With his family watching eagerly from the stands, Blinn College volleyball head coach Terry Gamble and the No. 7 Buccaneers made history Saturday at Coastal Bend College.
Blinn defeated Cisco College in four sets to finish the Region V vs. Region XIV Showdown with a perfect record while also delivering Gamble his 1,000th collegiate coaching victory.
Gamble, a 2007 inductee into the NJCAA Volleyball Coaches Hall of Fame, is in his 26th season coaching at the college level and fifth at Blinn.
“It’s an achievement that belongs to a lot of people,” Gamble said. “There are a lot of good administrations I’ve worked for; a lot of assistant coaches who’ve coached alongside me; and a lot of great players who have played for me. I share it with everybody that’s been a part of it.”
Gamble currently ranks first in all-time wins among active coaches in the NJCAA with 871. He is also sixth in all-time wins in the NJCAA and is just seven victories away from moving into fifth.
Blinn (4-0) ensured Gamble’s place in history with a 22-25, 25-13, 25-12, 25-18 victory over Cisco.
Gamble said his freshman-heavy team made mistakes early in the match but rebounded to put forth a strong closing effort.
“I thought the girls played really hard today,” he said. “We didn’t play our best in set one, but in sets two and three we played really good. Then in set four, we made some mistakes in the middle of the set, but we finished things off really well.
“The best thing about us is that we play really hard. For a freshman team to buy in and play like we’re playing, that shows that this is a special group of girls.”
Freshman setter Kelsi Wingo was a driving force in the Buccaneer offense with 29 set assists, and sophomore hitter Kierslynn Wright took advantage of Wingo’s stellar outing with a team-leading 15 kills. LaNeah Lara added nine kills.
Blinn liberos Ellie Turner (sophomore) and Emily Hardee (freshman) also played well with 21 and 19 digs apiece.
The Buccaneers return to action on Friday, Aug. 26 at the Western Texas College Fall Classic in Snyder, Texas. Blinn will open play with an 11 a.m. bout against Dallas College-Cedar Valley before battling Midland College at 4 p.m.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 42 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
