MCC Volleyball to face streaking Mustangs to open post-season
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On the strength of a five-match winning streak to end the regular season, the MCC Volleyball team is looking to continue the momentum when it opens up the Region IX Division 1 tournament Wednesday in Sterling, Colo.
MCC gained its highest ever tournament seed, claiming the No. 2 seed with a 6-4 record against Region IX South teams (22-11 overall). They will face another hot team in Western Wyoming, the No. 3 seed in the Region IX North division. The Mustangs have a six-match win streak and knocked off No. 16 Laramie County Community College on Friday to improve to 21-12 on the season.
The Lady Indians went 10-6 in the pre-conference portion of the schedule in August and September which included two home tournaments and tournaments in Norfolk and Gainesville, Texas. Kobza’s squad lost its first two home matches of the region dropping a 3-2 decision to Western Nebraska Sept. 19 and a 3-0 decision to Northeastern Junior College Sept. 22. The team fell to 1-3 in the south when it lost a 3-1 decision to Trinidad State on the road Sept. 30.
“I feel like there were some games we should have won early on in the season when we were still trying to figure some things out,” said MCC Coach Hayley Kobza. “Overall, I feel like we shouldn’t have lost more than five matches this season.”
When the calendar turned to October MCC went 5-1 against region opponents with the only loss coming to No. 2 NJC on Oct. 10 by the scores of 25-23, 28-26 and 25-19.
MCC went 7-1 in October which included a pair of sweeps over Central Community College and Southeast Community College to claim the Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference for the fifth time in Kobza’s tenure.
“We continued to improve which is what you want – to peak later rather than earlier,” Kobza said. “We had a lot of key players that it took a while for us to learn to play together. I feel like we’ve reached that point going into the regional tournament with the help of minimizing the little errors.”
MCCs offensive attack ranks 10th in the nation among 88 teams with 1,429 kills on the season (a .191 hitting rate.) MCC ranks sixth in the nation with 2,102 digs, sixth with 278 total blocks and seventh with 1,358 set assists.
Western Wyoming rank third in the country with 300 total blocks is 23rd in kills with 1,296 (a .160 hitting percentage), is 24th in assists with 1,186 and 34th in digs with 1,718.
After losing five of six matches between Sept. 26 and Oct. 13, the Mustangs have won six straight, including wins over the north’s top two seeds, Casper and Laramie County.
“Western Wyoming continues to improve every day, and had that huge upset Friday against Laramie County,” said Kobza. “They are a very powerful team, and very scrappy.”
MCC’s top hitters on the year include sophomore Fernanda Merancio who leads the team with 388 (ranked 11th in the nation) followed by freshman Romina Martinez with 286, sophomore middle Gabby Caskey with 204, and sophomore setter Jessie Jerome with 170.
Sophomore outside Jordan Duzenack, who had 188 kills was injured last week and will be unable to play in the tournament.
Caskey also led the team in total blocks with 137, ranked fourth in the nation. Jerome was second with 74. Five other players chipped at the net with 56 blocks from freshman April Conilogue, 52 from Duzenack and Martinez and sophomore middle Gracen Tuttle, and 49 from Merancio.
Sophomore Greta Bolognini led the team and was second in the nation with 658 digs on the season. Martinez was second with 311, Jerome third with 286 and freshman Caylin Barnett fourth with 275.
Jerome led MCC with 666 set assists and freshman Kayten Hagan had 511. Jerome also topped the team with 37 service aces.
Mustang freshman Darlene Petersen leads her team with 402 kills, and ranks ninth in the nation. Freshman middle Paisley Blood is second with 257 and freshman outside Abigail Fuller is third with 244. Blood is second in the nation with 143 total blocks on the season.
Sophomore libero Sara Anderson leads the team with 453 digs, Fuller is second with 290, Marlayina Masani is third with 263 and Peterson fourth with 242. Masani leads the team with 940 set assists, which ranks 15th in the nation.
MCC has gone 5-2 in the opening round of the Region IX tournament since Kobza took over the program in 2016 and 12-16 overall in the post-season tournament.
“At this point in the season we need to stress the importance of what every point, every set, every match means,” she said. “If you give everything you have in every match, then you’ll reap the benefits.”
MCC has faced Western Wyoming twice, since the region has combined the north and south teams in the tournament. The Mustangs swept MCC in the second round of the 2019 tournament. MCC beat Western Wyoming in the opening round of the 2020 tournament.
The tournament continues through Saturday with elimination games each day. The winner of the championship bracket advances to the national tournament Nov. 16-18 in Hutchinson, Kan. The winner of Saturday’s consolation bracket will also advance to the national tournament.
Up-to-date information about MCC volleyball including schedules, statistics, rosters and photos can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com.
FINAL REGION IX
SOUTH STANDINGS
(Top Four Teams qualify for Region IX Tournament)
Northeastern JC 10-0 1.000 30-2 (.938)
McCook CC 6-4 .600 22-11 (.667)
Western Nebraska 6-4 .667 16-16 (.500)
Trinidad State JC 5-5 .500 16-17 (.485)
Otero JC * 2-8 .200 7-20 (.286)
Lamar CC * 1-9 .100 8-19 (.296)
* - denotes team that did not qualify for the post-season tournament
NORTH STANDINGS
(Top Four Teams qualify for Region IX Tournament)
Casper College 10-2 .833 24-11 (.686)
Laramie Co. CC 10-2 .833 28-6 (.824)
Western Wyoming 8-4 .667 21-12 (.636)
Central Wyoming 7-5 .583 9-19 (.321)
Eastern Wyoming * 4-8 .333 10-21 (.323)
Northwest College * 2-10 .167 9-22 (.290)
Gillette College * 1-11 .083 8-21 (.276)
* - denotes team that did not qualify for the post-season tournament
Region IX TOURNAMENT
Nov. 1-4 at Sterling, Colo.
(Double-elimination)
Wednesday’s Matches
Match 1 - Western Wyoming (21-12) vs, McCook CC, (22-11), 2 p.m.
Match 2 - Western Nebraska (16-16) vs. Laramie County CC (28-6), 4 p.m.
Match 3 - Trinidad State (16-17) vs. Casper College (24-11), 6 p.m.
Match 4 - Northeastern JC (30-2) vs. Central Wyoming (9-19), 8 p.m.
Thursday Schedule
Match 5 – Loser Match 1 vs. Loser Match 3, 1 p.m. (elimination match)
Match 6 – Loser March 2 vs. Loser Match 4, 3 p.m. (elimination match)
Match 7 – Winner Match 1 vs. Winner Match 3, 5 p.m.
Match 8 – Winner March 2 vs. Winner Match 4, 7 p.m.
Friday Schedule
Match 9 – Winner Match 5 vs. Loser Match 8, 1 p.m. (elimination match)
Match 10 - Winner Match 6 vs. Loser Match 7, 3 p.m. (elimination match)
Match 11 – Winner Match 7 vs. Winner Match 8, 5 p.m. (Championship Plains A title)
Saturday Schedule
Match 12 – Winner Match 9 vs. Winner Match 10, noon (elimination match)
Match 13 - Winner Match 12 vs. Loser Match 11, 3 p.m. (Championship Plains B title)
