MCC Volleyball drops pair of Saturday matches

After beating No. 19 Hutchinson Friday and Gillette College to open the season the MCC volleyball team lost in five sets Saturday to No. 10 Seward County Community College. MCC followed that up with a 3-0 loss to Barton County to finish 2-2 in the MCC Invitational tournament.

"Overall this was a great tournament with a lot of great volleyball," said MCC Coach Hayley Kobza. "For us unfortunately, it didn't go our way today."

MCC opened the match against Seward County winning 25-13, lost the second set 21-25, took a 2-1 lead winning the third set 25-20, then fell 21-25 and 6-15 in the final two sets.

"We played well in that first match and took the No. 10 team to five sets, we were competing then just couldn't get it back," Kobza said.

With the three-set loss to Barton County, MCC finished the tournament 2-2, losing its final five sets.

"There was good and bad," Kobza said. "We don't need to reinvent the wheel, we need to work on our bad and showcase our good." 

MCC travels to Norfolk  for the Norfolk Marriott Invitational taking on Cloud County and Northeast CC Friday at 4 and 6 p.m. then Saturday at 9 and 11 a.m. against Western Iowa Tech and Mount Marty University JVs.

"We still have so much talent on the court but we have to put it together," Kobza said. "Who is the team that is going to showcase everything we have."

The team returns to the Peter and Dolores Graff for another home tournament Sept. 1 and 2. On Sept 1 MCC starts against Frank Phillips College at 3 p.m. followed at 7 p.m. against Dodge City CC. On Sept. 2, MCC hosts Fort Scott Community College at 2 p.m. followed at 6 p.m. with a match against Garden City CC.

Up-to-date information about MCC volleyball including schedules, statistics, rosters and photos can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com.

Seward County CC 3, McCook CC 2: Sophomore Fernanda Merancio (Lamar, Colo.) led MCC with 22 kills and added an assist block. Freshman Romina Martinez Castro (Cochabamba, Bolivia) had 12 kills and 12 digs with an assist block. Jordan Duzenack (sophomore Loveland, Colo.) had six kills and one assist block. Caylin Barnett (freshman, McCook) had 14 digs, one assist and an ace,.

Sophomore Gabby Caskey (Ogallala) had seven kills, four assist blocks and three aces. April Conilogue (freshman, Longmont, Colo.) had two kills, three assist blocks and a solo block.

Jessie Jerome (sophomore, Rawlins, Wyo.) had 42 assists, 10 digs, four assist blocks, two solo blocks and four aces. Sophomore Greta Bolognini (Bergamo, Italy / Parkview Christian, Lincoln, Neb.) had 35 digs, four assists and two aces.

Barton County CC 3, McCook CC 0: Barton County took the match 25-22, 25-9 and 25-11. Merancio led MCC with nine kills. Freshman Kayten Hagan (Amherst) had seven assists, Bolognini had three and Jerome had two.