CHEYENNE, WY – The Laramie County Community College volleyball team picked up their eighth win of the season with a clean sweep of Otero College on Wednesday night, taking the Rattlers down 25-21, 25-20, 25-15.

Set one was a barn burner with the Golden Eagles gaining several separation points through the set, but Otero consistently fought back to keep it within one or two points, entering the end of the set down 22-21.

A hitting error by the Rattlers gave the two-point edge to LCCC and Demi Stauffenberg settled in to serve and picked up the final two points for the Golden Eagles with Kate Ohlsen picking up the final kill.

"We definitely hit into their bigger block too much to start," Head Coach Zach Shaver explained. "Our hitters hadn't seen a bigger block like that for a little while. But our passing kept us in system and once we got the middles running, that opens up the pin hitters. Passing was the key to making the offense better."

Set two started out back and forth again before LCCC pulled away from a 3-3 tie to go up 8-4. Otero nearly rallied back to tie it at eight, closing the gap to one but Laramie County stiffened their defense to rebuild their four-point lead and force an Otero timeout at 11-7.

It was a well-placed timeout and the Rattlers rallied again to tie the game at 12 all and force an LCCC timeout.

Addyson McArthur started a new run for LCCC out of the timeout with a kill to regain momentum and the score slowly moved back in favor of Laramie County to as large as five at 22-17 and LCCC was able to cap off the win in set two 25-20.

The fourth set was nip and tuck for the opening 20 points. The Golden Eagles were able to get a lead at 11-7 only to see the Rattlers reel off five straight points to take a 12-11 lead.

That would be the only lead Otero would get in the final set. LCCC closed it on a 14-3 run to win in straight sets with a 25-15 third.

After the rally, Shaver said he wasn't happy he had to call a timeout, but the Golden Eagles responded how he hoped they would.

"I kind of got on them a little bit, but then we really picked up our serving and serve receive and that was the key," he said. "Then we closed it out with some big blocks, and it's always fun to end a match with a big block on the left side versus their right-side hitter, so that was fun to see."

LCCC was led in kills by McArthur who tallied nine in the match. Stauffenberg added another seven and Elysiana Fonseca continued to control the middle with five kills on eleven hitting attempts. Ohlsen spread the ball t0 the tune of 22 assists.

Defensively the passing received praise from all around. Sadie Christiansen picked up 13 digs and Famke Zomer had 12 to go with her to lead the team to 43 as a group and Shaver said that pulled them through several moments.

"I think it's super important to give them credit," McArthur said. "We have a lot of great passers and together our ball control is really good, and if we have a bad pass or a bad dig, we can rely on the back row to get the next one."

"We are just working on consistency," Shaver said. "They are learning to make adjustments in game and that's going to be key to us being more consistent."

Up next, LCCC heads to McCook, Nebraska for tournament action which will have them facing strong competition.

Along with #19 Barton Community College, the tournament will also see Laramie County facing Iowa Western Community College, Garden City Community College, and North Platte Community College.

"The number one thing I want to see is consistency," Shaver said. "We've got some really good stuff going on but it seems like in each we throw some bad chucks of points together and we want to get rid of those and have a little of the roller coaster ride level out."

That sentiment was echoed by McArthur.

"I want to see us continue to come together and keep playing the way we are playing. I am really excited to see how we do in McCook."

Action for LCCC begins at 10:00 AM Mountain Time, 11:00 AM Central Time, against Iowa Western Community College. Streaming links can be found on the LCCC volleyball schedule page at www.golccc.com.