Alli Volkens greets fans Tuesday night at White Auditorium. Volkens was named MVP of the NCAA Division 2 Women’s Elite Eight. Kellen Jenkins/The Bulletin.
With a trip to the National Championship game on the line and only 45 seconds on the clock, senior forward Alli Volkens knew what it would take to overcome the #1 team in the nation.
“I think it was just a matter of, ‘If we lose, we’re done,’” Volkens said.“We just put it all out on the court.”
The stakes were ultimately high.The ESU women’s basketball team was facing #1 Gannon, whose record was an impressive 37-0, in the Final Four.
Words turned into actions as Volkens, with the help of her teammates, scored the final four points in regulation.The pair of baskets tied the game, sending it to overtime.
The ball was in Emporia State’s court.Senior guard Lacy Corker knew that the team was in good hands on the low block.
“She’s so competitive,” Corker said.“She wanted it so bad.When it’s a big game like that, it was important for her to go out and do it and she did.”
The Hornets went on to defeat Gannon 97-94.Volkens scored an impressive 20 points off of 6-7 shooting from the field.ESU marched into the National Championship game and won that one too, with Volkens scoring 16 points, pulling down 15 rebounds while also adding five blocks.
Volkens, a native of Reinbeck, Iowa, put together a stellar six-game run in the postseason that earned her the NCAA Division II Elite Eight Most Valuable Player award and the utmost respect from her teammates.
“Alli’s a great player,” said Cassondra Boston, senior guard.“She definitely stepped it up for the whole NCAA Tournament.She’s capable of doing that.She’s half the reason why we won the whole thing because she just really stepped her game up and played hard and played her heart out.”
Corker shared Boston’s sentiment.
“Alli really stepped it up at the end of the season,” Corker said.“I told the press conference people that she showed it in her eyes, and I felt she wanted it so bad and it showed in her game…no one could really stop her.”
Throughout the early part of the season, Volkens had flown under the radar.A nagging injury was partly to blame for her less-than-spectacular performance early on.
“Earlier in the season I was still kind of hurting a little bit from my knee surgery,” Volkens said.“It took me awhile to get over that.With the adrenaline rush of the postseason tournament, it (the pain) kind of went away a little bit.”
The expectations have always been high for the 6’2” junior.
“Coming in as a freshman I was kind of expected to do a little bit, then each year just build upon that,” Volkens said.
She has done just that.Coming off of a freshman campaign where she averaged 5.8 points per game in spot minutes, Volkens averaged 7.5 points per game in her sophomore season.In continuation of incline, Volkens nearly doubled her average this season with just over 12 points per game.
A mere five days after winning the National Championship, Volkens has her eyes on the prize again for next year.While the team loses four seniors who played a critical part in the championship run, Volkens is still confident that the Hornets can repeat.
“I think a lot of our younger players are going to step up next year and have just as much success regardless of how many players we lose each and every year,” Volkens said.“My freshman year we lost (Michelle) Stueve, last year we lost Ida (Edwards), this year we lose (Cassondra) Boston, so I don’t see why not.”
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