CHEYENNE, WY – The Laramie County Community College volleyball team gave their largest crowd of the season a show at home as they opened Region IX North action with a four-set win over Eastern Wyoming College, 25-14, 25-22, 19-25, 25-13 on Tuesday night.
"It felt good," Freshman middle blocker Elysiana Fonseca said. "Especially coming off a loss this weekend, it felt good just to be in the groove and play how we normally play."
The Golden Eagles opened the match with a consistent push in the opening set to pull ahead 7-3 after ten points. EWC did keep the score around four through the middle of the game, keeping it at 12-8 before a pair of service runs from Famke Zomer and Demi Stauffenberg opened the lead to 18-9 and forced a Lancer timeout.
It didn't slow the momentum much because Kate Ohlsen followed with a run of her own to help seal the first set win 25-14.
The momentum continued into the first half of the second set 12-7 and forced another Lancer timeout. This time EWC responded and chipped into the deficit to take their first lead at 15-14. The match stayed nip and tuck through the rest of the set until a pair of errors by the Lancers opened the gate and the Golden Eagles took the lead at 23-22 to close it 25-22 and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
"We had literally just worked yesterday on that in practice, literally 22 all, and I think once I said 'hey, we just practice this', the light went on, we can do this and it's not a big deal," Shaver said. "That was nice to see them executing what we did in practice."
Set three again began the right way for LCCC, with blocking leading the way early to another 7-3 lead and eventually a high mark of 15-9.
"We've been really working on blocking in practice and coach has been on us about pressing. In our heads I think we just wanted to make the switch to a press instead of just going straight up," Fonseca said of the increased attention at the net.
Eastern Wyoming countered with their longest run of the night after a timeout to pull back within one at 15-14 and eventually rallied to take the lead at 18-17 for an advantage they wouldn't give away, finishing of the set 25-19 to force a fourth set.
It took some time for the Golden Eagles to respond back after the fourth opened with a five all tie, but Zomer stepped to the serve and led the team on a ten-point rally that included a pair of aces to give LCCC control in the match.
"We are a good serving team. Once in a while we get a bit too carried away and make a few too many errors but when you get easy points and the ball doesn't come back over the net that really just takes the weight off of everybody's shoulders and we are able to relax and play a little better," Shaver said.
Elysiana Fonseca was strong at the net late with a pair of blocks in the final four points and a one time kill as LCCC sent a message in the final set to close the match 25-13.
The Golden Eagles will be back in action on Saturday as they continue conference play against Gillette College at 2:00 pm.
"We are really excited," Fonseca said. "Looking at everyone's wins and losses throughout the whole region, we have a good spot where we are at and we can definitely win these games."
Match and streaming information can be found at www.golccc.com.