The awards just keep coming for Owens volleyball

The awards just keep coming for the Owens Community College volleyball team.

Sydney Meinke (Clay), Carol Lutz (Genoa), Karly Bekier (Lake) and Taylor Momany (Lake) helped lead No. 2 Owens (29-7) to become the first NJCAA Division III team to capture three consecutive national championships in November.

Two of their teammates, Maddie White and McKenna Babcock, were named First Team All-Americans by the National Junior College Athletic Association.

The freshmen duo are the 30th and 31st All-Americans in program history dating back to 1996.

White (Ottawa-Glandorf), who was named the MVP of the NJCAA Division III national tournament, was previously named First Team All-Region XII, Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) Division III Player of the Year, OCCAC Freshman of the Year and First Team All-OCCAC. She was also a three-time OCCAC Player of the Week (10/18, 9/20, 8/30). 

White registered a team-high 358 kills while hitting .284 with 134 assists, 311 digs, 59 blocks (15 solo) and 30 aces this year. She posted nine double-doubles on the season, including two in the national tournament. In fact, she recorded a new season-high in kills (21) in the national championship win over No. 1 Rock Valley. 

She also posted one triple-double on the season and notched a season-high 27 digs against St. Clair County on Sept. 3. On Oct. 16, she had 14 kills, 19 assists and 13 digs in another five-set win over St. Clair County. On Oct. 12 against Edison, she finished with a season-best 24 assists. Overall, she had 17 matches with 10-plus kills, five with 10-plus assists and 13 with 10+ digs.

Babcock (Evergreen), meanwhile, was previously named First Team All-Region XII and First Team All-OCCAC.

Babcock finished second on the team in kills with 266 while hitting .236 with 11 assists, 43 aces, 263 digs and 42 blocks (four solo). She posted 11 matches with 10-plus kills on the season, including a season-high 16 twice, while registering five double-doubles. 

In the national tournament, Babcock had five kills and 12 digs in the quarterfinals before adding five kills and 15 digs in the national title match. In total, she had 10 matches with double-digit digs. Her season-best performance came on Oct. 16 against Rochester University’s JV team in which she had 14 kills and a season-high 21 digs.

Owens coach Sonny Lewis was also named the NJCAA Division III Coach of the Year for the third-consecutive season. The local girls garnered awards, too, as Meinke was first team All-OCCAC and earned a spot on the all-tournament team at the national championships.

Meinke is a freshman 5-foot-8 outside hitter/defensive specialist, Lutz is a 5-8 freshman setter/DS, Bekier is a 5-11 freshman setter/OH and Momany is a 6-0 sophomore middle blocker.

Meinke, a first team Ohio Community College Athletic Conference honoree, exploded onto the scene in early October and has been a force for the Express since then. Through the season’s first 20 matches, she totaled just 28 kills and had one match with 10+ digs, which came on Sept. 3 against Rock Valley. 

“Sydnie Meinke did a great job for Owens volleyball this season. She became an important six-rotation player on the team and provide offense and defense that the team needed,” Lewis said.

Up until the regional and national tournament, Meinke has had three double-doubles, including six matches with 10-plus kills and five with 10-plus digs. On Oct. 12, she registered 10 kills and a season-high 20 digs. In total, she registered 103 kills over 12 matches. Meinke finished the season with 158 kills and 57 aces on the season and Momany had 164 kills and 15 aces. 

“Taylor Momany was a team captain and gave the leadership that the team needed. She did a great job as a middle hitter and blocker. She came up with big plays when needed,” Lewis said.

“Carol Lutz provided help when necessary. If we needed her to set, serve or play defense she was able to fill those roles,” Lewis continued. “Karly Bekier was injured all year but she became a great teammate and provided the team with the  support they needed.”

The Express are now 40-3 in postseason play over the past six seasons with three national titles, a national runner-up finish, a third-place finish and a ninth-place finish. Since moving to the Division III level, the Red and White are 22-0 over the past three seasons, and they have dropped just five total sets over those 22 matches. (— includes contributions from Press Sports Editor J. Patrick Eaken and Owens CC Sports Information Director Nicholas Huenefeld).

 

 

 

 

 

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