TYLER, Texas – Blinn College volleyball used a very solid service game to get up early on Gadsden State Community College and then put the team away in three sets with a 25-17, 25-23 and 25-18 victory in the Dana Hatch Invitational in Tyler.
The win streak was short-lived however as Blinn ended the tournament by losing 3-2 to Panola College to leave with a 1-3 record to begin the season. Panola beat Blinn 11-25, 22-25, 25-19, 28-26 and 17-15.
In the day’s opener against Gadsden, Blinn was able to compile 11 service aces and that set the tone early for Blinn to take the lead. The first set was the best for the Buccaneers with a 25-17 victory.
The second set was a little closer but Blinn came out on top 25-23. The Buccaneers had trouble putting away Salt Lake Community College the day before after going up 2-0 on sets but Blinn was able to sweep Gadsden with a 25-18 victory in the third.
Abolanle Onipede set the pace with 10 kills and a shiny .500 hitting percentage while Haley Howard finished with six and Alexis Kingston and Eboni Mitchell each had five kills. Defensive specialist Dana Teets earned 14 digs and Danusia Borgeaud earned nine.
Jordyn Keamo accumulated 30 assists and had four of the team’s 11 aces as serving was a big reason that head coach Kalie Mader was able to pick up her first win at Blinn College.
Blinn was able to start fast in the second match of the day with a 2-0 set lead but Panola was able to march back and steal away the match for a 3-2 victory. In a stark contrast in comparison to the first match, serving was the culprit for the Buccaneers in the loss.
The first set seemed to be easy for Blinn as the Buccaneers manhandled Panola 25-11 in the first and slipped by in the second set 25-22 for a 2-0 advantage. Unfortunately, Blinn was unable to close out the match and Panola came roaring back to win the final three sets due to serving mistakes by Blinn.
Mitchell did have her best match of the year with 18 kills and a .350 hitting percentage as the team hit a combined .252 percentage. Onipede was second in kills with 14 and a .333 percentage. Borgeaud finished with 12 kills and Howard earned eight.
Blinn played well defensively by combining for 72 total digs as Teets led with 18 and Borgeaud had 15 and Kingston had 13. Keamo was able to deliver 59 assists.
Blinn will hit the road again Aug. 25 when it travels to face Navarro College at 7 p.m.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 32 NJCAA national championships since 1987. For more information, visit: www.buccaneersports.com.
