The Laramie County Community College women's volleyball team traveled to Temple, Texas for the Temple College Invitational Tournament this past weekend as they looked to build on a successful start to the season.
The Golden Eagles were tested right away as they took on host Temple College at 8:00 a.m. CT in a match that they struggled to find their groove. LCCC stayed competitive with quality pin hitting from freshman Carlee Morrison (Gypsum, Colo.), Madi Taylor (Amarillo, Tex.) and sophomore Preston Lienemann (Loveland, Colo.) who contributed 28 of the team's total 35 kills in the match. However, struggles in serve receive proved to be the difference as the Golden Eagles fell to Temple 17-25, 24-26, 18-25.
LCCC's slow start didn't stick for long as the Golden Eagles bounced back with sweeps of Mountain View College and Neosho County (receiving votes) on Friday afternoon. Sophomore Kiley Ridgway (Riverton, Wyo.) set the pace for the Golden Eagles against MVC with 10 kills and three blocks while Lienemann and Morrison again posted strong stat lines with nine and seven kills respectively. Freshman setter Kyra Brandt (Amsterdam, Netherlands) finished the match with a career high 29 assists as she helped LCCC to a hitting efficiency of .345 as a team as they coasted to a 25-21, 25-12, 25-14 victory.
It proved to be much of the same from LCCC against Neosho County as they finished the day with a bang. The Golden Eagles swept the Panthers behind a .397 hitting percentage and 84 digs which both set new statistical highs for the 2016 season. The navy and gold turned the match into a double-double party as Lienemann (16 kills and 11 digs), Brandt (22 assists and 11 digs) and sophomore setter Makenzie DiGesualdo (Frederick, Colo.) (17 assists and 11 digs) all posted double-doubles on the way to a three set sweep of Neosho: 25-15, 25-13, 25-18.
The final match of the weekend slated the Golden Eagles against a very strong team from Odessa College that had rolled past Temple in straight sets earlier in the day. This match-up developed into a five set barn-burner that would serve as LCCC's first five set test of the season. After dropping a competitive first set 19-25, the Golden Eagles exploded with a 25-14 victory in set two and then stole a competitive third set 25-22. Set four looked as if it would be a run-away in favor of Odessa as LCCC trailed 16-23 late in the set. However, some new blood inserted from the LCCC bench forced a big momentum swing as the Golden Eagles clawed their way back to lose narrowly 22-25 in the fourth. Although they didn't win set four, the damage had been done as LCCC had stolen back all momentum heading into the fifth and final set. Coach Albers' team jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as they took set five and the match with a 15-8 win.
Freshman setter Kyra Brandt blew up the stat sheet with a career high 44 assists as she helped turn many of teammates in deadly offensive weapons throughout the match. Morrison dropped a double-double with 14 kills and 14 digs in the match while Taylor also added 14 kills of her own. The Golden Eagles also pick-up a huge spark from their middles as Ridgway went for 11 kills and six service aces and freshman Lizzy Clark (Sandy, Utah) finished with a career high 12 kills and eight blocks. Sophomore libero Tori Passarelli (Littleton, Colo.) finished the match with 19 digs.
The Golden Eagles, now 7-3 overall, will be back in action Tuesday, September 6 as they host Trinidad State Junior College at LCCC at 6 p.m.