MCC volleyball takes final two matches of own invite

The McCook Community College volleyball team won both its matches Saturday to finish 3-1 in the Mid-Plains Community College Labor Day tournament and went 4-1 over the past three days. In the tournament finale Saturday, MCC picked up a 3-1 win over Hutchinson Community College (Kansas) and a 3-1 win over Garden City Community College (Kansas).

MCC Coach Hayley Kobza said while the Saturday wins were some of the best volleyball her team has played this season, there is plenty of room for growth.

"Like I told the girls after the Hutchinson match, that was some good volleyball but we can play better volleyball," she said.

After losing the first set of the first match to Hutchinson 16-25, MCC responded with three straight set wins 25-23, 25-21, 25-19.

"That was a pretty tough team and we didn't play our best but we still came out and played tough volleyball all four sets," Kobza said.

The win over Garden City comes one week after losing to the Broncbusters in the Northeast Community College tournament in Norfolk 3-2.

With Saturday's MCC win, Kobza said the turnaround this weekend could be attributed to better passing and serving,

Sophomore Janie Sommer (Maxwell High School) recorded a team-best 35 assists in the match to go along with three kills, three ace serves and two assist blocks.

"Janie did awesome, also Jaycee Widener (Maywood-Hayes Center) came in when we were trying to change it up a bit and she hit kills every time she hit the ball," Kobza said, also citing the efforts of Thaynara Isabela (freshman São Paulo, Brazil) for her hard work and also right-side hitter Victoria Thomas (freshman, Houston, Texas.)

"That girl is a spitfire anytime she touches the ball she's going to put something on it," Kobza said.

While the team was more consisted over the past several days Kobza said she sees plenty of room to sharpen up most all areas of the game: hitting, blocking, and serving.

MCC goes to 7-5 on the season and head to North Platte (7-4) Tuesday to take on the Knights at 7 p.m.

For more photos from today's matches please visit the MCC Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/MPCCMcCook/

McCook CC 3, Hutchinson CC 1: Freshman Thaynara Isabela (São Paulo, Brazil) put down a game-high 17 kills with two ace serves and one assist block.

Jordan Jerome (sophomore, Rawlins, Wyo.) had nine kills and two assist blocks. Makayla Brown, (freshman, Colorado Springs) had six kills, two assist blocks and two aces.

Jisell Chumacero (freshman, Eaton, Colo.) was credited with four kills and four assist blocks. Sophomore Amerika Jones (Honolulu, Hawaii) had two kills.

Janie Sommer, (sophomore, Maxwell) had 28 set assists, three kills, two assist blocks and one ace serve. Freshman McKenna Crews (Loveland, Colo.) had one ace.

 McCook CC 3, Garden City  CC 1: Thaynara Isabela led the team in the final match of the tournament with 15 kills and one ace serve.

Victoria Thomas had seven kills, two assist blocks and three ace serves. Jordan Jerome had seven kills and three assist blocks. Jisell Chumacero had six kills and five block assists.

Jaycee Widener had four kills. Makayla Brown had three kills and one block assist. Mia Pena (sophomore, Greeley, Colo.) had three kills and two block assists.

Janie Sommer had 35 assists, three kills, two assist blocks and three aces.