The Buccaneers, hosting Navarro for their second and final meeting of the regular season, fell just short, 23-25, 25-21, 25-15, 21-25, 15-8, in their second five-set clash with the Bulldogs this fall.
Blinn is now 33-4 overall and 12-3 in the region standings.
Bucs head coach Terry Gamble was proud of his team’s effort but admitted a lack of ball control mixed with some self-induced errors prevented Blinn from upending Navarro.
“We played hard, but we made way too many errors,” Gamble said. “Our ball control was bad and that was the difference; you can’t have ball control like that against a really good team and expect to win.”
The Bucs played a stellar fourth set to force a game five, and raced out to a 3-0 lead in the decisive set. But an error by Blinn stalled its momentum, and the Bulldogs rallied to tie the match before grabbing the lead for good.
“We didn’t make a play and that cost us, and all of a sudden it was 3-3 instead of 4-0,” added Gamble. “You have to make plays at this level, and there’s an expectation in this program to play hard and you have to make plays on top of that. Tonight, we didn’t make enough of them.”
The Bucs were led offensively by freshman right-side hitter Kellen Dorotik, who finished with a team-high 16 kills. Sophomore hitters Jadeyn Newman and Don’Yah Cosie tallied seven kills apiece.
Freshmen setters Elizabeth Tyner and Chloe Howard dished out 22 and 12 set assists, respectively.
On defense, six different players had at least 10 digs for Blinn. Freshman libero led the way with 12, Dorotik and freshman libero Emma Whitsel had 11 apiece, and Tyner, sophomore hitter/libero Kaylen Kruse, and freshman libero Cierra Pesak each had 10.
(Pictured: Blinn’s Jaedyn Newman spikes the ball over the net during a match against Navarro on Oct. 26, 2023)
At the net, Dorotik had two solo blocks and four block assists, while sophomore middle blocker Brooke Pattschull had a solo block with four assists. Cosie finished with five block assists and Newman had three.
Prior to Thursday’s tilt, Blinn celebrated Sophomore Day and honored sophomores Pattschull, Cosie, Kruse, Newman, Taylor Glendening, and LaNeah Lara, as well as second-year freshman Lexi Higgins.
Up next, the Bucs will hit the road for their regular-season finale against Panola College at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 28, in Carthage, Texas.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 44 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
