Lady Indians drop opener of home tournament

The McCook Community College volleyball team lost the opening match of the home schedule Thursday, falling to Indian Hills Community College of Iowa 3-0. The loss came in the opening game of the MCC Labor Day Tournament which continues Friday and Saturday.

The No. 7 Warriors beat MCC 33-31, 25-20 and 25-17.

“I’m glad I put us up against some really tough teams this weekend and I’m not upset about that because at the end of the day I think it’s just going to make us a better team,” said MCC Coach Hayley Kobza. “I saw some really good glimpses of our team tonight and I’m excited where we’re moving.”

With one sophomore and one transfer on the court, the coach was pleased with one phase of the game where she saw signs of growth over the first weekend of the season.

“The one area where we really showed the biggest improvement from last weekend was serve receive, where we improved tremendously,” said Kobza. “And once we put everything together, we can be a completely different team.”

Sophomore Charlee Russick (Berthoud, Colo.) led the MCC hitting attack with 12 kills.

Freshman middle Leia Young (Amarillo, Texas) was credited with six kills, three assist blocks, one solo block and one service ace. Bobbi Starkebaum (freshman, Haxtun, Colo.) had four kills, two solo blocks and two assist blocks.

Paulina Fister (sophomore transfer from Tuszyn, Poland) had five kills and two assist blocks. Anna Richardson (freshman, Worland, Wyo.) had two kills and one assist block.

Landree McNair (freshman Imperial) had 12 assists, two kills and two assist blocks. Freshman setter Zoe Mulholland (Lander, Wyo.) led the Lady Indians with 14 assists.

Freshman Brooke Nelson (Berthoud, Colo.) had two service aces and two assists.

After losing their first three matches of the season, the Indian Hills goes to 3-3 on the season while MCC drops to 0-4.

“0-4 is not fun to say but we looked good and anybody that’s watched us knows we have a great team,” said Kobza. “They just haven’t put it all together and played great the whole time.”

The Lady Indians are back in action Friday for matches starting with a noon against Hutchinson Community College and at 6 p.m. against Cloud County Community College. The final match of the tournament for MCC will be at 1 p.m. Saturday against Amarillo Community College.

Up-to-date information about MCC volleyball including livestream links, schedule, statistics, rosters, photos and more can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com