The 2016 CIAA Volleyball Championship was held this year at Virginia State University in Petersburg, Virginia. For those who don’t know CIAA stands for the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association. For those who don’t know anything about volleyball games are best 3 out of 5 first to 25, unless its a tie when it comes down to game 4 then it’s first to 15.
This year the CIAA Volleyball Championship was held the weekend of Nov. 18th through the 21st. This years championship tournament was we composed of eight teams: Saint Augustine University, Shaw University, Chowan, Winston-Salem State, Lincoln, Virginia State, Virginia Union, and Fayetteville State. Students arrived Thursdays Nov. 17 to go over rules, practice, and do a little community service.
Volleyball championships were composed of three rounds — Preliminary, Semi Finals, and Finals. All the fun and games were over the minute teams walked in to the gym Friday afternoon. St. Aug and Chowan kicked off round one in a very in exciting game, with Chowan beating St. Aug in a 3-0 sweep. St. Aug was dominating Chowan in set one, it seemed as though St. Aug was gone pull out the win until Chowan showed they weren’t going out without a fight. Once Chowan got the first win it felt as though St. Aug might’ve just given up. “Today was fun competing in my first CIAA championship even though it was cut short, it’s time to go back to the hotel and turn up” said Brittany Jamison a Sophomore at Saint Augustine University. Following that game Fayetteville went on to beat Virginia Union in a 4-1 match, followed by Shaw beating Lincoln in a 3-0 sweep and ending the day with Virginia State University pulling out a big upset over last years champions Winston- Salem State in a 4-1 match.
The next morning the remaining four teams arrived at the gym early to practice and get their minds prepared and hyped up for semi finals. Opening up for day two was Fayetteville State taking on Chowan “It’s kinda like a rematch/ grudge match because Fayetteville State was the same team that kicked us out of tournament last year” said Suraya Chase a junior from Chowan University. Sadly the outcome was the same with Fayetteville State beating Chowan in a 4-1 match sending Chowan back home. Following that incredible game was Shaw taking on Virginia State. “This game is going is gonna play all 5 sets cause neither one of these teams are going down without a fight” said Wil Darden a senior at St. Aug. Shaw would definitely show him differently when they beat Virginia State in a 3-0 sweep.
Finals day family, friends, and other students are waiting outside the gym waiting to be let inside to finally see which will earn the 2016 CIAA Volleyball Championship. “Honestly I’m a little nervous, I’ve been here since preliminaries and Shaw has a powerful team but at the same time Fayetteville State is hungry” Said Donna Clark a local volleyball fan. Shaw and Fayetteville State played unbelievable sets leaving fans sitting on the edge of their seats. Fayetteville played and fought hard but fell short to Shaw in a 3-0 sweep making Shaw University the 2016 CIAA Volleyball Champions.
“I can’t believe we won, we worked so hard for this and it feels good to the bring the trophy home and to have bragging rights for the year,” said Kelly Murphy, a senior at Shaw University.
