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Rockhurst University Athletics

GLVC Highlights Part II

General

Part II: Five teams combine for major victories from 2011 to 2014

Rockhurst University concluded up its 20th year in the Great Lakes Valley Conference this past spring. Last week, we started a four-part series reviewing the Hawks' Top 20 highlights over the past two decades in the GLVC.

This week we will highlight the second part of the Top 20 list, beginning with Men's Tennis winning its second GLVC Tournament Championship in 2011. Men's Soccer and Women's Volleyball also brought home some GLVC hardware. Women's Soccer enjoyed their greatest four-year run in school history, while Baseball fell short of returning to the national finals for the first time since 1999.

2011 Men's Tennis
The championship match in the 2011 GLVC Men's Tennis Tournament in Cincinnati, Ohio came down to a matchup of Top 40 teams. The 35th-ranked Hawks rallied from a 3-1 deficit to post a 5-3 win over 36th-ranked Southern Indiana, giving the men their second GLVC title in three years under head coach Carolina Mayorga-Perry. Twin brothers Ben and Zach Newell posted wins in No. 1 and 4 singles while teaming up to capture No. 1 doubles.

Rockhurst earned a ticket to the NCAA Championships in Orlando, Florida with a 5-3 win over Northwood in the third round of the NCAAs in Kansas City. The Hawks (22-4) advanced to the national quarterfinals with a 5-0 win over Nebraska-Kearney before ending their season with a 5-1 loss to Concordia (New York).
2011 GLVC Champs

2011-13 Men's Soccer
Men's Soccer returned to prominence in 2011 under Hall of Fame coach Tony Tocco. The Hawks won their second GLVC regular season title and reached the NCAA national quarterfinals for the first time. Rockhurst proceeded to capture the next two GLVC Tournament championships, defeating Missouri-St. Louis at home in the 2012 title game and shutting out Indianapolis on a neutral field in the 2013 finals.

Rockhurst advanced to the national semifinals for the first time in 2013 with wins at home over Lewis and Lindenwood in the NCAA Tournament. The Hawks posted a 52-9-8 run over those three seasons led by All-American forward Mark Magee (below), who combined for 44 goals, and All-American goalkeeper Ryan Bass.
Mark Magee

2011-14 Women's Soccer
Led by All-American forward Taylor Skala, the Rockhurst women's soccer team became one of the top programs in the GLVC under head coach Greg Herdlick. The Hawks combined for a 53-17-11 record between 2011 and 2014. Skala scored a school-record 48 goals over those four seasons.

Rockhurst earned its second NCAA Tournament invitation with a 12-5-2 record in Skala's freshman season in 2011. The Hawks returned to the NCAAs in their next two seasons with 14-4-3 and 13-6-3 records, but were left out of the national tournament in Skala's senior season despite a 14-2-3 record.

Skala (below) became the Hawks' first student-athlete named to the GLVC Hall of Fame in 2025.
Taylor Skala

2012 Baseball
Rockhurst Baseball combined outstanding pitching and one of the top hitting teams in the conference to enjoy its best season since joining the GLVC in 2005. The Hawks finished with a 35-19 record after falling to Indianapolis in extra innings in the NCAA regional finals in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Mark Sappington (below) powered the pitching staff with a 10-3 record, 1.78 ERA and 101 strikeouts in 96 innings. The junior right-hander was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels in the fifth round of the 2012 Major League Baseball Draft. Mark Himmelberg and Josh Tols gave the Hawks another pair of strong arms.

The Hawks were led offensively by four first team All-GLVC honorees: first baseman Ryan Porter, third baseman Scott Bradbury, outfielder Patrick Chandler and catcher TJ Dailey.
Mark Sappington

2012 Women's Volleyball
After knocking on the door in their first seven years in the GLVC Tournament, the Hawks came home with their first women's volleyball tournament title in 2012 under Hall of Fame coach Tracy Rietzke. The Hawks collected 3-1 wins over defending champion Indianapolis in the semifinals and Lewis in the finals in Indianapolis.

Leading the way for the 28-7 Hawks were freshman middle hitter Kelsey Stratman, who earned GLVC Freshman of the Year and third-team All-America honors. Freshman setter Whitney Kostal and sophomore middle hitter Emily Ready joined Stratman on the All-Region First Team.

The Hawks (28-7), who fell to Indianapolis in the first round of the NCAA Midwest Regional, would go on to win three NCAA regional titles by the end of the decade.
2012 GLVC champs
 
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