Alice Lloyd Volleyball takes thrilling match over Boyce to claim NCCAA Mideast Regional Championship

Pippa Passes, KY: The Alice Lloyd Lady Eagles volleyball team returned home on Saturday, November 8th, to face the Boyce Lady Bulldogs in the championship match of the Mideast Regional Tournament. Boyce advanced to the final after sweeping the Welch College Flames the previous day, while ALC earned a bye as the top overall seed. The stakes were high, with an automatic berth to the NCCAA Division II National Championship on the line.

ALC 3 – Boyce 1

The Lady Eagles claimed a thrilling four-set victory over a determined Boyce squad, sparking a celebration that filled the Perry Campus Center.

In set one, the contest was tight throughout, with neither team leading by more than three points. Boyce held an early 8-5 edge before ALC pulled ahead 16-13. The score remained even at 20-20 until a pair of kills gave the Lady Eagles a slight advantage at 23-22. With the crowd on edge, Callie Butler delivered a key kill to make it 24-22. After Boyce answered once, Butler finished the set in style with another decisive shot, sealing the 25-23 win.

Set two proved just as competitive. The Lady Eagles led 15-13 before the Bulldogs responded with a powerful 8-1 run to surge ahead, 21-16. Boyce held that momentum to take the set 25-20 — the largest margin of victory in the match — evening the score at one set apiece.

Set three featured a rollercoaster of momentum swings. Boyce came out firing, jumping ahead 11-4 and appearing poised to take control. But the Lady Eagles battled back with a 12-6 rally to close within one, 17-16. Boyce answered again with a five-point stretch to make it 22-16, but ALC refused to back down, storming back with an 8-2 run to tie things up at 24-24. With the home crowd roaring, a Boyce error gave ALC set point, and Christa Amburgey finished the comeback with a thunderous kill to claim the 26-24 win.

In set four, Boyce looked to extend the match, taking an early 8-4 lead before Alice Lloyd clawed back to tie it at 9-9. The teams traded points until the Lady Eagles edged ahead, 21-17. Boyce rallied once again, tying the score at 22-22 before calling a timeout. Coming out of the break, ALC's Kyleah Ward and Butler struck for back-to-back kills to bring up match point at 24-22. Boyce cut the deficit to one, but Butler rose to the occasion once more, crushing the match-winning kill that sent the crowd into celebration and secured the program's first-ever regional championship.

On the day, Christa Amburgey and Taylon Hoskins led the offense with 14 and 11 kills, respectively, while Callie Butler added 10. Payton Taylor, Jadyn Hall, and Gracie Gibson anchored the defense with 14, 14, and 13 digs apiece, while Taylor also dished out an impressive 41 assists. Ward led with five blocks, and Amburgey, Hall, and Taylor each contributed one service ace.

The match was as close statistically as it was on the scoreboard. Boyce (finishing the season 8-18) held narrow leads in assists (49-48), digs (88-78), and aces (10-4), but Alice Lloyd prevailed where it mattered most — in kills (53-52) and on the final scoreboard — earning a hard-fought championship victory.

The Lady Eagles now advance to the 2025 NCCAA Division II Women's Volleyball National Championship, held November 17th–22nd in Joplin, Missouri, hosted by the Joplin Sports Authority and Ozark Christian College. ALC enters nationals with a stellar 23-8 record and plenty of momentum.