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Indians fight past rival N.P. Knights in five tough sets
The McCook Community College volleyball team picked up a five-set win over North Platte in the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center Tuesday. MCC won 21-25, 25-11, 25-19, 21-25 and 15-9.
“It’s always fun playing North Platte, it’s always a great rivalry match,” said MCC Coach Hayley Kobza. “But even though we got the win we still have to work on our mental game.”
In the fifth set the Lady Indians jumped out to a 6-2 lead but then the Knights seized the momentum following a timeout called by North Platte Coach Alexis McCall. It was a strategy that worked well in previous sets.
“We have to make sure that when our opponents call a time out that we don’t let that be a momentum changer against us,” Kobza said. “Alexa and her timeouts really helped North Platte win the momentum-changers tonight.”
North Platte battled back to tie the final set at 6-6. MCC took an 8-7 lead at the mid-way point of the match and held on for the 15-9 win to close out the match.
Sophomore Fernanda Merancio (Lamar, Colo.) led MCC with 14 kills and added an assist block. Freshman Romina Martinez (Cochabamba, Bolivia) had a double-double with 12 kills, 11 digs, one solo block and one assist block. Jordan Duzenack (sophomore Loveland, Colo.) added 10 kills, five assist blocks and one solo block.
Gabby Caskey (sophomore, Ogallala) had nine kills and five assist blocks in the middle along with four aces. Freshman April Conilogue (Longmont, Colo.) had three kills and seven assist blocks.
Sophomore Greta Bolognini (Bergamo, Italy / Parkview Christian, Lincoln, Neb.) added to her nation-leading dig total with 18 more Tuesday to lead the team and brings her total on the season to 495. Freshman Caylin Barnett (Southwest H.S.) added 10 digs and freshman Kayten Hagan (Amherst H.S.) added eight.
Sophomore Jessie Jerome (Rawlins, Wyo.) had 12 digs, six kills and five assist blocks.
Assist totals were not available.
MCC sweeps the season series between the two team and improves to 14-9 overall and 3-1 in the Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference. North Platte falls to 6-13 and 0-3 in the NCCAC.
This weekend MCC turns to the Region IX South schedule with a pair of road games. On Friday MCC travels to La Junta Colo., to take on Otero Junior College at 6 p.m. then takes on Trinidad State at 2 p.m. Saturday.
“We need to continue focusing on the small things and not making silly errors at the wrong times,” said Kobza.
MCC’s next home match will be Oct. 6 against Lamar at 6 p.m.