Lady Bears Dynasty Dominates Hudson Valley Tournament En Route To Capturing 4th Consecutive Conference Title
St. Joseph's College completed another outstanding volleyball campaign in superb fashion by sweeping past local rival Mount St. Vincent, 3-0 in the H.V.W.A.C. championship game to earn an unprecedented fourth consecutive tournament title. In addition to finishing the season with an outstanding 22-4 record, the Lady Bears also received their 3rd consecutive bid to compete in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association's National Tournament, which was held in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Despite facing some extremely potent competition in the national tournament, which featured teams from Florida, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and New Hampshire, the Lady Bears were able to post a very respectable sixth place finish, falling to powerful Spaulding College from Kentucky. Their third appearance on the national stage provided St. Joe's with the experience and hunger necessary to catapult them towards another championship on the local scene. St. Joe's also steamrolled their way to the H.V.W.A.C.'s regular season title, not only completing yet another undefeated campaign at 8-0, but they were absolutely perfect in every match - they did not drop a single in-conference game throughout the 2007 season, going an impressive 24-0 !
There were plenty of stars abound for the Lady Bears throughout the season, but the one that once again shined the brightest throughout the dominating championship run was Magdalena Wiecek, whose stellar play paced St. Joe's to the title. Wiecek, a Senior Outside Hitter from Grover Cleveland H.S., was selected as a Honorable Mention member of the USCAA's National All-American team, received All-Conference honors from the Hudson Valley Conference for the 4th straight season and capped her star-studded career by being named the Most Valuable Player for her performance in the HVWAC tournament. Also playing a key role for the Lady Bears was Senior Outside Hitter Svetlana Medvedeva, who also was named to the USCAA's National All-American team for her tremendous play on the season. In the conference tournament, SJC swept past Pratt, Staten Island and finally Mount St. Vincent to capture their 4th straight title. Joining Wiecek and Medvedeva on the Lady Bears powerful front line of attackers were Jaime Mascetti and Tamara Bulatovic, who was also named to the Hudson Valley All-Conference team. Congratulations to the Lady Bears Volleyball Team on their truly phenomenal performance during the 2007 campaign – its certainly safe to say that dynasty is born !!!
2007 HUDSON VALLEY TOURNMENT RESULTS
QUARTERFINAL MATCH:
ST. JOSEPH'S def. PRATT INSTITUTE (30-8, 30-14, 30-12)
SEMIFINAL MATCH:
ST. JOSEPH'S def. STATEN ISLAND (30-17, 30-23, 30-17)
CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
ST. JOSEPH'S def. MOUNT ST. VINCENT (30-12, 30-16, 30-20)