Southwest Minnesota State loses in D-II volleyball title match

The No. 1-ranked University of Tampa defeated Southwest Minnesota State 25-14, 25-20, 25-21 on Saturday afternoon for the national volleyball title in NCAA Division II in Louisville, Ky.

Marissa Lisenbee had 12 kills and Berkley Whaley, the national player of the year, had 11 for the Spartans (34-1) who hit .308.

Abbey Thissen led the No. 4 Mustangs (26-10) with 14 kills. But Southwest Minnesota State made 23 attack errors — to Tampa's 10 — and hit .139.

Kenzie Beekman contributed nine kills for Southwest Minnesota State and Sarah Parker added six.

Megan Larson dished out 34 assists while Whitney Burmeister led the defense with 13 digs.

This was the Spartans' second national title, the first came in 2006. Concordia (St. Paul), whom the Mustangs beat in the Central Region semifinals this year, won the past seven titles.

Southwest Minnesota State beat No. 2 Minnesota Duluth for the region title and a spot in the Elite Eight for the first time.

No. 1-ranked Minnesota had 146 points, runner-up Ohio State 120.

Dardanas defeated Rossi Bruno of Michigan 8-3 in the 133-pound final. Ness, rated No. 1 nationally, edged No. 2 James Green of Nebraska 4-3. He took a 4-2 lead with a single-leg takedown in the last 10 seconds of the second period.

Scott Schiller, the third Gopher in the finals, lost 5-3 to Kyven Gadson of Iowa State at 197.

All three of those Gophers were No. 1 seeds.

Four other Gophers placed high in the 39-team tournament. Nick Dardanes took third place at 141, Michael Kroells at heavyweight and Logan Storley at 174 both placed fourth, Storley after forfeiting in his third-place match. Brent Pfarr took fifth at 184.