MCC Volleyball starts home slate Friday
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A young, defensive-minded squad takes the court when the McCook Community College volleyball team starts play Friday at home. The Lady Indians begin the season with back-to-back home tournaments which include eight home matches over the next two weekends.
This weekend, MCC is one of seven teams set to play two matches each day at the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center Friday and Saturday. MCC opens play Friday at 2 p.m. against Seward County (Kansas) and at 6 p.m. Highland Community College (Kansas). On Saturday MCC plays No. 16 Casper College (Wyoming) at 2 p.m. followed with a 4 p.m. contest with against Laramie County Community College (Wyoming).
Coach Hayley Kobza’s begins her ninth year heading the MCC program which has topped the 20-win mark five times in the past six years with the one exception being a 17-win season during the Covid 19-shortened 2021 that took place in the spring.
“These first eight matches at home are going to be pretty tough,” Kobza said. “They are all Division 1 schools with great records from last year.” MCC will face three NJCAA Top 20 teams in the first three tournaments of the season.
LAST SEASON, MCC posted its best Region IX South finish in the Kobza era gaining the No. 2 seed for the post-season tournament despite having just a 6-4 record. However, the post-season run lasted just two games as the Lady Indians lost the opening match of the tournament to Western Wyoming in five sets and lost to Casper 3-0 to end the season with an overall mark of 22-13.
Kobza is a five-time Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference Coach of the year. Her teams have gone 33-3 in NCCAC play over the past six seasons. Her overall career mark stands at 155-124 with a .556 winning percentage.
Two of her former players are assisting her this year: Genevieve Hopkinson and Victoria Thomas along with Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Famer Dennis Troester, Nick Nothnagel and Matt Chitwood.
“We have a great group of people to work with this year and so we get more eyes on the court than any other coaching staff in Region IX and that’s a huge benefit,” said Kobza.
THIS YEAR’S TEAM includes six sophomores and nine freshmen. Of the six sophomores, one sustained a season-ending injury during the first hour of the preseason camp and another didn’t play at all last season. The returners who saw action a season ago were outside hitter Romina Castro Martinez (Cochabamba, Bolivia), middle Rowan Tribelhorn (Yuma, Colo.) and outside Caylin Barnett (Southwest High School). Another, Emerie Rios (Sterling, Colo.) graduated this past spring but on Sunday decided to come back for her final year of eligibility.
“I think we’re strong athletically and have lots of defensive talent but we’re going to need to work on our offense,” said Koba.
With five players from last year’s squad moving on to four-year programs, four returning sophomores had just 24.5 percent of the team’s 1,541 kills last year, 13.9 percent of the team’s 2,243 digs and just .02 percent of the teams 1,453 sets. Martinez and Tribelhorn did combine for 90 total blocks, which was 30.1 percent of MCC’s season total of 299.
Martinez played in 35 matches as a freshman and was second on the team with 305 kills, along with the second-most digs, 338. Tribelhorn played in 18 matches and had 59 kills and 34 total blocks. Barnett played in 35 matches and was fourth with 294 digs to go along with 23 service aces. Rios, outside hitter, played in 19 matches last year and had 84 digs.
Kayten Hagan, setter (Amherst, High School) played in 30 matches and was second on the team with 545 sets along with 173 digs. However, her season ended with a knee injury during warmups prior to this season’s first practice. The other sophomore is Cibeles Bothwell, libero from Spring, Texas.
“We have great leaders and phenomenal leadership and our freshmen bring a whole new level of defense,” said Kobza.
The nine newcomers include outside hitters Ailynn Wright (Sterling, Colo.), Charlee Russick (Berthoud, Colo.) and Audrey Holm (Paxton). Jaedin Johns (Arthur) is the lone right-side hitter on the team. Middles include Ella Verts (Marshall, Mo.) and Ceren Serenli (Istanbul, Turkey).
Mia Cauffman (Hershey) will see time at libero with MCC’s two remaining setters Abby Thompson, (Bison. S.D.) and Megan Walker (Haxtun, Colo.).
IN REGION IX PLAY over the years, Kobza’s teams have fought their way up the standings. Her first team in 2016 went 8-24 overall and just 2-8 in Region IX. In 2022 the team posted its best mark in the past 25 years going 7-3.
Last year’s 6-4 mark gave MCC the second seed, tied with Western Nebraska, but the Lady Indians won the tie-breaker. The two teams each won on the other team’s home court, but MCC downed the Cougars 3-1 in Scottsbluff while the game in McCook was a 3-2 Western Nebraska win. It was only the second time since 1994 that MCC beat Western Nebraska.
Region IX champion Northeastern Junior College (36-3) finished the regular season No. 2 in the nation went 4-1 in the NJCAA tournament finishing fifth. While the Plainswomen lose a pair of all Region IX first-teamers and a second teamer they return setter of the year and freshman of the year Nerea Alvarez Jorge. NJC is ranked No. 3 in this week’s preseason NJCAA D1 rankings.
As MCC looks to establish itself at the top of the Region IX South, another new challenge has emerged in Scottsbluff. After a 16-18 year in 2023, Western Nebraska looks to retool with a new coach this season in Fatima Balza. Her resume’ includes three national titles in her playing days including one with the Cougars in 2007, then two at Penn State. This year’s team has nine sophomores and five freshmen. Returning sophomores include all Region IX south hitter/setter Kyana Gabriel and a pair of second-team all-Region players in right side Lilly Zwart and middle Finja Schul.
Trinidad State, the fourth seeded team, finished last year 17-19 under first-year coach Karli Bustos, who returns for her second season. Sophomore all- Region IX south libero Jordan Garcia will return to lead the squad.
Otero finished 7-20 last season and Lamar was 8-19. Neither team advanced to the post-season tournament.
THE SCHEDULE: After the first week tournament at home, MCC returns Aug. home for a different set of opponents Aug. 30 and 31. On Friday MCC plays Hill College (Texas) at noon followed with a 6 p.m. match against Iowa Western Community College. The Saturday schedule starts with a 9 a.m. match against No. 9 Indian Hills (Iowa) with the final match at 1 p.m. against Fort Scott (Kan.).
The first road matches happen Sept. 6-7 when the Lady Indians travel to Gainesville, Texas for four matches at the North Central Texas College Invitational. MCC hits the road again Sept. 20-21 for a four-game tournament at the Blue Dragon Classic in Hutchinson, Kan.
On Sept. 13 MCC plays its first Nebraska conference match against Southeast Community College. This will mark that school’s move to play its games in Lincoln. Volleyball follows several other SECC sports programs that have made the move to Lincoln. The Lady Indians will open NCCAC play at home Sept. 18 against Central Community College. MCC will host North Platte in the rivalry game Tuesday, Sept. 24.
Region IX South home matches include: Sept. 26 against Lamar (6 p.m.), Oct. 11, Otero (5 p.m.), Oct. 12 Trinidad (2 p.m.), Oct. 25 Northeastern Junior College (6 p.m.), and Oct. 26 against Western Nebraska (2 p.m.).
Up-to-date information about MCC volleyball including schedules, statistics, rosters and photos can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com