PHOTO GALLERY
GARDEN CITY, N.Y. - While winning the Northeast-10 Player of the Year was rather special for Macy Brown (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac), the outside hitter for the University of New Haven women's volleyball team had a different piece of hardware on her mind as the Chargers headed to Garden City, New York for the NE10 tournament.
When host Adelphi had erased a three-point deficit in the fourth set, the message was pretty clear who would be getting the ball to lead the Chargers to victory.
Two of Brown's team-high 19 kills came when New Haven scored five of the final seven points for the 25-13, 25-18, 16-25, 25-22 victory in the NE10 championship game.
Fittingly enough, Brown had both hands on the NE10 championship trophy and held it aloft as she celebrated with her teammates after the Chargers won the program's seventh NE10 tournament title.
"My mentality is I know this ball is coming to me and I need to do it for my team and I want to do it for myself, nobody wants it more than me so I am going to swing at every ball that comes my way," Brown said.
New Haven coach Ana Paula Pego didn't hesitate in making sure that her best player had the chance to finish things off.
"The last few points it was all Macy," Pego said. "I kept saying to the setter, this is her year, either she carries us across the finish line or we are going to drop on her. She has come through all season. She has done a phenomenal job and she gives everybody confidence on the court. She takes responsibility, she asks for [sets] and she is a great leader."
Brown had 19 kills and 20 digs in the title game after putting up 19 kills and 19 digs in a semifinal win over Bentley.
The Chargers had some extra motivation since the last time they met Adelphi, the Panthers swept the Chargers. A little more fuel was added during New Haven's semifinal win over Bentley when the Chargers heard the Adelphi players cheering for New Haven to win.
"I think we had a chip on our shoulder because the last time we came here on Halloween, they swept us in three and yesterday we heard them cheering for us to beat Bentley," Brown said. "I guess they wanted us to win because they thought it was going to be the easier game. We wanted to come in here and prove to them that we are the team to beat and they shouldn't have been cheering for us yesterday."
When winning on the road, a quick start can work wonders and it was freshman Grace Juergens (Lockport, Ill./Lockport Township) who saw to that as she had eight kills on nine swings in the first set of the match.
"She is a freshman and she has a ton of potential, she can get hot," Pego said. We talk about covering for each other, playing with more heart when somebody is not coming through but she started the game hitting .900 as a freshman in a championship match it just says a lot, it says a lot for what is to come in her future."
As for New Haven's future, they will be heading into the NCAA Division II tournament after winning the program's first NE10 title since 2017. The NCAA Selection Show is scheduled for Monday, November 20 at 7:00 p.m. on NCAA.com.
"The one thing we have been battling all season long is learning how to play and how to finish a match," Pego said. "Earlier in the season on crucial points, we would get a little bit immature because we are a very young team so we would make silly errors and not finish a match. These last four matches, we have been on fire at finishing the games. This brings a different feeling, this is knowledge for everybody that the sky is the limit now."
Brown was joined on the all-tournament team by setter Michelle Henwood (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico/Academia Maria Reina). Henwood had 44 assists in the title match after recording 42 in the semifinals.
New Haven (23-9) had just two service errors and two receiving errors in the four sets while Adelphi, which had won its previous 15 matches, finished with 10 service errors and seven receiving errors.
The Chargers were able to manage their emotions and play aggressively without giving away points in the most important match - to date - this season.
"There is a turning point for every team and when you are playing in the championship, you just have this mentality that you have to go all out and leave it all on the floor," Pego said. "We want to play for our senior libero [Rilee Jessee (Edinburgh, Ind,/Columbus East)] who is only going to have this opportunity to win the NE10 and we came out successful today."
