By: Drew Feinberg
From 2013 to 2015, the Quinnipiac volleyball team had a combined four conference wins.
Since then Kris Czaplinski, Chad Davis and their squad have combined for a total of 20 conference wins, and the team is not done yet.
This impressive conference record would extend on Saturday, as the Bobcats defeated the Canisius Golden Griffins 3-1, securing a spot in the MAAC playoffs for the second season in a row.
Not only did the Bobcats pick up the victory, but it was senior day at Burt Kahn Court on Saturday afternoon, as the volleyball team honored its two seniors: Jamie Termotto and Elizabeth Kloos.
The duo represents the winningest class in Quinnipiac’s Division I history (38).
Head coach Kris Czaplinski couldn’t have been more thankful for what these two have done to grow the program.
“What they’ve done for this program to get it off the ground, it’s just a testament to how bad they want it, and how badly they want to win,” he said.
A major standout in this match was sophomore Natalie Alechko, who posted 19 kills. Not only has Alechko been leading the team’s offense, but she has also been dominating Canisius all season.
On October 1, in Quinnipiac’s 3-2 road thriller against Canisius, Alechko shattered her previous career high of 18 kills with 25 kills.
Quinnipiac will close out its regular season at home on Sunday, November 12th vs Niagara.
The Bobcats are guaranteed a seed somewhere between three and six, and could face either Marist, Iona, or Rider in the first round of the tournament.
Elizabeth Kloos
Senior middle hitter Elizabeth Kloos played in her first game since September 30th on Saturday afternoon, tallying four kills and seeing limited time. However, this is great news for the team as the MAAC playoffs are looming.
Kloos is a player who leads by example, and is incredibly vocal on the court.
“For her to get back from a broken ankle as quickly as she did, she wanted this season to be special, and she showed that today,” Czaplinski said.
Addition of Chad Davis
The value that assistant coach Chad Davis has added to this program in just two years is something that often goes unlooked. Davis came into this program at the beginning of the 2016 season, with the team coming off a 3-28 record overall, and a 1-17 conference record.
In just two years alongside Czaplinski, Davis has used his numerous years of coaching to help grow this program exponentially. In his first season with the Bobcats, Davis played a vital role in leading Quinnipiac to the largest single-season turnaround in the country, improving from three wins to 21.
Always the most vocal coach on the court, Davis brought a very impressive resume with him to Quinnipiac.
With this resume and with the head coaching of Czaplinski, Davis is continuing to lead this team into the future, and the future looks promising.
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