified for the National Tournament. The coaching staff has progressed in each of the three tournaments and has goals to get even farther next season.
"The first year we were just happy to be here and were a little star struck," Duda said. "Last year we made it to the tiebreaker game. This year we made it to the Final 16 and had a chance to move onto the final eight. We just have to continue to build. What's important is that we continue to keep our culture as we continue to improve. We got a lot of freshman coming in next year. We have to assimilate them to our culture rather quickly because it's a fast turnaround."
