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Brigham Young-Hawaii’s road to an 11th national title ended up as a dead end Friday when the Seasiders ran into a bulldozer named Concordia-St. Paul at the West Florida Field House in Pensacola, Fla.
But it was more than an end to the season. It was the end of a decorated coaching career.
Reigning West Region coach of the year Wilfred Navalta, who won 10 titles since taking over the Seasiders program in 1985, told his team after Friday’s loss to the top-ranked Golden Bears from Minnesota that it was his final match in Laie. The 67-year-old retires with a record of 611-145.
"I wanted to wait until the season was over to tell the team," said Navalta, after No. 5 BYUH (25-4) dropped its NCAA II women’s volleyball tournament semifinal 20-25, 25-11, 25-19, 25-14 to top-ranked Concordia (32-4) in 99 minutes. "I feel good about leaving and how I’m leaving the program. We have a good nucleus coming back, and whoever takes over, we’ll have the players to continue what we built this year.
"I had thought about retiring before, but I wanted to have the program in a position to continue to success. And, in my mind, I had a goal. I wanted to win a national title in four different decades."
Navalta fell two wins short of doing that. The Seasiders brought home eight NAIA banners — in 1986, ’87, ’91, ’92 and ’94 through ’97. They also won NCAA II titles in 1999 and 2002.
It’s a legacy very similar to that of the Golden Bears. Concordia goes for an unprecedented sixth consecutive championship today against Tampa (32-3); the seventh-ranked Spartans, featuring D-II Player of the Year Danielle Selkridge, swept the Indianapolis Greyhounds 25-18, 25-20, 27-25 n Friday’s second semifinal.
Friday was the first national semifinal appearance for the Seasiders since 2002, when they won their 10th championship. It was the first loss to a Division II team since Sept. 1, a string of 24 straight.
Navalta said he has recommended that assistant coach and former player Mona Afalava Ah Hoy succeed him.
"But the school will make the decision," Navalta said. "BYU-Hawaii is an excellent place to be. It’s a great place to coach and teach and raise a family.
"I wanted to tell my players early enough so that they have their options open in case they want to transfer. I hope they’ll stay, but that is their decision. We had a great season and I thought we just ran out of energy tonight."
BYUH senior hitter Lauren Hagemeyer ended her career with a team-high 15 kills, with just one hitting error in 30 attempts, and was in on four of the five blocks. Senior hitter Tuli Peters Tevaga added seven kills and had 15 of the team’s 61 digs.
Sophomore All-America hitter Stella Chen and sophomore middle Ariel Hsu each had 11 kills, with Chen finishing with a double-double with 12 digs. Sophomore All-America setter Michelle Chen also had a double-double (43 assists, 13 digs).
The Golden Bears rocked the Seasiders’ normally solid serve-receive with tough serving, including seven aces. Three were by junior opposite Kayla Koenecke, who had a match-high 23 kills with one error, hitting .629 with 15 digs.
Koenecke was most impressive in Set 2, where she had two kills and all three of her aces in a 9-0 run that put Concordia ahead 22-10. There were nine ties and five lead changes in Set 3. A kill by Koenecke put Concordia ahead for good at 13-12. Set 4 was tight early, but a kill by Ellie Duffy jump-started a 7-0 run by the Golden Bears and the Seasiders never got closer than 21-14.
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