Lopes Go 1-1 for the Weekend
The Lady Lopes Volleyball went 1-1 for the weekend as they took on Western Nebraska and McCook in two home games.
On Friday night, the Lady Lopes fell in three sets to top-ranked Western Nebraska Community College. The team started out strong in the first set, competing well with WNCC until it tied up at ten points. At this point Western Nebraska began to pull ahead and was able to finish the set with a score of 19-25. They continued to pick up steam, taking down the Lopes with scores of 17-25 and 15-25 to finish the game.
"We came out aggressive and wanted to push Western Nebraska to their breaking point," said commented Head Coach Brandon Stephenson. "Being down two sophomore setters looked to be a huge mountain to climb, but our three freshmen setters stepped up and the team rallied around them."
"The highlight of the night was having Karla Martinez, our 4'10" defensive specialist, get a kill in the third set," said Coach Stephenson
On Saturday, LCC faced off with McCook Community College. The Lady Indians started off with a four-point run, but the Lopes answered back with a run of eight points. This gave the LCC team a lead that the Lady Indians simply couldn't overcome. The Lopes were able to finish the set with a score of 25-16. The second set was very similar to the first. LCC had an early run of six points; they capitalized on this lead to finish the set at 25-14.
After the intermission, the Lady Indians came fighting back. They scored first and gained an early lead that they maintained until LCC was able to tie the score up at fourteen points. There was some very scrappy play on both sides of the net, resulting in teams trading points. They two teams tied the score at seventeen points, then again at nineteen and twenty-one. The Lopes powered through, only allowing one more point to make the final score of the set 25-22.
The Lopes team saw significant improvement in their serving, totally seventeen aces for the game. Freshman Mya Yordan led this effort bringing in nine aces over the three sets. Freshman Andreia Bomfim and sophomore Karina Grajeda also put up some impressive numbers in digs with eighteen and fourteen, respectively.
Assistant Coach Alexa Gerber weighed in saying, "Unfortunately we didn't play our level of volleyball and we didn't meet some of the goals we set for the game. The freshman setters stepped up and played hard, but we missed the leadership of the two sophomore setters. We know what we need to work on in practice, so we're going to refocus and prepare hard for these last two games."
"It was good getting a win to cap the weekend," said Coach Stephenson. "We saw some areas that we need to continue to work on before the final two matches of the regular season."
The Lady Lopes play two more home games next week. On Thursday they will host their "Dig Pink" night in support of Breast Cancer Awareness during which they will take on rival team Otero Junior College. This match will also be "Sophomore Night". The game starts at 7:00pm in the Wellness Center and all fans are encouraged to wear pink. Then the team will face Trinidad State Junior College at 1:00pm on Saturday, October 24.
To watch the games online, visit the new LCC Athletics website www.golopes.com.