The McCook Community College volleyball team lost their season finale at hone Wednesday to North Platte, but the Lady Indians will be the No. 3 seed from the south division when the Region IX tournament starts next week.
North Platte won in four sets, 25-20,21-25, 25-14 and 28-26.
“We had two tough days of practice, but we just didn’t execute the small things we worked on,” said MCC Coach Hayley Kobza. “North Platte played very well, and we just made a lot of unforced errors.”
The Lady Indians had eight hitting errors in the first set and 13 overall in the set.
“You’re just not going to win ball games like that,” said Kobza.
MCC had 20 errors on the night, hitting .169. North Platte hit .409 in a dominating third set and finished the night hitting at a .303 clip. The Knights had 50 kills and 14 errors while MCC’s had 41 with the 20 errors.
Freshman Relebohile Phamotse (Maseru, Lesotho) led MCC in hitting with 14 kills, hitting .281. Sophomore Shana Muller (Gretz-Armainvilliers, France) hit .381 with 12 kills.
Sophomore Leia Young (Amarillo, Texas) had six total blocks and three kills. Bobbi Starkebaum (sophomore, Haxtun, Colo.) was credited with five blocks and four kills. Tanna Bailey (freshman Stoneham, Colo.) had five total blocks, three kills and four digs.
Freshman Jade Powell (Sterling, Colo) led MCC with 10 digs and added two kills. Freshman Paula Urizar (Guatemala City, Guatemala) had nine digs.
Zoe Mulholland (sophomore, Lander, Wyo.) led MCC with 18 set assists, with four digs while freshman Cheyanne Ortiz (Pueblo, Colo.) had 17 assists with four digs and two service aces.
“The consistency of anybody on our team just wasn’t there tonight and that’s something we need to work on,” said Kobza. “You’d like to be playing at a higher level as you get to the end of the season, but we are not. We have four days of practice to get ready for post season.”
North Platte finishes the season at 7-7 in fifth place with an overall mark of 13-14. Trinidad (7-6, 12-17 overall) swept North Platte in a pair of five-set matches and holds the tie-breaker over the Knights to clinch the fourth and final seed from the south. The Trojans have a match at home Saturday Otero College (2-11, 5-18). Only the top four teams in each division qualify for the post-season tournament.
MCC caps the regular season at 9-5 in the standings and with the No. 3 seed will face the second seed from the north when the tournament opens Nov. 4.
Northeastern Junior College (14-0) already clinched the top seed from the south and will play the north’s fourth seed in the post-season tournament. Western Nebraska (11-3) clinched the second seed and will play the north’s third seed. On Wednesday night it was NJC that topped WNCC 3-1 as both teams complete the season and await their opponents from the south
In the Region IX North, Casper College has clinched the No. 1 seed with an 8-0 mark with two games left to play. As the top seed, the Thunderbirds will host next week’s Region IX tournament and will play Trinidad State, the south’s fourth seed.
Four of the other five north teams still have the chance to make the post-season tournament. In the only game in the south Wednesday, Northwest College downed Central Wyoming 3-1 to move into a three-way tie for second place with Northwest now 5-5, Central Wyoming 5-5 and Eastern Wyoming is 4-4 with two weekend matches remaining. Fifth place Gillette College (3-5) can win out and make the tournament. Sixth place Laramie County Community College (1-7) will not qualify for post-season play.
REGION IX SOUTH STANDINGS
Conference Overall
Northeastern JC 14-0 1.000 25-6
Western Nebraska 11-3 .786 21-14
McCook CC 9-5 .643 16-14
Trinidad State 7-6 .538 12-17
North Platte CC 7-7 .500 13-14
Lamar CC 4-9 .308 6-14
Otero College 2-11 .154 5-18
Southeast CC 0-13 .000 4-23
WEDNESDAY RESULTS
North Platte 3, McCook CC 1 (at McCook)
Northeastern JC 3, Western Nebraska 1 (at Scottsbluff)
FRIDAY’S GAMES
Lamar at Southeast CC
Otero at Trinidad State
REGION IX NORTH STANDINGS
Conference Overall
Casper College 8-0 1.000 16-13
Central Wyoming 5-5 .500 6-18
Northwest College 5-5 .500 13-14
Eastern Wyoming 4-4 .500 9-18
Gillette College 3-5 .375 14-10
Laramie Co. CC 1-7 .125 3-22
WEDNESDAY RESULTS
Northwest College 3, Central Wyoming (at Powell, Wyo.)
FRIDAY SCHEDULE
Gillette College at Eastern Wyoming, 7 p.m. (CST)
Casper College at Laramie County CC, 7 p.m. (CST)
SATURDAY SCHEDULE
Gillette College at Laramie County CC, 3 p.m. (CST)
Casper College at Eastern Wyoming, 3 p.m. (CST)
NOV. 4 – Nov. 7 – Region IX Tournament at Casper, Wyo.
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
