Indians win opening 'go-home' match

STERLING, Colo. – The McCook Community College volleyball team opened the Region IX Tournament with a 3-1 win over Casper in a win-or-go home play-in game.

MCC beat Casper 25-22, 25-16, 21-25, 25-19.

“It wasn’t our best match, but it was a match where we got to work out our nerves,” MCC Coach Hayley Kobza said.

The Lady Indians got down 6-2 early, trailed 12-6, fought back to tie the first set at 16-16 then held on for a 25-22 win.

With the score tied 3-3 in the second set, MCC stretched the set to a 15-12 lead then scored seven of the next eight points and won 25-16.

The Lady Indians led 20-19 in the third set but surrendered four straight points as the T-Birds won 25-21.

The score of the fourth set remained tight as MCC went up 5-2 but the T-Birds went on a 4-0 run to lead 6-5. With the score tied at 10-10, Casper scored three straight points but MCC responded by taking eight of the next nine to establish an 18-14 lead. A few rotations later with freshman Fernanda Canedo (Cochabamba, Boliva) at the service line MCC scored three straight to take a 23-16 lead and went on to close out the set.

“Fernanda played a solid match, she had 16 kills and only two hitting errors,” Kobza said. Canado led MCC with her 16 kills to go along with 11 digs.