MCC coach protests at Region IX tournament

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. – The McCook Community College volleyball team went 1-1 Wednesday on the opening day of the Region IX Division I Tournament – or so it seems.

An upheld protest in MCC’s second match wiped out a 3-1 Central Wyoming win, and turned it into a 3-2 win, but more discussion is expected before the tournament resumes Thursday.

Originally the Rustlers appeared to win the fourth set 25-22 which would have given the No. 11 ranked team in the nation a 3-1 win.

The team was led Wednesday by assistant coach Brooke Thompson filling in for coach Darshaya Gallard who could not be at the game.

MCC coach Hayley Kobza said she noticed that one of the players was wearing an earpiece and it was later determined by watching the livestream of the game that a player was communicating with the head coachwho was watching the game from another location.

Officials reviewed the livestream of the fourth set and upheld the protest and ordered the match to revert back to the point in the fourth set where they could see the infraction.

By the time the officials made the determination, the Central Wyoming team was not in the gymnasium but was ordered to return or forfeit the match.

The resumption of the match couldn’t take place until the conclusion of what was supposed to be the final match of the night between Northeastern Junior College and Trinidad State, which ended about 10:45 p.m.

MCC and Central resumed their match at about 11:10 p.m. from a point in the fourth set where MCC led 10-6.

With a second chance, the McCook women took advantage and broke open the set leading 19-17 with five straight points and rewrote history with a 25-18 win to tie the match at 2-2.

After leading the fifth set 1-0, Central Wyoming scored five of the next six points and were able to maintain the edge and went on to win the set 15-8.

“Our tournament match was a little bit of whirlwind,” Kobza confirmed. “We came back after a long protest and didn’t finish in the fifth set.”

Because of the protest, official statistics could not immediately be determined and were not available.

Kobza said while Region IX officials and the ethics committee will discuss the infraction before the resumption of the tournament, as it stands the team is planning to play Eastern Wyoming in an elimination game at 1 p.m. today.

“We still have matches left to play and that’s the attitude we need to have going into tomorrow,” Kobza said.

If the results stand, The Rustlers improve to 22-6 on the year and move into the championship semi-finals to face Western Nebraska (23-13) at 5 p.m. today.

Indians rally past Casper

MCC did pick up its 20th win in the opening match winning a five-set win-or-go-home match over Casper College to open the day.

MCC dropped the first set 25-22, got an early big lead in the second and cruised to a 25-16 win then went down 2-1 with a 26-24 loss in the third set. In the first elimination set, MCC prevailed 25-20 and took the fifth set 15-10.

Sophomore Jordan Jerome (Rawlins, Wyo.) led the MCC attack with 21 kills, had 16 digs and three assist blocks. Thaynara Isabela (freshman, Săo Paulo, Brazil) had 16 kills, 15 digs, and one assist block.

Amerika Jones (sophomore, Honolulu, Hawaii) came through with 9 kills and five assist blocks. Freshman Jisell Chumacero (Eaton, Colo.) had eight kills and six assist blocks. Makayla Brown (freshman, Colorado Springs) was credited with four kills, five assist blocks and one solo block.

Sophomore Janie Sommer (Maxwell) led the passing game with 42 assists and added nine digs, four kills and one ace.