It was a busy weekend for the MCC Volleyball Team as they traveled to Southeastern Community College in West Burlington, IA on Friday and Saturday to take part in the Jimmy John's Invitational. The Tigers played four matches over the two days and managed to win each match while only dropping a single set.
The first match of the tournament pitted the Tigers against the Trailblazers of John Wood. Elena Yee led the way offensively for the Tigers as she recorded 12 kills on 25 attempts and helped the Tigers sweep their way to victory.
The second match of the day proved a little more challenging as Hawkeye Community College pushed the Tigers to a fourth set. After cruising to a 25-11 win in the first set, the Tigers let off the gas and lost set two 16-25. Following the dropped set, the Tigers refocused and took the next two sets comfortably. Defensively, Halee Pedro paced the Tigers with 27 digs followed by 17 by Hannah Knapke.
Day two of the tournament saw the Tigers take on the Trojans from NIACC and the hosting Blackhawks.
In the first matchup of the day, a well balanced offensive attack managed to defeat the Trojans who were led by Kennedy Meister's 14 kills. The Tigers had four players with at least seven kills while the Trojans only other hitter with more than three kills was Alexa Loftus. The Tigers swept their way to victory.
The final matchup of the tournament featured the Tigers taking on Southeastern. The Tiger defense stifled the host team as they had 18 block assists led by Marija Egic and Andjela Bobic each with five. The back court picked up 52 digs with Pedro leading the way with 14 followed by Rauel Gonzales with 10.
"It was good to get a few wins under our belt today" said Head Coach, Justin Hoskins. "We're still trying to get our lineup ironed out in a couple of places, but having Elena Yee back and getting more comfortable was huge for us this weekend. I feel like we played at a really high level for stretches. But I also feel like we had a couple of letdowns and gave up some runs. Once we figure out how to play at a high level consistently, we're going to be a dangerous team. Hopefully we can work a few things out this week in practice and get ourselves on a roll entering conference play."
