ST. LOUIS, Mo. — When
Jessica Larson (Pine Island, Minn.),
Courtney Runge (St. James, Minn.) and
Pam Stanton (Mundelein, Ill.) arrived on the Saint Mary’s University campus four years ago, the Cardinal volleyball program was two years removed from its last 20-win season — and hadn’t been to an NCAA tournament in six seasons.
That, the trio vowed, was going to change.
A year later,
Brittany Cherwinka (Faribault, Minn.) joined the fray, turning the Cardinal trio into a quartet, but the vision was just as clear — get SMU back into the national tournament.
Thursday evening, when the Cardinals take the court against Thomas More in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Central Regional at Washington (Mo.) University, they can consider that mission accomplished.
“It was pretty quiet for a while, just sitting there waiting to here if we got in or not,” said Cherwinka, who joined several of her teammates in the Cardinal Lounge to watch the webcast of the NCAA Selection Show. “Then they announced our name and everyone just went crazy — we didn’t even know who we played or when.
“But that didn’t really matter, because we were in (the national tournament).”
“This is a pretty cool situation and everyone is so excited,” said Stanton, a senior outside hitter. “Just getting there is such an accomplishment.”
But, Stanton — not to mention the other three seniors — quickly pointed out, just getting there isn’t enough.
“We’re not about to just settle for getting there,” said Cherwinka, who enters tournament play with 1,109 assists this season and 2,249 for her three-year SMU career. “Making the MIAC Tournament last year kind of lit a fire under everyone — and we knew it was something we could do again this year.
“Getting into the NCAAs is the perfect end to the story.”
“This is the beginning of a new story,” Stanton interjected.
“We’re not satisfied just getting there,” chipped in Larson. “We want to go out and play well and represent SMU to the best of our ability.”
If they can keep the national-tournament jitters in check — and put their best game on the court against the Saints — the Cardinal seniors are confident that a berth in the regional semifinals is certainly within their grasp.
The thought of a potential NCAA semifinal berth wasn’t exactly something this group could even fathom four years ago, when, as freshmen, they struggled through a 10-19 season. They improved to 17-12 the following year, and put together 19 wins a year ago en route to a 19-13 season.
“I think the biggest key for us over the past four years has been the work we’ve all put in the in off-season,” said Runge, an outside hitter who collected her 1,000th career dig this season and is one of three SMU players who enter tournament play with 100 or more kills and digs. “The 6 a.m. practices for six weeks, the off-season workouts — I know I’m working harder now than when I was a freshman.”
Stanton agreed.
“I think that, because we are the oldest, we are looked upon as the role models for the rest of the team,” she said. “We didn’t have the greatest record freshman year, but the improvement over the last three years wasn’t just because Coach told us what to do — it was all the hard work everyone put in in the off-season.
“Everyone put in the time and worked hard to earn their spot in this team — and we’ve gotten this far because everyone has worked hard together.”