Brookhaven Sweeps DuPage, Moves on to National Championship
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Dallas College Brookhaven's volleyball team swept College of DuPage in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III semifinals Friday, winning 25-20, 27-25, 25-18.
Brookhaven (18-12) advances to Saturday's 6:30 p.m. national championship match to meet Dallas College Eastfield (30-1).
The Bears will be playing for their fifth title and first since 2009. It will be Brookhaven's ninth championship match appearance.
McKenzie Mitchell had 12 kills, 10 digs and three blocks, and Carmen Brown had 10 kills, two blocks and hit .350 for the Bears, who got stronger as the match wore on.
Brookhaven finished with a .209 attack percentage, while DuPage hit .103. The Bears hit .351 in the third set.
Holland Hickman's kill gave Brookhaven a 17-16 lead in the first set. McKenzie Mitchell put down a kill to extend the lead to 23-20. Kamryn Mitchell and Mary Amick had kills on the last two points to close Set 1.
DuPage (27-13) took an 11-6 lead on Isabella Furmanski's kill in the second set. The Bears tied it at 13-13 on a DuPage attack error. Amick's kill put Brookhaven ahead 20-19. Amick's ace made it 23-21. DuPage scored four of the next five points to take the lead before Brown had a kill to tie it at 25-25. Kamryn Mitchell followed with a kill and Hickman had an ace to put the Bears up two sets.
Brookhaven got out to an 11-6 lead in the third set on a kill by Amick. DuPage battled back to tie it at 12-12 on a block by Ella Petruczenko and Furmanski. The Bears then used a 5-0 run, culminated on McKenzie Mitchell's kill to push ahead 17-12. Liana Ramos served an ace to make it 22-17. Amick's kill sealed it four serves later.
Amick had nine kills, 10 digs and a .444 hitting percentage. Kamryn Mitchell had eight kills, three blocks and a .538 attack percentage. Brooke Tyler had 40 assists and nine digs. Fiona Larsen had 15 digs.
Claire Rambasek had 10 kills, and Megan Daca six for DuPage.
Brookhaven's last trip to the national championship match was 2015.