The first match of the day pitted No. 1 seed MVNU (36-9) against No. 8 seed Bryan (Tenn.) College (31-16), which was the only undefeated team in the pool after the first day of action. The Lady Cougars pulled out a tough win in an evenly-contested match by the scores of 25-22, 22-25, 25-18, 27-29, 15-13 for only their second five-set win of the season in seven attempts.

Junior middle hitter Jackie Albrecht led MVNU with a career-high 26 kills, 24 digs, and six blocks, while senior right-side hitter Courtney Springer added 18 kills, three aces, and a career-high 26 digs. Senior setter Kaylin Austen (left) handed out a season-high 61 assists to go with 18 digs, and junior middle hitter Sarah Yutzy pounded 13 kills with four blocks. Freshman right-side hitter Kaylee Hewitt and junior libero Caitlin Myles posted new career highs with 36 and 35 digs respectively, while senior outside hitter Julie Haumschild recorded six kills, five blocks, and nine digs. As a team, the Lady Cougars set a new school record with 157 digs as a team.

The victory over Bryan and Bryan’s subsequent five-set win over King (Tenn.) College meant that whoever won the match between MVNU and Northwestern would earn a spot in the semifinals. In another close match, the Lady Cougars came out on top 25-23, 23-25, 25-14, 25-23 to earn their semifinal spot with a 3-1 pool record and the overall pool title as a result of beating Bryan head-to-head.

Albrecht and Yutzy paced MVNU with 16 kills apiece which matched a career high for Yutzy, who also led the team with four blocks. Springer added nine kills and 17 digs, while Austen handed out 41 assists to go with 20 digs. Myles posted a team-leading 30 digs, while Albrecht added 13 digs.

"We did a great job of finding a way to win and just surviving today against two teams who both played very well,” said MVNU coach Paul Swanson. "We did a nice job in the back row and kept finding ways to score points at just the right time in close sets to pull out the victories. This has been a great tournament with high caliber teams competing well against each other.”

"We are looking forward to playing in the semifinals tomorrow,” Swanson added. "Our goal is always to get to the bracket part of this event and then just see what happens. We will need to play at a high level and be very consistent as there are three other very good teams competing to win this title as well.”

The Lady Cougars will meet a familiar foe in their semifinal match at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday when MVNU squares off with Malone University. The Lady Pioneers (31-9), who entered the tournament as the No. 6 seed, finished 3-1 in their pool. The second semifinal at noon will feature No. 2 seed and champion of the other pool Campbellsville (Ky.) University (36-13) versus Bryan. The two semifinal winners will then square off at 3:00 p.m. for the NCCAA national title.