Top Ten of 2012-13 - #9 - Women's Volleyball Wins School Record 29 Matches

BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- Moravian College continues its countdown of the top 10 honors and moments of the 2012-13 season today with a look at our No. 9 highlight – The women's volleyball team winning a school record 29 matches last fall.

The Greyhounds entered the 2012 season with nine letterwinners and six starters back in the line-up after a 23-win season in 2011. The squad included seniors libero Jesse Krasley and right side hitter Samantha Savite, who were both America Volleyball Coaches Association Honorable Mention All-Americans in 2011, and Moravian was selected to finish fourth in the 2012 Landmark Conference Preseason Poll.

"I had high expectations for the team," stated Head Coach Shelley Bauder. "We were returning experienced, high level performers in several key positions and had a talented incoming first year student class as well.  We wanted to do well in the conference, earn another post season bid, and compete well against the strong competition we faced."

The squad opened the season with four straight wins to capture the title at the 10th Annual Greyhound Premiere, and a win over Cabrini College pushed the Greyhounds to 5-0 just six days into the season. Moravian suffered its first loss of 2012 in the opening match of the Buttermaker Tournament at Muhlenberg College on September 7th to nationally-ranked Salisbury University before Greyhounds added another five victories to improve to 10-1.

The last two wins in the streak were over Elizabethtown College and Messiah College in the Timothy Breidegam Fieldhouse as part of the Old Friends Crossover.

"There were several highlights from last fall, but beating both Elizabethtown and Messiah in our extremely competitive Old Friend's crossover, after losing to them last year, was a great confidence boost for this team," Bauder explained.

After a hard fought, 3-2 loss at Haverford College the day after the Old Friends Crossover, the Greyhounds responded with a 3-1 win over Widener University in Johnston Hall on Friday, September 21st to improve to 11-2. The victory over the Pride was also big for coach Bauder as it was the 400th win in her 20-year career at Moravian. The win also made Moravian the only NCAA Division III school in the nation with four head coaches that have over 400 wins at the school currently on staff.

"I have been blessed to have been able to coach for the past twenty years, and could not have done it without the support of my husband Tim," Bauder talked about her 400th win. "He has helped keep the family going despite all of my crazy hours. It was very exciting to win my 400th match at home, and I was overwhelmed by the support and love shown to me that night by some of my coaching colleagues here at Moravian, student-athletes from other Hound teams, my family, my assistant coaches, my team and their parents. As I look back over the last twenty years without a doubt I've had outstanding student athletes, managers and coaches, all who have helped me achieve these 400 plus wins. My coaching has been a work in progress, I continually try to get better and I'm happy to say that while I certainly haven't "arrived", I'm better than I was. Thanks to all of you who have helped make my twenty plus year career at Moravian College an enjoyable one!"

The day after Bauder's milestone win, the Greyhounds split a tri-match at nationally-ranked Eastern University that had made the 2011 NCAA Division III Final Four, and Moravian added another win to improve to 13-3 heading into the first Landmark Conference Round Robin on September 29th and 30th at Goucher College. The Greyhounds lost their opening conference match of the year to nationally-ranked Juniata College; however, the squad bounced back with six straight wins including four in conference play.

Moravian finished the second Landmark Conference Round Robin with a 4-2 mark and the third seed in the Landmark Conference guaranteed on October 14th, and the squad was 20-5 on the year, just seven wins shy of the school record. The Greyhounds went 6-2 in their last eight matches of the regular season with a win over rival Muhlenberg, their second of the season, and a loss to another nationally-ranked squad in a tournament at Christopher Newport University, the 2011 NCAA Division III runner-up.

"I knew this team was very talented, had a great work ethic and attitude and that we could better our record from the previous year," Bauder said." We had the second strongest strength of schedule in the region so being mentally tough and believing in each other was critical to our success, especially in the tight matches."

The Greyhounds headed to the Landmark Conference Tournament at 26-7, and the squad swept Goucher College, 3-0, in Johnston Hall on November 1st to tie the school record for wins. Moravian ended up falling to The Catholic University of America, 3-2, in the Landmark Conference Semifinals but the Greyhounds' season wasn't finished.

The squad was awarded a berth in the ECAC Division III South Championship Tournament for the third straight year, and Moravian would win its record 28th game in Johnston Hall on November 7th with a sweep of Penn State-Abington. The Greyhounds headed to Bethany College in West Virginia for the semifinals for the second straight year, and Moravian posted a 3-0 win over Swarthmore College to reach the championships match again host Bethany, who ended the Greyhounds in a 3-0, hard-fought match.

Moravian garnered a number of awards after its 29-9 season with Krasley being named the Landmark Conference Specialist of the Year and the All-Conference First Team, and freshman Victoria Bobyak earning Landmark Conference Rookie of the Year honors. Bobyak, Savite and junior Kelly Brown were all on the Landmark All-Conference Second Team while Krasley and Savite were AVCA Honorable Mention All-Americans for a second straight year.

"It goes without saying that our opponents are very happy that Jess and Sam have graduated," Bauder said with a smile. "Jess was by far the best defensive player in the history of Moravian College (owns every dig record), and arguably was the best libero in the region.  Sam was the best right side player as well in our history and earned her 1,000th kill this season.  Kelly, our junior setter did a great job running our offense and has definitely been our best defending setter ever."

With some time to reflect back on the 2012 season, Bauder had some final thoughts on 2012.

"This team was a joy to coach!  The players enjoyed each other and had a great relationship with the coaching staff.  We worked hard every day but had fun doing it as well. We definitely had a successful year but it just wasn't on the court, we also earned the AVCA Team Academic Award (minimum team cumulative GPA must be a 3.3). Lastly, I must give kudos to my great assistant coaches: Deb Schlosser and John Yanek!" Bauder finished.

Number eight on our countdown will be announced on Tuesday, July 23rd.

No. 10 - Donnie Noble Sweeps Landmark Conference Track Athlete of the Year Awards
No. 9 - Women's Volleyball Wins School Record 29 Matches
No. 8 - Women's Basketball Wins Play 4Kay for 5th Straight Year with over $16,000 Raised
No. 7 - Micah Leonard Sweeps Landmark Conference Field Athlete of the Year Honors
No. 6 - Women's Track & Field Team Wins 2 More Landmark Conference Titles
No. 5 - Dillon Farrell Wins Landmark Conference Men's Cross Country Championship
No. 4 - Men's Cross Country and Track & Field Teams Sweep Landmark Conference Team Titles for 2nd Straight Year
No. 3 - Travis King & Micah Leonard Honored as Greyhound Senior Athlete Award Winners
No. 2 - Micah Leonard Finishes as Runner-Up in Triple Jump at NCAA DIII National Championships
No. 1 - Baseball Wins Landmark Conference Championship