The 11th-ranked Blinn College volleyball team pushed its winning streak to five with a pair of sweeps at the Western Texas Tournament on Friday in Snyder, Texas.
The Buccaneers blanked Dallas College Mountain View 25-14, 25-13, 25-8, before ending the day with a 25-15, 25-17, 25-23 triumph over North Central Texas College.
Blinn is now 6-1 overall.
(Pictured: Blinn College sophomore Lexi Higgins)
“I thought we played well with the exception of the end of set two and the end of set three in our match against North Central. We have to learn to stay focused on every point,” Blinn head coach Terry Gamble said. “I thought our ball control and blocking was good as a team, and I thought our middles and outside hitter Lexi Higgins played strongly all day. Emma Whitsel and Chloe Howard also came in and gave us a spark in the last match.”
Against Mountain View, sophomore middle blocker Brooke Pattschull tallied a team-high 15 kills to pace the Buccaneer attack. Sophomore right-side hitter Kellen Dorotik and sophomore middle blocker Taylor Glendening added six kills apiece. Freshman setter Elizabeth Tyner fueled the attack with 30 set assists. Glendening also served up five aces from the service line, while freshman hitter/libero Kirby Kliafas chipped in two.
On defense, freshman libero Cierra Pesak had nine digs, followed by eight for Tyner and seven for Kliafas. Pattschull was stellar at the net with seven block assists.
To close out the day, Higgins set the tone offensively with a team-leading 14 kills. Dorotik tallied nine, sophomore outside hitter Jaedyn Newman had seven, and Glendening tacked on five. Tyner dished out 25 set assists.
Pesak and Tyner led Blinn’s defensive effort with 16 and 11 digs, respectively. Kliafas posted nine. Tyner and Glendening each recorded three block assists.
The Buccaneers face Western Texas College at 11 a.m. and Seminole State College at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 26, to wrap up the Western Texas Tournament.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 44 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
