Czerniak Leads Top-Seeded Taylor to Quarterfinal Win over Grace

Volleyball | Sat, Nov. 5, 2022
| by Jake Chipka

Broadcast Highlights | Crossroads League Championships Central
 

UPLAND, Ind. –The 2022 Volleyball Crossroads League Tournament kicked off on Saturday afternoon with a quarterfinal matchup between the one seed, No. 11 Taylor (28-5), and eight-seeded, Grace (10-23). Behind the strong left arm of Ryan Czerniak, the top-seeded Trojans rolled to a quick three set sweep of the Lancers, advancing to the tournament’s semifinal round.

Czerniak finished the afternoon with a match-high 11 kills without recording a single error, all the while posting four blocks in response to the Lancer attack.

Grace College graduate transfer, Anna Frey, added 10 kills herself, alongside six digs, a pair of aces, and a block. Kacy Bragg was again the usual suspect of driving the Trojan offense, dishing out 36 assists at a clip of 12.0 assists-per-set.

On the defensive side of the game, freshman libero, McKaylah Flagle, executed a match-high 14 digs while making her skillful craft look easy.

Mid-hitter, Grace Ieremia, tallied three more block assists, which gives her the nation’s third highest total of 124 blocks assists for the season. Meanwhile, Czerniak boosted her national leading hitting percentage to .409 and Bragg increased her first-place total assists number to 1,309.

Bragg posted her highest assist total in the second set on Saturday, when she orchestrated 14 en route to a 25-17 set win. Along the way, Jaylynn Dunsmore slammed four second set kills, while Czerniak added four herself alongside three struck by Arlanda Faulkner.

Czerniak and Frey embodied an especially dynamic duo in the opening set, a period of play in which each Trojan posted five kills apiece in pursuit of a 25-16 first-set win.

Dunsmore, then, posted four more kills in the third and final set, granting her a total of eight for the match while the Trojans took the final set by a score of 25-21.

As a team, Taylor maintained a hitting percentage of .312 throughout the match against Grace, which marked the eighth time the Trojans have posted a .300 percentage or better in 2022.

Taylor has now won nine matches in a row and 19 of its last 21 matches, while improving to a perfect 14-0 at home this season. Dating back to the 2021 season, Taylor has now won a remarkable 23-consecutive matches inside Odle.

No. 11 Taylor (28-5) will remain at home as the Trojans move on to the Crossroads League Tournament semifinals, set…