DIX HILLS, N.Y. — No. 2 seed The King’s College defeated No. 1 seed and tournament host Five Towns College in four sets (24-26, 25-14, 25-17, 25-11) on Saturday afternoon to win the 2021 Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Women’s Volleyball Championship

Senior outside hitter Samantha Klozik (Plymouth, Mich.) led three Lions (11-5, 1-1) turning in double-double efforts in the victory posting a match-high 18 points with 14 kills at a .300 clip with 17 digs and four aces. In post-match ceremonies, Klozik was named both Tournament MVP as well as 2021 HVIAC Player of the Year.

Also for the Lions, Junior middle Alex Kemsley (Austin, Texas) contributed a match-best 15 kills on .500 hitting while classmate Abby Roth (Temecula, Calif.) handed out 41 assists and brought up 18 digs. Sophomore Bella Rush (Elk Grove, Calif.) added an 11-kill, 13-dig double-double.

For the regular-season champion Sound (6-9, 2-0 HVIAC), all eight players to see action registered a kill led by five from senior Rosemarie Bemus. Sophomore Emely Ramos served up a match-high seven aces, with four kills and two blocks.

The top-seeded Sound rallied from being down as many as seven and facing two set points in the opening set and closed on a 6-1 run to steal set one from the Lions.

But King’s rebounded from the early loss and built early leads in each of the next three sets and prevented any comeback bids. The Lions hit over .300 in sets two and four while holding the Sound to negative hitting to secure the win. 

Ranked sixth nationally by the United States Collegiate Athletic Association Division II Coaches’ Poll, the Lions head to the USCAA Small College National Championship next week with an at-large bid and the tournament’s No. 6 overall seed.