Over the past five years, the Aquinas athletic department has continued its storied tradition of athletic success in the form of individual national championships, incredible postseason runs, WHAC championships, record-breaking performances, and a tremendous number of athletic and academic All-America honorees.
 
We wanted to provide our fans with an enjoyable look back at some of the best moments from all of our athletic programs since 2015. Over the next two months, we will highlight a few programs each week - 25 programs in total - and provide a reminder of why it's great to be an Aquinas Saint.
 
The 2018 Aquinas women's volleyball team can certainly make a case as one of the best teams in school history. From getting off to a fast start (winning its first five matches) to a terrific final showing at NAIA Nationals (defeating two top-20 teams, including the eventual national runner-up), the Saints also achieved something that had not been done at AQ since 1996 – before nearly every player on the 2018 team was born.
 
When Aquinas swept visiting UM-Dearborn on Halloween of 2018, the Saints sent their seniors out in style on 'Senior Day' - by capturing the first WHAC championship by the women's volleyball program in 22 years. That capped off a wonderful regular season, but AQ also made a historic postseason run which started with hosting the 2018 WHAC Tournament and advancing to the conference championship match on its own home court. Those performances clinched a spot in the NAIA National Tournament and an opening round home match in said tournament, which was a first in program history. The Saints made quick work of Saint Francis (Ind.) inside the Sturrus Center with a 3-0 sweep to punch their ticket to Sioux City, Iowa for pool play at NAIA Nationals.
 
While Aquinas was placed into arguably the toughest bracket (the Saints were the only non-ranked team in the four-team pool), the team quickly made an impression by stunning #3 Columbia in a five-set thriller in its first match. Two days later, AQ swept #18 Vanguard to clinch a 2-1 pool play record. The Saints, however, were stuck in an unfortunate position and had to play a winner-take-all, one-set tiebreaker against #3 Columbia – the same team Aquinas had defeated two days earlier. Columbia would win the late-night tiebreaker by a 25-19 score and later fall in the national championship match.
 
The final numbers show what an outstanding season it was for the 2018 Saints: a 35-8 overall record, a 17-3 mark in conference play, and a 20-2 record inside the Sturrus Center. AQ put together a 13-match win streak and two separate five-match win streaks, while only losing consecutive matches once. The Saints' 35 victories were the second-most in school history and the team finished the historic campaign ranked #19 nationally.
 
The team's only player who was alive when the 1996 team hoisted the conference trophy was senior outside hitter Kristin Danielson, who earned NAIA/AVCA Honorable Mention All-America honors in 2018 by finishing her career as one of just five all-time Saints with 1,000 career kills and 1,000 digs. Teammate Karly Morris also shared Honorable Mention All-America honors and was voted the WHAC Libero of the Year, while head coach Rick Schroeder was tabbed as both the WHAC and Mideast Region Coach of the Year.

Next Moment: Wednesday, September 2nd