VERNON - The Temple College Lady Leopards rolled to a 25-19, 25-20, 25-14 win over Hill in the championship match of the NTJCAC tournament to earn their third consecutive berth in the NJCAA national tournament, to be held Nov. 20-22 in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

“It’s very exciting,” Temple coach Mary Reese said. “This is the first year we’ll go as a ranked team. Our sophomores have been gunning for this because they feel upset about what happened last year (Temple lost both matches).”

Sara Heger led the No. 18 Lady Leopards (26-12) in the championship match with 15 kills, five digs, four blocks and an ace. Heather Lisenbe added nine kills and Melissa Padgett added six. Cheyenne Craigen had 32 assists and six digs.

The Lady Leopards beat Cisco and Hill on Friday to advance to the championship match of the double-elimination tournament, and going in undefeated was an advantage.

“I watched them play North Central in the morning and it was quite obvious they were tired,” Reese said. “I wouldn’t say we breezed through the tournament, but we didn’t have to play a five-set match and none of the teams were able to keep up.”