ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The 2023 season concluded for the University of Mobile Volleyball team over the weekend, with Mobile falling in straight sets to Missouri Baptist University on Saturday, Nov. 18. The loss came in the opening round of the 2023 NAIA Volleyball National Championship Tournament as the Rams earned an automatic bid to the national tournament following the runner-up performance in the SSAC Volleyball Championship this season.
Mobile was selected to face Missouri Baptist in St. Louis, Mo. on Saturday, a team that the Rams defeated during the 2019 season as the then No. 1 team in the country. Missouri Baptist entered the national tournament this season ranked No. 8 and came away with a 25-17, 25-22, 25-16 victory over Mobile to end the Rams' season.
In the loss, Mobile only managed to record a .102 team attack percentage, finishing with 30 team kills and 19 attack errors. The Rams' best set came in the second where Mobile slashed .270, recording 15 kills in the set alone. For the Spartans of Missouri Baptist, the home team finished the opening round match with a .246 hitting percentage, tallying 41 total kills.
Kendel Lee Frazer and Layton Adams led the charge offensively for Mobile, both recording eight kills a piece. In addition, Adams added 13 assists, while Tatum Beech led Mobile with 14 assists. Defensively, Lexi Gillette paced Mobile with 14 digs, followed by Rachel Dunaway with eight. As a team, the Rams finished with 53 digs and 30 assists.
Several Honored by Southern States Athletic Conference
Ahead of the opening round match in the national tournament, several members of the University of Mobile Volleyball program were recognized with postseason awards in the SSAC. Corrina Porch-Maxey and Jordan Wood highlighted the awards as both players were named SSAC First-Team All-Conference players for the 2023 season.
Porch-Maxey consistently led Mobile in offense during the 2023 season, recording a total of 363 kills off a .214 hitting percentage at season's end. She averaged over three kills per set this season. For Jordan Wood, the senior ended her final year as a Ram with a team-best .267 attack percentage, tallying 162 kills and a team-high 75 blocks throughout the 2023 campaign.
Layton Adams and Lexi Gillette were also selected as all-conference players this season, being named to the SSAC Second-Team All-Conference Team. Adams finished third on the team with 190 kills this season, while finishing second on the roster with 557 assists. She averaged over five assists per set, while recording 287 digs this year for Mobile. Gillette paced the Rams with a total of 485 digs as libero for the second-straight season, averaging over four digs per set. She broke the single-game digs total at Mobile with 42 digs during the SSAC Volleyball Tournament. Both Gillette and Adams were selected to the SSAC Volleyball All-Tournament team for their performances in this year's conference tournament.
Barnes & Noble College All-Academic Honors
In addition to the athletic awards released by the SSAC, the conference added all-academic honors for success in the classroom during the season. A total of 15 players from the UM Volleyball program were named as all-academic student-athletes this year. Those featured can be found below:
Jordan Wood was later named as Mobile's representative on the SSAC Volleyball Champions of Character Team.
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About the University of Mobile
The University of Mobile is a Christ-centered liberal arts and sciences institution with a vision of higher education for a higher purpose, founded to honor God by equipping students for their future professions through rigorous academic preparation and spiritual transformation. Core values are: Christ-Centered, Academically-Focused, Student-Devoted and Distinctively-Driven. The university offers on-campus and online bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in over 75 academic programs. Founded in 1961, the University of Mobile is affiliated with the Alabama Baptist State Convention and is located 10 miles north of Mobile, Alabama on a campus of over 880 acres.
For information about the University of Mobile, areas of study, admissions and more, visit umobile.edu, connect with UM on social media @univofmobile, or call Enrollment Services at 1.800.WIN.RAMS or 251.442.2222.
