Virginia Beach, VA - The Johnson & Wales Charlotte wrapped up its 2022 season at the USCAA Division II National Championships in Virginia Beach, VA this weekend. 

The Wildcats, seeded 3rd, opened tournament play against second seeded Penn State-Mont Alto on Thursday morning. JWU fell to the Lions in 3 sets, 25-17, 25-13, 26-24. Emily Arends led the Wildcats with 12 kills, while Ahmarie Young added 7 kills and 10 digs. Logan Smith had 24 assists and Niecee Perofeta added 15 digs.

JWU then faced off against 6th seeded Paul Smith's College on Friday morning in their final pool play game. The Wildcats swept the Bobcats 3-0 by scores of 25-21, 25-23, and 25-21. Young had another big game, recording 18 kills while hitting .410. Aimee Evans, Shayla Pope and Smith each added 6 kills. Smith also handed out 37 assists. JaMia McCoy had 13 digs as well. 

That win advanced the Wildcats to Friday afternoon's national semi-final against 4th seeded Penn State-York. After dropping the first two sets, the Wildcats rallied to win the third, 25-21 and force a fourth stanza. York prevailed 25-15 to take the match 3-1, sending JWU to the 3rd Place match on Saturday. Arends again led the charge with 14 kills, while Young added 12 kills and 22 digs. Smith had 37 assists for the second time on the day. 

Saturday's third place match saw JWU face off against tournament top seed Cincinnati-Clermont. JWU won the first two sets 25-21 and 25-20 only to see the Cougars rally to tie the match at two sets apiece with 25-16 and 25-14 set wins. Despite falling behind 2-0 to start the deciding fifth set, the Wildcats were unconcerned, as they ran off a 10-1 run to go up 10-3. Clermont rallied to cut the deficit to as few as 2 at 13-11, but the Wildcats got a kill from Young and a Cougar attack error to close out the match. Young had 19 kills and 18 digs as she was named to the All-Tournament team. Evans had 12 kills and 5 total blocks. Kaylee Atkins added 11 kills and 7 digs. 

Senior Emily Arends played her final career match for the Wildcats, recording 9 kills and 17 digs. She finishes her career with 505.5 points, 11th best in program history. She had 403 kills, 10th most in school history, and 89 service aces, 7th best all-time for any Wildcat. This despite losing one season to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Coach Phillips was pleased with how her team competed over the course of the weekend. "Super-happy with this result. We played hard and represented JWU with class on and off the court."