MCC Volleyball caps regular season with sweep over Lamar

The McCook Community College volleyball team closed out the regular season Friday night at the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center sweeping Lamar Community College. MCC won 25-12, 25-15 and 25-19 on Sophomore Night.

This was the final home match for six players including: Anna Williams, Cheyenne, Wyo.; A'Dasia Porter, Glendale, Ariz.; Makayla Brown, Colorado Springs; Jisell Chumacero, Eaton, Colo;. McKenna Crews, Loveland, Colo.; and Victoria Thomas, Houston.

"Tonight was such a fun night, especially for our sophomores, all of them got to see the court and all of them came out and played really well and played clean," said MCC Coach Hayley Kobza.

Chumacero led the sophomores with seven kills. Williams added five kills along with two digs. Thomas had four kills, three digs and one assist block.

Porter tallied four kills and two blocks, Brown had three kills and Crews had six digs and one ace.

Freshman Jordan Duzenack (Loveland, Colo.) led MCC with eight kills and 12 digs along with one ace and two blocks. Alexis Pontine (freshman, Ignacio, Colo.) led MCC with 19 assists and had two kills and one ace. Freshman Jessie Jerome (Rawlins, Wyo.) led the team with seven aces to go along with 11 assists and four digs.

Greta Bolognini (freshman, Bergamo Italy/ Parkview Christian, Lincoln, Neb.) had five digs. Fernanda Merancio (freshman, Lamar, Colo.) had one kill and two blocks while freshman Gabby Caskey (Ogallala) had two digs and a kill.

MCC finishes the regular season at 21-10 and 7-3 in the south division of Region IX. This is the most south region wins MCC has had since Kobza became coach in 2016. MCC clinches at least a tie for second place in the final south standings and will advance to the Region IX tournament which begins Wednesday in Casper, Wyoming. MCC will be either the second or third seed from the south.

Lamar finishes their season 1-21 and 0-10 in the south sub region. The Lopes did not qualify for the Region IX Tournament.

"Now we just have to look forward to regionals and preparing for what we need to do to keep it going," said Kobza. "Our biggest goal is to come out and not lose our last match."

This year the format for the post season has changed with the four top seeds in the south facing the top seeds from the north division.

In the south, Western Nebraska is the top seed, Northeastern Junior College and McCook have clinched second or third seeds with the final spot to be taken by Otero or Trinidad. Central Wyoming will be the top seed from the north, Laramie County and Northwest College have clinched second or third seeds with the fourth seed to be determined by weekend games.

Official tournament seeds and pairings are expected to be announced Monday.

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