The end of the fall season signals the start of championship season in the NCAA. The NCAA DII National Championship Festival was hosted in the greater Seattle, WA area this year. This event brings together multiple sports to one location. This year’s event included Soccer, Field Hockey, Volleyball, and X-Country to crow National Champions in NCAA DII.

We were fortunate to follow the expereience of Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) and their athletes. SNHU might sound familiar, and it’s likely you’ve seen their TV commercials promoting online education. What you might not know, is that it has a thriving University campus.

The SNHU Penmen had more than one program qualify for the NCAA DII Festival this year. The Men’s X-Country team had one runner qualify for the event in Jacob Logan. He faced a challenging field going toe to toe with the top runners in the country finishing 108 of 262 in the Men’s 10k. Logan put in a solid effort notching his best overall run of 31:21.10.

The Penmen also had their Women’s XC team qualify out of the East for the event. With both teams fighting off the bitter cold, they put in a solid effor racing against a challenging field at Chambers Bay Park in Tacoma, WA.

One of the highlights of the tournament was the SNHU Volleyball team who qualified for the NCAA National Quarterfinals for the first time in program history. As the 8th seed, they faced off against the #1 seed Concordia-St. Paul.

Game Recap:

1st Set: SNHU (19) CSP (25)

2nd Set: SNHU (23) CSP (25)

3rd Set: SNHU (11) CSP (25)

The SNHU Penmen played the underdog role as the #8 seed int he tournament. However, they rountinely made solid plays at the net to stand tall against the #1 seed. The first set was a back and forth affair as the Penmen continued to push the game early. However, the defensive prowress of the Golden Bears showed why they were the #1 seed. Consistent defensive and offensive play pushed them through after two tough sets. The Penmen really stuck with the Golden Bears in the first two set, but by the 3rd set things got away from them ending their run at the tournament.

Having put up thier best season on record, things are looking really positive for the Penmen to continue to build going into the next season.