CHEYENNE, WY – The Laramie County Community College volleyball team survived a marathon match against the Gillette College Pronghorns on Friday night, taking the match 3-2 (20-25, 25-19, 23-25, 29-27, 19-17) to move to 1-1 in Region IX North play and move to 6-13 on the season.
"We didn't execute great, but we weren't afraid either, and being fearless is going to help us score points," Head Coach Zach Shaver said.
The opening set saw three ties in the opening ten points until the Pronghorns found their break to push ahead 12-8 on a 7-3 run. LCCC was able to close the gap and tied the set at 16 all but couldn't take the lead and fell 25-20 after an ace to close the set.
LCCC didn't waver though and came right back out in the second set to take control themselves. This time the Golden Eagles surged out to a 7-3 lead on a service run by Lea Susoy that was capped by a McKienna Kehl kill.
The Golden Eagles pushed the lead to a set high eight at 21-13 and the Pronghorns had to watch as LCCC evened the match at a set a piece with a 25-19 win.
Susoy led the team with six kills in the second and said she wasn't content with another loss.
The pendulum of the match began to swing a bit more aggressively in the next two sets as massive momentum swings would stifle both rosters.
In set three, the Golden Eagles fell behind 9-3 early only to go on a 6-1 run in the middle of the set to bring the score back to within striking distance at 18-16 and would even draw to a tie at 22 all. Gillette was able to win three of the final four points though and took a 2-1 advantage with a 25-23 win.
LCCC took the opening advantage in the fourth set as their offense bulldozed their way to a 13-6 lead thanks to six kills, an ace, and a block, most of which came from Elysiana Fonseca who really came to live in the late sets.
The Golden Eagles seemed to have the set in hand with a 22-15 lead, but it was the Pronghorns this time who dug in. A 6-0 run brought them within a point at 22-21 and both teams would trade runs of two points from there as the game went to extra points.
After having chances at set point at 24-22, 26-25, and 28-27, LCCC was able to push through and capped the win 29-27 thanks to a Fonseca kill, her seventh of the set.
Susoy said this the success in extra points has come from the groups ability to trust in each other.
"We are a team. When we are confident and trust each other and I think that's the important part here. We have to stay confident when we are up or back because then we are playing like a team all the time."
Fonseca continued to be the go-to in the fifth set when the Golden Eagles needed her most.
Gillette forged ahead on the opening points to go up 4-1 but LCCC didn't let the momentum get away and kept the Pronghorns within two or three. Down 14-11 though and their backs against the wall, LCCC rolled off four straight points to go up 15-14, again led by Fonseca who had the final two kills of the run.
"I knew that (Elysiana) was going to do that in game five so we started her left front which meant she should be in the front row the most in that set and the gamble paid off. I had faith that she was going to step up and take over as much as she could."
Two set points later, LCCC aced out the match on an Addison Schreurs serve to finish the marathon 19-17.
"We have a goal set to win every fifth set in conference," Schreurs said. "I think that really helped us to push and stay on track as to what we want to do."
Fonseca finished the match with a team high and career high 20 kills while hitting .429 at the net. Susoy added another 16 kills on the way to a double double with 13 digs. Adriana Deming and Maria Rawlek both also finished with double digit kills with 12 and 10 respectively.
Schreurs had her second-best match setting the ball with 51 of the teams 62 assists.
"At practice we have been working a lot on our timing, specifically with the middles, which definitely helped with Elysiana," Schreurs said. "Our timing was just off. Then because Elysiana was hot it opened up our other hitters."
Defensively, LCCC teamed up for nine total blocks in the match and Savannah Cummings led the roster in digs with 22. Schreurs was just behind her with 17.
The Golden Eagles are on the road this week to start a busy one, traveling to Western Nebraska Community College for a battle with the #20 Cougars.
The team will return home after that for a pair with Central Wyoming College on Friday evening and Northwest College on Saturday afternoon. More information and tickets for the weekend matches can be found at www.golccc.com.