1997 NCCAA National Champions to be honored

September 27, 2007

The 1997 NCCAA national championship squad will be celebrating its 10-year anniversary this season. (Photo courtesy of Corban Sports Information)

SALEM, Ore. – The 1997 NCCAA women's volleyball national championship team from Western Baptist will be celebrating its ten-year anniversary this season and remembering the magical season that ended with the best record to date in Warrior volleyball history.

The movie Titanic crashed into theaters, Tiger Woods won his first professional major championship, and Warrior volleyball claimed the NCCAA national title. The year was 1997.

Ten years later, Corban College will be honoring this amazing accomplishment on Saturday, October 6th, when the current Warrior women's volleyball team goes head-to-head with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics' (NAIA) No. 12-ranked Coyotes of Albertson College of Idaho beginning at 7:00 p.m. inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.

Warrior volleyball competed in their finest campaign in 1997.  The Warriors, ranked No. 13 in the final NAIA national volleyball poll, won the NAIA Cascade Collegiate Conference Tournament and also captured the NCCAA National Championship.

After clinching a Cascade Collegiate Conference Tournament playoff berth with a victory over Albertson to conclude the regular season, Corban traveled to Mt. Vernon, Ohio for the NCCAA Volleyball Championships.  Winning five matches without losing a game, the Warriors then defeated top-seeded Christian Heritage (now San Diego Christian) in four games to take home the national title. 

The following weekend, Corban continued to roll in the Cascade Collegiate Conference Tournament, upsetting Northwest Nazarene and Western Oregon in straight games.  The Warriors then outlasted Western Oregon in five games to win the double-elimination tournament and advanced to the NAIA regional tourney for the first time in school history.

Riding a ten-match winning streak, including five victories over NAIA nationally ranked teams, Corban completed the season at the regional tournament with a best-ever record of 31-10.

The Warriors had numerous individual honors handed out that magical season as six players and the head coach received accolades. Team MVP Jen Herndon was named NAIA All-American Third-Team, All-Pacific Northwest Region First-Team, All-Cascade Conference, NAIA National Player of the Week (11/18), Pacific Northwest Region Player of the Week (11/18), Two-time Cascade Conference Player of the Week (10/7 & 11/18), and NCCAA Division I All-American.

Along with Herndon, five other players received awards during the 1997 season. Paige Stewart was named All-Cascade Conference honorable mention. Chris Neely was honored as Cascade Conference Freshman of the Year, named Pacific Northwest Region Setter of the Week twice (10/7 & 11/18), and named Cascade Conference Setter of the Week three times (10/6, 11/10, & 11/17). Elisa Barfkneckt and Kim Segrin were named NAIA All-American Scholar-Athletes, as well as receiving the same award at the NCCAA level. Sara Reeves was named NCCAA Susan R. Hellings National Player of the Year, as well as being named to the NCCAA Division I All-American Team along with Herndon. Finally, head coach Tracy Smith was named NCCAA Division I Coach of the Year after guiding the Warriors to the national title.

Current women's volleyball head coach Heather Dunn was a sophomore on the 1997 championship squad and was named Most Improved Player, while Herndon earned Best Offensive Player to go along with her MVP award, Reeves was named the team's Best Defensive Player, and Gina Smith was honored as the team's Most Inspirational Player.