MCC splits Saturday matches, go 2-1 to start season

After sweeping their first two matches of the weekend beating Northeast CC Friday and Laramie County Community College Saturday MCC fell to Dodge City 3-0 in the home tournament finale Saturday.

MCC opened play Saturday sweeping LCCC, but the Golden Eagles came back down Dodge City 3-1. MCC lost in straight sets to the Conquistadors as all three teams finished the day 1-1.

"I wish we could have been 3-0 but 2-1 is fine," said MCC Coach Hayley Kobza. "I told the players, you lose, you learn."

MCC was up 23-17 in the first set to Dodge City before losing 24-26.

Kobza talked about momentum and how it is magnified when you have a young team.

"Our players need to get W's so that they feel comfortable on the court because we just had a few of our sophomores sprinkled in and these freshmen need to get that confidence on the court," she said.

On the positive side, the coaches are pleased to see the depth emerge in the first matches of the season

"We have two lineups that we like, and we have four players at every single slot at the net, which is huge," she said. "And today we learned what we need to work on and know what we need to do to fix it before Thursday."

MCC will travel to Salina for a Thursday match with the Kansas Wesleyan JV's then travel to Dallas, Texas for four games in the North Lake College tournament Friday and Saturday.

MCC returns to the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center Sept. 2-3 for the MCC Invitational starting off with a 3 p.m. game Sept. 2 against fifth ranked Butler Community College then a 7 p.m. match with the two-time defending national champion and pre-season No. 1 Iowa Western Community College.

For all the up-to-date information on MCC volleyball this season including, schedules, statistics, rosters and photos, please visit the official website of MCC Athletics at mccindians.com

MATCH 1 – MCC 3, Laramie County CC 0: The MCC team won in straight sets, 25-19, 25-19, and 25-12.

"We went with a different lineup than the one that started Friday and a few more players saw the court today and I thought thy did a really good job," said Kobza.

 Jessie Jerome (freshman, Rawlins, Wyo.) saw her first action of the season and her solid all-around game included 15 assists, 11 digs, seven kills, two assist blocks and two ace serves.

Fernanda Merancio (freshman, Lamar, Colo.) led MCC with 12 kills to go along with three assist blocks and four digs. Gabby Caskey (freshman, Ogallala) had seven kills and an ace, and was tied for a team-best digs with 17.

Victoria Thomas (sophomore, Houston, Texas) had eight kills, four digs and two assist blocks. Gracen Tuttle (freshman, Ogallala) had four assist blocks. A'Dasia Porter (sophomore transfer, Glendale, Ariz.) saw her first action and was credited with three assists blocks.

"A huge shout-out to A'Dasia Porter who came in and really played solid defense on the net," said Kobza.

Alexis Pontine freshman, (Ignacio, Colo.) tied for the team-high in assists with 15 and sophomore McKenna Crews (Loveland, Colo.) was tied for the team-high in digs with 17.

"We have to continue to build with each match during the season," Kobza said.

MATCH 2 – Dodge City 3, McCook CC 0: Dodge City came from down 23-17 in the first set to sweep the home team 26-24, 25-18, 25-22.

"Coach Hanna (Emerson) said it right at the beginning of the match that serving and passing would be what would win the match and that's what they did," Kobza said. "Dodge City served tough and we couldn't' pass the ball. We have great hitters, but they just didn't get to utilize that power we have because the passes were not there."

Victoria Thomas led MCC with seven kills and two assist blocks. Fernanda Merancio had five kills and one assist block. Gabby Casky had three kills and two aces.

A'Dasia Porter led MCC with six assist blocks, Gracen Tuttle had three kills.

Jessie Jerome had six assists, one kill, five assist blocks and two aces. Alexis Pontine had nine assists.