MCC Volleyball opens season with pair of wins

MCC’s Ella Verts gets the block at the net with Caylin Barnett helping form the wall

The McCook Community College volleyball team opened the season Friday with a pair of wins over Kansas schools at the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center.

MCC downed Seward County Community College 3-1 then followed that with a 3-0 win over Highland Community College.

“Today really showed what we have and what we’re capable of doing and what our freshmen are capable of doing,” said MCC Coach Hayley Kobza.

The coach also said she was pleased to see her players respond quickly and make the adjustments the coaches suggest.

“The cool thing is that when coaches notice something and tell our players they just go and do it,” Kobza said. “Having a coachable team makes a world of difference.”

She said the team needs to work on accuracy in the serve game and she knows the team can block better at the net.

The 2-0 Lady Indians take on a couple tough teams Saturday from the Region IX North Division taking on No. 16 Casper College at 2 p.m.  followed at 4 p.m. with a match against Laramie County Community College.

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

McCOOK CC 3, SEWARD COUNTY CC 1: After the Lady Saints took the first set 25-21, MCC came back to win the next three sets 25-22, 25-23, 25-18.

“For our first match this was important to get a win under our belt for the freshmen and let us all get the jitters out,” said Kobza.

Freshman Charlee Russick (Berthoud, Colo.) led MCC with 14 kills. Sophomores Romina Castro-Martinez (Cochabamba, Bolivia) and

Rowan Tribelhorn (Yuma, Colo.) both had nine kills and sophomore Caylin Barnett (McCook) delivered eight.

Martiniz, Barnett and freshman Ella Verts (Marshall, Mo.) all had five blocks, Triblehorn and Rissick both added three.

Freshman Megan Walker (Haxtun, Colo.) led the team with 38 assists and topped the team with four serving aces.

Sophomore Cibeles Bothwell (Spring, Texas) led the defensive effort with 25 digs, Barnett added nine.

“I really believe we have a good team that can become a great team,” Kobza said. “We just have to focus on minimizing errors and work on improving our communication and getting four hands up at the net and over and taking away options.”

McCOOK CC 3, HIGHLAND CC 0: The Lady Indians won in straight sets over the Scotties 25-21, 25-23, 25-12.

“We played a cleaner game against Highland than we did to start the day and had fewer errors,” Kobza said.

MCC had a trio of players with double-digit kills led by Charlee Russick with 12, Romina Castro-Martinez with 11 and Caylin Barnett with 10, along with nine digs.

Ella Verts had five blocks to lead the team.

Megan Walker had a team-high 27 assists and three serving aces along with 11 digs.

Sophomore Cibeles Bothwell (Spring, Texas) led in digs with 13 to go along with five assists.