Lady Indians lose 3-1 in Region IX tourney opener

CASPER, Wyo. – After coasting to a 25-17 win in the first set of the first game of the Region IX Tournament Wednesday, the McCook Community College volleyball team lost three straight sets and dropped a 3-1 match to Northwest College.

 

The loss sends the Lady Indians to the consolation round of the tourney where they will play No. 13 Northeast Community College, a team that was upset by fourth-seeded Central Wyoming 3-1.

 

“For sure this was not the way we hoped to start, but we just have to remember tomorrow is a new day and we need to bring a new attitude,” said MCC Coach Hayley Kobza.

 

Northwest College advanced with a 17-25, 26-24, 25-18, 25-14 win.

 

The Lady Indians opened the day with a comfortable first-set win, hitting .278 while limiting Northwest to a .000 hitting percentage. MCC had a side-out percentage of 55 percent with 13 kills while Northwest had a 37 percent showing in side-out, with seven kills and seven hitting errors.

 

The Trappers clawed back in a tightly contested second set with the scored tied at 19-19, 20-20, 22-22, 23-23 and 24-24 before Northwest scored the next two points and tied the match at 1-1.

 

The third was also close until Northwest went up 19-15 but the Lady Indians responded with three-straight points to make it a 19-18 Trapper lead. The Powell, Wyo. team scored the final six points of the set to lead 2-1. The Lady Indians hit -038 in the set.

 

MCC scored the first point of the fourth set, but Northwest scored 13 of the next 15 points to lead 13-3 to take charge of the match and prevailed 25-14 to move on in the championship bracket to face Central Wyoming.

 

The Trappers took advantage of 13 serving aces in the match compared to six for MCC. Both teams had 59 digs and 12 total blocks. MCC held a slight edge in hitting percentage (.154 compared to .152) but the Trappers outhit MCC 48-40 and Northwest was more efficient in serve reception at 92.0 while MCC was at 84.5 for the match.

 

Freshman Relebohile Phamotse (Maseru, Lesotho) led all players with 20 kills, hitting .326 for the match. Sophomore Shana Muller (Gretz-Armainvilliers, France) had eight kills and hit 300.

 

Freshman Jade Powell (Sterling, Colo.) led MCC with 18 digs to go along with four kills. Sophomore Bobbi Starkebaum (Haxtun, Colo.) had five kills and five block assists.

 

Sophomore Cheyanne Ortiz (Pueblo, Colo.) led MCC with 16 set assists and had seven digs with two service aces.

 

Zoe Mulholland (sophomore, Lander, Wyo.) dished out 15 assists with six digs and two aces.

 

Lilly Lemesany (freshman, Haxtun, Colo.) had 11 digs, freshman Paula Urizar (Guatemala City, Guatemala) was credited with five digs and sophomore Kamryn Slaugh (Manila Utah) had four.

 

Northwest improves to 14-14 on the year. They move on to face Central Wyoming, the fourth seed from the north (7-18).

 

MCC (16-16) will face the NJC (25-7) in an elimination game starting at noon Thursday.

 

“We have what it takes, but we need to get between our ears on the same page,” said Kobza.

 

In other opening round games, Western Nebraska topped Eastern Wyoming 3-1. Central Wyoming pulled off the upset of the tournament taking down top seeded Northeastern 25-22, 12-25, 25-16 and 25-23. The final match of the day, Casper/Trinidad State, is scheduled to start at 8 p.m.