CASPER, WY – The Laramie County Community College volleyball team moved to 5-2 on the year with a pair of 3-1 set wins on Friday afternoon. First taking down Colby Community College (KS) 20-25, 25-21, 25-17, 26-24 before defeating Lake Region State College (ND) 21-25,25-21, 25-14, 25-14 in Casper College's invitational tournament.
The Golden Eagles started out slowly in the match with Colby, but after dropping the opening set, rallied to take a 2-1 edge.
"They were definitely a strong aggressive team," Head Coach Zach Shaver said of the Trojans. "We didn't come out and execute very well but we steadied the ship again, passed and served well and that got us into a rhythm again and got the offense and defense playing better.
LCCC had to fight off a fierce rally from the Trojans in the fourth set that tied it at 24 but the Golden Eagles were able to hold them off for the win.
"Our players weren't nervous. We didn't make any mistakes and when they tied it up at 24, they had earned it. I didn't feel like I needed a timeout, or a substitution and I could tell by our team's body language that we were going to execute well and finish it," Shaver said.
Demi Stauffenberg led the assault in the match with 13 kills and an ace. Elysiana Fonseca added five more blocks to her season total along with a career high of 10 kills. Setter Kate Ohlsen finished with 33 assists and got seven different Golden Eagle hitters involved in the offense, hitting .155 as a team.
Defensively, Sadie Christiansen and Famke Zomer led the team with 14 digs each and Ohlsen completed a double double with 12 of her own.
Match two started similarly to the opener with Lake Region State College taking the opening set 25-21.
"I think we may have taken them for granted after watching them warm up so we didn't play anything like we were capable of playing," Shaver said. "But some players came in in substitute rolls and really executed well and that got us back on track and then everybody started playing better."
The Golden Eagles went on to take the next three sets including a pair of 25-14 set wins to close the match and Shaver said this was a match where his team's quality depth helped.
"There were four or five players that came off the bench and did a good job. Even late in the match when I got a few people in they executed and the first ball that they contacted right away they did well. I was proud of them. It just shows how hard they've been practicing."
Sydney Kettelkamp led the team in kills with ten and had a pair of aces. Stauffenberg and Fonseca added eight kills each. Ohlsen had 31 more assists and was able to spread the ball to 12 different hitters for kills.
The defense was strong as shown by 85 digs, capped by Christiansen 21 to lead the way.
The Golden Eagles will face off with Treasure Valley Community College (OR) at 9:00 am before closing their tournament stay against Colorado Northwestern Community College at 1:00 pm. Stream links to the matches can be found at www.golccc.com.