CHARLESTON, W.V. – Parkland College Volleyball will play for the NJCAA Division II National Title on Saturday, November 17, at 4:30 p.m. central time after defeating No. 3 seed Johnson County in straight sets (25-15, 25-16, 25-11) on Friday evening at the Charleston Civic Center. The Cobras opponent on Saturday night will be No. 1 seed, and defending National Champions, Coffeyville.
 
"We had a game plan, and the girls executed it to perfection," said head coach Cliff Hastings. "I'm beyond proud of what all the girls accomplished tonight – all 18 – the girls on the court and on the bench were terrific. But I also give a lot of the credit to the assist coaches. A month ago, I made the list of big picture things we had to focus on for three weeks straight to get Nationals ready. Each coach was assigned a group and three tasks, and each of the girls and coaches took it as a challenge and competition. It was hard work and lots of fun, and it's paying dividends in spades."
 
The Cobras will be making its fifth National Championship match appearance in the last five years and sixth overall. After winning the National Title in its first appearance back in 1999, the Cobras advanced to the title match in four straight seasons under Coach Hastings, taking home the hardware in 2015 and 2016. The 2018 Championship match can be streamed live on NJCAATV.com with updates provided throughout the match on the Parkland Athletics Twitter account.
 
Avenging one of just two regular season losses, a four-set defeat on September 7 in Kirkwood, Iowa, the Cobras hit .272 against the third-ranked team in the country, behind 17 kills on a .366 efficiency by freshman Ryleigh Warfel who had a match-high 17 kills. On the other side of the net, the Caviliers could only muster a .040 hitting percentage against a stout Cobras defense that posted eight blocks and dug out 67 balls. From the service line, the Cobras aced seven serves including four from Maggie Sorenson.
 
Never trailing in the match, Parkland wasted no time in taking control of the opening set, highlighted by a 6-0 run off the serve of Sorenson that saw three Warfel kills, a kill by Harmon and an ace to cap it off. After Johnson County cut the deficit to single digits, 15-6 and 16-7, Parkland again took four straight points with kills from Greening, Warfel and Allen. Two more service aces by Sorenson and Norder led the Cobras to set point where Warfel finished off the 25-15 win.
 
Off the arm of Norder, the Cobras opened a 4-1 run in the second set. A kill by Verdun and a pair of Johnson County attack errors pushed the lead to 11-5. The Cavaliers stayed within striking distance, 15-11, before Sorenson again created separation with seven straight points behind four Warfel kills and a fifth kill from Katelyn Riffle. Johnson County closed the gap back to 24-16 before an attack error gave Parkland the set point.
 
Again, taking an early lead off three straight points off Norder serves, the Cobras extended the lead out to 9-2 with kills from Verdun and Warfel. Still leading 12-6, Verdun served up three straight points with kills from Riffle and Warfel. The outside duo kept the offense coming with each chipping in kills as the Cobras put away the final set on a 13-5 run to close out the match, capped by kills from middle blocker Dakota Harmon.  
 
Not having dropped a set this weekend, the Cobras have hit .332 with 12.9 kills per set. On defense, Parkland has stuffed 21 opponent attacks while the servers have combined for 24 aces. Individually, Warfel has 39 kills on a .371 attack percentage. Setter Rachel Verdun is averaging 9.1 assists per set and has added in 12 kills to keep opponents guessing, while Dakota Harmon has 17 kills 12 blocks through the three matches.
 
The match against Coffeyville on Saturday will be a rematch of an October 6 match that saw Coffeyville hand the Cobras their second, and last, loss to date in four sets in Des Moines, Iowa.