The No. 12 Blinn College volleyball team has adopted an effective strategy as of late: Play match; win match.
The Buccaneers began their run in the Amarillo Tournament on Friday in Amarillo, Texas, and picked up victories over Frank Phillips College and Western Texas College.
Blinn pushed its winning streak to 11 and improved to 18-2 on the year.
“I thought the girls played way better in our second match today than our first one,” Blinn head coach Terry Gamble said. “It’s good to get two wins and it’s good that we improved, but we need to still get better.”
Friday’s competition marked the fourth consecutive day of play for the Bucs, who will make it seven matches in five days when they conclude the tournament Saturday.
Blinn got going Friday with a 25-15, 18-25, 25-21, 25-14 win over Frank Phillips.
The Bucs’ offense was paced by two of NJCAA Division I’s best hitters.
Freshman outside hitter MaKenna Loo led the Bucs with 17 kills, giving her 224 on the season. She sits behind only Blinn sophomore right-side hitter Kellen Dorotik in the national kills rankings. Dorotik posted 15 kills against Frank Phillips and finished Friday by padding her NJCAA Division I-leading total to 325 for the season. Loo is tied for second with Sara Van Gisteren of Indian Hills Community College.
Freshman outside hitter Greta Rakow complimented Loo and Dorotik with 10 kills.
Freshman setter Leah Hoss dished out 29 set assists, while fellow freshman setter Bromli Watson chipped in 18. Hoss also had three service aces.
Defensively, freshman libero Sophie Ilagan defended Blinn’s side of the court with 22 digs. Loo added 12, sophomore libero Cierra Pesak tacked on 10, and Hoss had eight.
At the net, freshman middle blocker Jana Cetkovic had five block assists, and Dorotik had four.
Blinn’s successful day continued with a 25-16, 25-11, 25-14 sweep of Western Texas.
Dorotik had a team-leading 15 kills, Rakow tallied 11, and Loo posted eight. Hoss and Watson set up the Bucs for success once again with 21 and 18 assists, respectively.
Blinn also received a boost from the service line, where it knocked down eight aces. Pesak, Loo, and Cetkovic had two apiece.
On defense, Ilagan was again a floor general with 14 digs, with Pesak, Loo, and Hoss recording seven each.
The Bucs notched 10 block assists, paced by Cetkovic’s four and three for Rakow.
Blinn gets back to work Saturday in Amarillo with matches against host Amarillo College at 9 a.m. and Independence Community College at 11:30 a.m.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 49 national championships since 1987.
