Playing on their home court, the Buccaneers ousted Weatherford College and Frank Phillips College in three sets, improving to 11-1 on the season.
The two sweeps were Blinn’s ninth and 10th of the year.
“I thought we played hard,” Blinn head coach Terry Gamble said. “We still made some mistakes, but I think we played a lot better than we had been playing during our last couple of matches. We made some changes to our rotation, and some of our kids like Zuzia Rut and Darby Nash went in and did a really nice job. Collectively, though, we played hard. When our kids listen and are coachable, we’re pretty good.”
Blinn will finish tournament play Saturday with an 11 a.m. bout against seventh-ranked Odessa College, followed by a 5 p.m. clash against Hill College.
The Buccaneers kicked things off Friday with a 25-19, 25-15, 25-22 victory over Weatherford.
Sophomore Kierslynn Wright led a balanced offensive attack with 14 kills, while freshman hitter LaNeah Lara added six, hitters Taylor Glendening and Polianna Hernandez tallied four apiece, freshmen Don’Yah Cosier and Darby Nash chipped in three each, and freshman setter Kelsi Wingo and freshman hitter Zuzia Rut posted two and one kill, respectively.
Nash and Wingo played well from the setter position, dishing out 15 and 12 assists, respectively.
Defensively, sophomore libero Ellie Turner recorded a team-high 22 digs. Freshman libero Emily Hardee had 15 digs, and Wright and freshman Madi Gundry each posted 10.
“This morning we came out and we’re a little slow and didn’t bring our A game,” Wingo said. “After the break we came back for our second game, and I think we were lights out; it was a really good match with a lot of energy from our side and the girls were firing away.”
In Blinn’s second match of the day, the Buccaneers earned a 25-18, 25-18, 25-10 win over Frank Phillips.
A big-first set run established the tone for Blinn, which turned things around from a 13-9 deficit with a 16-5 run.
The Bucs never trailed in set two and led by as much as 10 (17-7) midway through the set. Wright ended the set with a kill.
In Blinn’s final set of the day, the hosts again led the entire way, getting on the board thanks to a Frank Phillips error. Frank Phillips would claw within 9-7, but Lara started a 16-3 surge with a kill to keep the Bucs in control.
Wright and Wingo alternated kills across a four-point stretch late in the set, and Frank Phillips committed a foul on the final volley to end the match.
(Pictured: Blinn College’s LaNeah Lara, center, prepares to spike the ball against Frank Phillips College on Friday)
Lara and Wright paced the Blinn offense with 17 and 10 kills apiece, and Glendening, Wingo, and Rut had five, four, and three, respectively. Wright also had three aces. Wingo dished out 31 assists.
Turned delivered 19 digs, followed by 10 from Glendening, eight from Gundry, and six for Wingo.
