Bekier sisters making their mark in NJCAA, NCAA

Lake’s Bekier sisters are leading their respective college volleyball teams to one national championship and the potential to another in the coming weeks.

Karly has helped Owens Community College to another NJCAA Division III national title while Kayla has led Wheeling University into the NCAA D-II regional tournament. Both led their teams to league championships.

Owens volleyball players Sydney Meinke (Clay), Carol Lutz (Genoa), Karly Bekier (Lake) and Taylor Momany (Lake) are already celebrating because No. 2 Owens (29-7) became the first NJCAA Division III volleyball team to capture three consecutive national championships.

Meinke is a freshman 5-foot-8 outside hitter/defensive specialist, Lutz a 5-8 freshman setter/DS, Bekier a 5-11 freshman setter/OH and Momany 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-plus digs, which came on Sept. 3 against Rock Valley. 

Up until the regional and national tournament, Meinke 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. 

In the national championship match, 5-9 freshman OH/MB Ashley Scott delivered the match-winning point on a kill from the right side with a thrilling 23-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-20, 15-12 win over No. 1 Rock Valley (34-8) at the Regional Sports Center in Rochester, Minnesota.

Maddie White, a 5-10 freshman outside hitter, had team highs in kills (21) and digs (17) while adding five assists and three blocks in the championship. White was named the MVP of the national tournament. 

Meinke and 5-5 freshman setter Emily Fallis each earned a spot on the all-tournament team. Owens head coach Sonny Lewis was also named the NJCAA Division III Coach of the Year for the third-consecutive season.

“I’m just so happy for the players,” Lewis said. “After not playing last year and having almost an entirely new team, they worked hard this whole year to get to this point. I’m proud of them.”

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.

In addition to White’s 21 kills, Scott added 11 kills, while Alexis Sarvo had nine more. Fallis (25) and Jessica Dohm (24) combined for 49 assists. Sydney Alford chipped in four assists and finished second on the team with 16 digs. Defensively, Meinke (15), McKenna Babcock (15) and Fallis (10) chipped in double-digit digs. Momany added six kills and two blocks, and Sarvo had a team-high four blocks. (— includes contributions from Owens CC Sports Information Director Nicholas Huenefeld).

Bekier sister leads Wheeling into NCAA

One person who has already had success with Owens national championship volleyball teams is Karly Bekier’s sister, Kayla (Lake), who has graduated from OCC and gone on to do bigger and better things.

Kayla played two seasons at Owens and was an NJCAA Division III All-American, first team All-OCCAC, ranked eighth in the NJCAA with 409 kills and a .358 attack percentage, and was on the NJCAA Division III All-Tournament Team.

Now at Wheeling University, the 5-foot-10 senior outside hitter is a big reason that the Cardinals are hosting the NCAA Division II Regional Volleyball Tournament, She was first team All-Mountain East Conference.

Wheeling was named the No. 1 seed in the Atlantic Region, and will also serve as the host site for the Atlantic Regional Tournament, which runs from Dec. 2-4 inside the Alma Grace McDonough Center in Wheeling, West Virginia. Bekier is third on the team in kills (266). 

The 2021 season will mark the ninth time that Wheeling has been the host school for the NCAA regional. Wheeling earned the top seed by going 27-5 overall and being crowned the MEC champions with a 3-1 win over West Virginia State. It is Wheeling’s ninth straight MEC title.

Their only conference loss of the season came against those Yellow Jackets during the regular season. Wheeling finished the year with a 24-5 record against in-region opponents, and a 26-5 record against Division II opponents. They held a first-place ranking in the Atlantic Regional Rankings for three weeks in a row and were able to maintain that as they get set to host the regional.

Two of Wheeling’s top hitters, Bekier and 6-0 freshman middle blocker Mady Winters, were once again at the forefront of Wheeling’s MEC championship, as they often were this season. Bekier led the way with 18 kills on the day, while Winters followed right behind her with 17 kills.