Returning to play at home for the first time in slightly over a month, Tiger Volleyball quickly showed the home fans what they had been missing while the team was on the road. Like they had done 15 times on the road since the last time they played at home, the Tigers earned a 3-0 sweep in their first match back in the Student Activity Center as they defeated Central College JV. Later in the day, the trend continued as the Tigers swept the Southeast Community College Storm out of Beatrice, NE.
Opening the day with a 2 PM matchup with the Dutch of Central College, the Tigers and Dutch played a very clean defensive match. The Tigers averaged 19 digs per set throughout the match and largely neutralized the size advantage the Dutch had with their digging. Three players recorded double digit digs as Halee Pedro (12), Marija Egic (11), Jelena Dukic (10), and the rest of the team made scoring difficult for the Dutch.
Sadie Smith paced the attack for the home team with 12 kills for her third highest kill total on the year. Smith also led the team in aces with four. Marija Egic followed only Smith in each category as she recorded eight kills and two aces. As a team, the Tigers recorded 39 kills and 11 aces on their way to a 25-20, 25-20, 25-21 sweep.
Following a 3-1 victory for the Dutch over Southeast Community College in a 4 PM match, the Storm and Tigers faced off at 6 PM. The nightcap never felt close as the Tigers cruised to a 25-10, 25-11, 25-18 sweep. The match was widely decided in serve and receive as MCC was aced just twice while earning 16 points off of aces.
When asked about the team's serving, Head Coach, Justin Hoskins said: "We're at our best when we're serving aggressively. I know some people groan when we have a service error at a bad time or a handful of errors from the service line in a set. Asa coach it can be frustrating at times also. But aggressive serving has been key to our success this season. We currently lead the NJCAA DI in aces by a wide margin. But even more important than the aces, our serving is getting our opponents out of system, which helps our defense immensely."
The Tigers will be back at home on Tuesday, October, 16 when ICCAC rival, Indian Hills, visits the SAC for a 7 PM matchup.