Top Moments of the Decade: Volleyball captures first NCAA Regional championship

Preecy Seever, left, helped lead the Hawks to the 2015 Elite Eight.

The Rockhurst volleyball program under coach Tracy Rietzke cleared a big hurdle in 2015. The Hawks captured their first NCAA regional championship in their seventh attempt at advancing to the Elite Eight.

Rockhurst posted a 3-2 victory over Ferris State in the NCAA Midwest Regional finals on Dec. 4 on the Bulldogs' home floor in Big Rapids, Michigan. The Hawks won the first two sets, dropped the next two sets and rolled to a 15-7 win in the fifth set.

Morgan Rietzke, Preecy Seever and Whitney Kostal were named to the Midwest Regional All-Tournament team.

Next up was a date with 16th-ranked Western Washington in the national quarterfinals in Tampa, Florida on Dec. 10. The Hawks won the first set before dropping the next three sets, ending their season with a 34-4 record.

The Hawks were ranked fifth in the final national poll. This marked the highest-ever season-ending national ranking for Rockhurst volleyball, which also received several post-season awards.

Seever was named the AVCA Division II National Player of the Year and was a two-time AVCA first team All-American recipient. Kostal and Rietzke earned AVCA Honorable Mention All-American honors. Kostal also was named to the Capital One Academic All-American team.

Rockhurst paced the GLVC with six all-conference picks, including a trio of first-team picks in Seever, Kostal and Rietzke. Senior attackers Katie Loescher and senior attacker Alyssa Arnold, and sophomore libero Anne Hellwege earned honorable mention honors. Rietzke was named the GLVC Coach of the Year.

Over the past four years, the Hawks compiled a 116-23 overall record, including a 63-9 mark in GLVC regular season action. This senior class appeared in three NCAA Tournaments and captured the 2012 GLVC Tournament Championship.

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