North Branch, NJ - RVCC Women's Volleyball team punched their ticket to the NJCAA Division III National Championship Tournament by beating Ocean County College 3-0 on Friday, October 27th. This was the third time the Lions beat the Vikings this season, but the first time they completed the victory in straight sets. The team came out of the gate with very high energy and with a very evident sense of determination. The Lions held double digit leads multiple times in the first set before finishing off the visiting team 25-14. In the second set the Lions found themselves down 7-2 within the first few minutes, but the team would rally to take a 10-8 lead and never looked back finishing the set 25-12. With the Lions up 23-11 in the final set the Vikings would force the Lions to call timeout after rattling off 6 straight points. However, a timely solo block by Reagan Mooney and one final kill from Kelly Delaney would send the Lions home with the championship. 

Madison Cobb led the team with 13 kills. The freshman Middle Blocker hit for an astonshing .812 on the night to carry the Lions at the net. Delaney finished 1 dig shy of a double double as she had a team high 4 service aces to go with her 10 kills. The Lions' defense was all over the floor on Friday as multiple players had double digit digs. Sona Petrusova led the way with 19, Skylee Ohler had 16, and Rachel Hatto finished with 10. The Vikings big hitters found it hard to get over the block of the Lions at the net. Alanna Da Cunha and Reagan Mooney each had 2 block assists. Danna Gaitan and Mooney each finished with 2 solo blocks while Ohler had 1. Cobb and Ohler connected on another block assist as well. Mooney was just as effective running the offense as she was on defense finishing with 25 assists to lead the Lions.

The Lions move to 29-4 on the season and earned the East District B automatic bid to the National Championship Tournament in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The team will travel on Wed the 8th to take on the #2 overall seed Owens Community College on Thursday the 9th at 12 PM ET.