TORRINGTON, WY – The Laramie County Community College volleyball team was in a tight battle with Trinidad State College (6-10) on Thursday afternoon to open the WyoBraska Invitational but came away with a four-set win 25-23, 16-25, 26-24, 25-20.
"Definitely credit Trinidad. They played very, very well and they served very aggressively and that go us out of system a lot," Head Coach Zach Shaver said, adding that he felt his team showed a lot of resolve throughout.
The Golden Eagles seemed to have set one in hand through the first half, leading the Trojans 18-8 before they fell into a lull on the offensive side. Trinidad State pushed back with a 14-2 run of their own to take a 22-20 lead forcing LCCC to fight off their back.
Sadie Christiansen led a service run of four straight points giving LCCC the lead back at 24-22 and the two sides traded the next two points to give the Golden Eagles the lead after the first set.
Trinidad State came with a different fire in the second set and while LCCC kept it close at 10-8 through the opening salvos it was the Trojans who burst out with a vengeance, going on a 12-4 run to take control of the set at 22-12.
The Golden Eagles fought back with three straight points, but the deficit proved too much to overcome, and Trinidad State picked up the set two win 25-16.
"I think at first, we weren't thinking, we were just hitting the ball," Shaver said. "Once we realized that wasn't going to work against them we talked about being smarter and had more communication from behind the hitters to tell them where to hit the ball."
The third set was much closer throughout, although Trinidad State made the first break with a 9-6 lead to force the Golden Eagles into a timeout. The lead would remain between three to five points for the Trojans through most of the set until LCCC closed it to one at 23-22 in the closing moments.
Elysiana Fonseca evened the set at 23 all on an overpass kill for the first time since it was six all before taking the lead at 24-23 on the next point.
The game went to extra points tied at 24 all. LCCC struck first with a kill from Addyson McArthur and a long rally on the next point ended with a Trinidad State error to put the Golden Eagles up 2-1 after taking the set 26-24 with the come-from-behind effort.
"I think our ability to run the middle got us back in the match and just some mental fortitude honestly," Shaver said. "Even though we were down we found a way to play more aggressively and smarter and that got us back in control of the match."
Laramie County had a chance to close out the match in the fourth and started on the wrong foot down 7-3 but responded well to go on an 8-0 run and eventually it was 13 all. Trinidad State once more took a late lead at 18-15 as they hoped to force a fifth set in what was turning into a classic match to open the WyoBraska Invitational for both sides.
LCCC pushed back at the right time and finished out the set with a 10-2 run and closed the match with the 25-20 set win to move to 13-3 on the season with the victory over their Region IX South opponent.
The match was the first for the team in over a week and Shaver said he felt the time away from live action was a factor in the slower start.
"It sounds cliche to say it's been a week and we haven't played, but we were kind of out of rhythm a little bit and made some mistakes that I don't think we would have made. But we also needed the physical rest, so I think it was good for us."
The defense was a big key in the win particularly at the net where the team was led by Fonseca who had a fantastic match with 11 assisted blocks on a night the team combined for 28 assisted blocks and two solos. Famke Zomer was also strong with five assisted blocks and Kate Ohlsen added four more. The back row continued their strong play with 75 digs on the night including 22 from Christiansen to lead four Golden Eagles in double digits.
Offensively, Ohlsen led the team with 28 assists with no ball handling errors. Her favorite target was Demi Stauffenberg who had nine kills on 45 attemps. Addyson McArthur added eight kills and both Zomer and Fonseca had seven each.
Laramie County will be back in action on Friday morning early when they take on Iowa Western Community College for the second time this season at 9:00 am from the Cougar Palace in Scottsbluff Nebraska. They will then take on the host Western Nebraska Community College Cougars in a 1:00 pm match to round out day two of the WyoBraska Invitational.
More information on the Golden Eagle volleyball team can be found at www.golccc.com.