Coach Sayles and Volleyball Team Honored: Post-season ends in semifinal

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Despite a season-ending loss to Virginia Intermont Saturday in the AAC tournament semi-final, the 2006 season can be seen as nothing but a success.  The achievements of the team continued during the tournament, when Coach Sayles, the volleyball program, and several individuals were awarded conference honors.

  • Coach Leo Sayles was named the AAC Coach of the Year
  • AAC Freshman Player of the Year:  Amber Smith
  • AAC All-Conference Second Team honors were given to Kathryn Rawley and Abby Humphrey
  • AAC All-Conference First Team honors were given to Robin Renfroe, who was the 4th highest vote-getter in the All-conference voting
  • AAC Scholar-Athlete Award recipients were Kristin Green, Kathryn Rawley, and Kaylin Carswell . 
  • Gabrielle Claxton was named to the 6-player AAC All-Tournament Team for her play through the weekend. 
  • The Lions also were honored by the conference teams and coaches  with the AAC Champions of Character Award, given to the team that best displays the NAIA Champions of Character core values of respect, responsibility, integrity, servant leadership, and sportsmanship. This is the second time under Coach Sayles the team has received this honor.

The #2 seed Lady Lions advanced to the AAC conference semifinal with a 3-0 (30-24, 30-25, 30-25) victory over Milligan College in the opening round of the AAC tournament Friday morning. Gabrielle Claxton was the only Lion to reach double figures in kills, tallying 10 with a .421 hitting percentage.  Milligan kept the Lions offense off balance - the Lions hit an uncharacteristic .113  -  but consistent effort won the match for the Lions.
   
The Lions advanced to face #3 Virginia Intermont in the winners' bracket semifinal Friday night.  VIC hoped to avenge their two regular season losses to Bryan.  The Lions appeared ready to take control in the second match, building an early lead.  But Virginia Intermont showed their competitive fire by coming from behind to take game one 32-30, then took game two 30-25.  The Lions fought back with two strong games, winning 30-20 and 30-17, and went into game 5 with momentum on their side.  VIC responded and built a 9-4 lead which they did not relinquish, pulling out the victory 15-10.    Abby Humphrey and Robin Renfroe led the Lions' effort.  Humphrey finished with 14 kills and 18 digs.  Renfroe tallied 16 kills and 5 total blocks.  Kaylin Carswell and Gabrielle Claxton combined for 19 kills from the right side to balance the Lions' attack in the loss. 
 
The Lions came back Saturday morning to defeat Union College in the losers' bracket match 3-1(27-30,31-29,33-31,30-27).  The match avenged two 5-game losses to the Bulldogs during season, and sent the Lions to the semifinal rematch against VIC.  Gabrielle Claxton led the Lions with 13 kills (.342 hitting pct) and 6 total blocks.  Kaylin Carswell was strong from the right side as well, finishing with 9 kills (.470 pct).  Abby Humphrey had another double-double, tallying 13 kills and 17 digs.  Setters Jenny Loveday and Hannah Suits each tallied 28 assists each to lead a balanced Bryan attack.  Robin Renfroe had a strong all-around game with 11 kills (.375 pct) and 6 total blocks.  The Lions hit .216 overall in the match. 
 
The Lions had a 30-minute rest, then had to return to action against VIC, losers in a tough 5-game match the previous night to #1 King College. The Lions hung tough through the first two games, but VIC proved to be the better team through the tournament, sweeping the Lions in 3 (26-30, 27-30, 22-30) and gaining the second bid to the Region XII tournament.  VIC eventually lost the championship to King.
 
Although the Lions did not advance, the team finished with the best record in two decades (27-12), achieved the highest finish in the AAC since 2002, and advanced to the tournament semifinals for the first time since 2002.  The Lions, originally picked 7th in the preseason coaches poll, finished in second place in the regular season.
 
Coach Sayles commented, "I am so proud of these players.  We had a tough loss to VIC Friday, and were faced with the toughest road possible to get into the championship match with King on Saturday.  They hung tough, but were just not able to find enough reserve to stay with the surging VIC team.  I give Coach Connair a lot of credit.  That is the best I have seen her team play all season - and we played well against them also.  It is nice to see the four top teams advance to the semifinals.
 
"Our loss leaves us hungry to go the next step next season, and will give us extra motivation during our off-season training.  But what can we say?  Our older players performed well, and our freshmen players rose to the occasion.  I was especially pleased with the play this weekend of our two right-side hitters, Gabrielle Claxton and Kaylin Carswell.  They played outstanding and kept us in the matches when our opponents keyed on our middles and outsides.  Next year, I believe this team will take even greater strides in our success."
 
The Lady Lions hope to build on their success next season with a young, talented team.  The Lions’ only graduate is Abby Humphrey, who finished her career with 1364 total kills and 1173 total digs and will go down as one of a few select Bryan volleyball players with over 1000 kills and 1000 digs in their career.