Lady Indians fall in five sets to Trinidad State

“I felt like both offensively and defensively we just didn’t show up,” said MCC Coach Hayley Kobza. “We didn’t have players come in and take advantage of the opportunities that they had and that is pretty frustrating.”

 

After winning a hard-fought first set 26-24, MCC trailed 8-10 in the second set before the Trojans went on a 6-0 run out of a timeout and coasted to the 25-15 win. The Lady Indians were down 12-16 in the third set before responding with a 9-1 run fueled by two aces from Zoe Mulholland from the service line to take a 2-1 lead.

 

The fourth set was close for most of the way. Tied 17-17, TSC went on an 8-3 run to tie the match at 2-2.

 

The fifth set remained close until Trinidad took a 7-6 lead. MCC trailed 9-7 but the Trojans closed out the set with a 6-3 advantage.

 

“This was definitely not the ending we wanted,” said Kobza.

 

Trinidad held the advantage on the offensive attack with 60 kills on a .293 hitting game. TSC had three players with double-digit kills and another with nine. MCC had 48 kills and hit .130.

 

Freshman Relebohile Phamotse (Maseru, Lesotho) led MCC with 17 kills and had two service aces. Jade Powell (freshman, Sterling, Colo.) was credited with nine kills to go along with 10 digs. Sophomore Shana Muller (Gretz-Armainvilliers, France) added seven kills and Bobbi Starkebaum (sophomore, Haxtun, Colo.) had six kills, two solo blocks and five block assists.

 

The Lady Indians had 11 blocks on the afternoon.

 

“Our blocking – that I thought got better in the last match – regressed to where it was two weeks ago,” said Kobza.

 

Sophomore Zoe Mulholland (Lander, Wyo.) led MCC from the service line with five aces and in the passing game with 22 assists. Cheyanne Ortiz (freshman, Pueblo, Colo.) had 16 assists and 13 digs.

 

Freshman Paula Urizar (Guatemala City, Guatemala) led MCC with 15 digs and sophomore Kamryn Slaugh (sophomore, Manila Utah) had seven.

 

The Trojans, who beat North Platte Friday in five sets, improve to 6-6 in the standings and 11-17 overall.

 

MCC falls to 8-3 in the Region IX South Standings and 15-13 overall.

 

On Tuesday second-place Western Nebraska (9-1, 18-12) will visit the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center for a 6 p.m. contest. MCC will travel to Sterling, Colo. Friday to take on first place Northeastern Junior College. The final regular season game will be a home match Oct. 28 at 6 p.m. against North Platte.

 

“We have to be ready Tuesday and we need to keep in mind that this isn’t the end of the season and we have a lot to play for,” said Kobza.

 

The top four teams from the south region at the end of the regular season will advance to the post-season tournament Nov. 4-7.

 

Prior to Saturday’s match seven sophomores were honored on the court. They included Muller, Allie Rohde (Eddyville, Neb.), Starkebaum, Slaugh, Mulholland, Anna Richardson (Worland, Wyo.) and Leia Young (Amarillo, Texas).

 

Up-to-date information about MCC volleyball including up-to-date schedule and changes, livestream links for home games, rosters, photos, statistics and more can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com