The Central Maine Community College women’s volleyball capped a dominant season in the Yankee Small College Conference with a championship victory in the conference tournament Sunday in South Portland.
The top-seeded Mustangs, who went 10-1 during the regular season and 10-0 in YSCC matches, swept No. 4 NHTI in the semifinals before topping tournament host and No. 3 seed Southern Maine Community College 3-1 in the title match.
CMCC’s Tiara Begishe was named the tournament’s most valuable player and teammate Kenzie Bills was selected as the tournament’s best offensive player.
The Mustangs also made out in the conference’s year-end awards. Angelina Leonard was chosen the YSCC player of the year and Kyle Chapman was chosen as the coach of the year. Leonard and Bills were joined on the all-conference team by Gia Cooper, and Gloria Seaman was an honorable mention.
Leonard and Seaman were statistical league leaders in the Yankee Conference this season, with Leonard putting up 1.61 service aces per set (the only player in the league over 1.0 per set) and Seaman’s 4.13 digs per set pacing the conference. Begishe’s 4.0 digs per set were second-best in the league. Both players compiled 128 total digs. Cooper was fourth in the conference at 3.32 per set. Bills was second in the YSCC with 0.59 blocks per set, and Lewiston grad Sage Cormier was fifth with 0.42 per set.
As champions of the YSCC, the Mustangs earned an automatic berth into the United States Collegiate Athletic Association Division II national tournament. The bracket for the tournament will be unveiled on Nov. 1.
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