McCOOK, NE – The Laramie County Community College volleyball team had a strong tournament in McCook over the weekend, picking up four wins to extend their win streak to 10 straight.
On Friday the Golden Eagles opened the tournament with a sweep of Iowa Western Community College (25-11, 25-19, 25-17) and a four-set win over Garden City Community College (25-21, 25-20, 10-25, 25-16). Saturday opened with a challenge from #19 Barton Community College (28-26, 25-17, 25-21, 25-19) before closing out the tournament against North Platte Community College (25-19, 25-18, 26-24) with a sweep.
Friday – IWCC 0 LCCC 3 – GCCC 1 LCCC 3
Friday's first set against the Reivers was a route. The Golden Eagles jumped out to a 14-3 lead before Iowa Western began to fight back. LCCC finished the set 11-8 to take it 25-11 and the early 1-0 lead in the match.
The second game started out tight as Iowa Western picked up their intensity. After a tie at seven all, LCCC took control long enough to get some separation and would hold a narrow lead the rest of the set before closing it 25-19.
LCCC returned to dominant form in the third set as they were able to gain a comfortable lead in the opening rallies. Iowa Western closed it to as little as four late, but the Golden Eagles finished the match on a 4-0 run to take it 25-17 for the sweep.
The blocking at the net was a key in the win, including nine total blocks from Elysiana Fonseca and Head Coach Zach Shaver said it shows the team is picking up what the coaching staff is telling them.
"Some things we are teaching them are different than when they were younger," he said. "Learning that you can't just jump to put up a block, that you actually have to do some specific things and now against a good aggressive attacking team it definitely helped us out."
In the second match with Garden City, LCCC took control on a 5-1 run in to take a 12-9 lead and force a timeout. The Golden Eagles would never trail again in the set despite two runs by the Broncbusters to cut the lead to one. Demi Stauffenberg ended the set 25-21 with a back row kill.
Set two was very similar in that the Golden Eagles didn't take the lead for good until late in the set before closing it out 25-20 to put the match in their control 2-0.
The Broncbusters rallied back in the third with a dominant showing to down LCCC 25-10 and extend the match to a fourth set.
"They were a very good defensive team and a very scrappy team," Shaver said of Garden City. "I knew that even though we squeaked out that second set win that they were going to come out aggressive. They started serving more aggressive in the third game and we just couldn't get it together for a little while."
Laramie County rallied back in the fourth to battle to a draw at nine all before forcing a timeout after taking an 11-9 lead midway through. Garden City tied it at 14 and 15 out of the timeout only to see LCCC take control again and close the match on a 10-1 run for a 25-16 win to take the match 3-1.
Saturday - #19 BCC 1 LCCC 3 – NPCC 0 LCCC 3
The opening match against #19 Barton was a battle that went to extra points and saw the Golden Eagles show their grit in coming away with a opening win 28-26 to get the early 1-0 edge.
"They were up very late and our competitiveness took over and we found a way to win," Shaver said of his teams resolve late in the set.
The Cougars pushed back in the second set to even the match at 1-1 after LCCC only was able to pick up seven kills and had a negative hitting percentage in the set.
The next two sets were much better offensively for Laramie County, picking up 11 kills in the third and 15 in the fourth to close the match with 25-21 and 25-19.
"We were more consistent in our offense and the defense was better which gave us a chance because they were definitely a good team," Shaver said.
The win over Barton was also the 300th career win for Shaver over the course of his career.
The final match of the tournament pitted the Golden Eagles against North Platte Community College and opening set was well in hand late with LCCC up 21-14, going on to close the set 25-19.
The second set followed the same path as the first and LCCC won 25-18, but in the third set, North Platte was able to make more happen on their attack and force the match to extra points as they looked to steal the set. Laramie County held off the charge and won the set 26-24 and extended their winning streak to ten with the sweep of the Knights.
"They did some good things," Shaver said of North Platte. "They definitely aren't a team to take lightly. We are going to have to do some things better next time we play them at our place. We didn't convert on as many opportunities to score as we had so we put ourselves in some difficult situations but our competitiveness showed through and we finished the match which is important."
Over the weekend, Addyson McArthur was stellar on the attack finishing with 63 kills, including a 19-kill match against Garden City and 17 kills against North Platte. McArthur also had a double-double in all four matches with kills and digs including 21 digs against Barton.
Sadie Christiansen continued her strong play at libero for the Golden Eagles with 55 digs to go with 65 serve receives with only four errors.
Kate Ohlsen continued her strong setting and increased her season assist total to 380, setting a season and career high with 38 assists against Barton. It was her seventh 30 assist game of the year.
The Golden Eagles move on to a light week of action with only one match on the schedule, but it is a big one. LCCC will be traveling to Sterling, Colorado to face #5 Northeastern Junior College. Going into the match, Shaver said he is just wanting his team to get a little better each practice.
"Each of the two day's we practice I want a little more improvement. We will scout NJC a little bit but it is going to be more about us continuing to improve ourselves and be as consistent as we can be.
Streaming information can be found on the volleyball schedule page at www.golccc.com.