By: Ian Sacks

The Scottsdale Community College volleyball team gets set for a run at another national title this week.

The Fighting Artichokes, who won the 2019 NJCAA DII national championship, drew the No. 7 seed and will face No. 10 Heartland Community College, from Normal, Ill., on Thursday in their first match. The three-day national tournament is taking place at Alliant Energy PowerHouse Arena in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

SCC qualified for the 16-team field this year by winning the Region 1 Division II championship on Nov. 6. It defeated Glendale Community College twice to claim the title.

The Artichokes faced a tough road in the regional championship as they dropped the first match of the double-elimination tournament and needed to win each of their final four matches of the event to claim the title.

"Our philosophy this whole year has been when we make mistakes, we just have to learn from them and not repeat those mistakes," coach Regina Mannix said. "They've done a great job of that, and I think we're peaking at the right time."

Scottsdale ranked near the top of the ACCAC in several statistical categories. Out of the 10 teams in the conference, the Artichokes had the most digs this season and ranked second in both hitting percentage and blocks.

Setter Shauna Rath led the conference in hitting percentage and was named the ACCAC Setter of the Year. Libero Kylie Ostrovsky led the conference with 460 digs and received Second Team ACCAC All Conference honors.

Opposite hitter Brooklyn Casey was right behind Ostrovsky in digs and had the fifth-most kills. Middle blocker Savannah Davis ranked second in blocks.

"We have all the pieces," Mannix said. "It's just a matter of us bringing it all together at the end. I think we do some really special, unique things on this team."

The Artichokes are no strangers to the NJCAA Tournament. Prior to winning their first title in 2019, they had finished in second, third and fifth places during Mannix tenure.

The Scottsdale-Heartland match is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. (Central Time) or 10:00 a.m. (AZ Time) Thursday. The victor plays the winner of the match between No. 2 Iowa Central and No. 15 Mott later that day.

All NJCAA championship brackets and matches can be viewed ($) online at https://www.njcaa.org.