The brackets are set and the McCook Community College volleyball team is looking for a deep run in the Region IX Tournament which starts Wednesday in Casper, Wyo.
With the No. 3 seed in the Region IX South Division, MCC will face Northwest College, the No.2 seed in the Region IX North Division. That game starts at noon Wednesday in the Swede Erickson Gymnasium on the campus of Casper College.
“I told the girls, when it comes to the last point played out of the season, as long we hit our peak, then we did what we needed to do,” said MCC Coach Hayley Kobza, whose team finished 9-5 in the Region South standings (16-15 overall. Northwest College finished 5-5 in the Region IX North standings and 13-14 overall.
The winner of Wednesday’s match will move on to play the winner of the match between north top seed Northeastern Junior College and south four seed Central Wyoming match at 5:30 Thursday. The loser of the MCC/Northwest College would face the loser of the NJC/Central Wyoming in first elimination match Thursday at noon.
“Our team is talented and athletic and can do great things,” said Kobza. “They just all need to believe that too.”
Top-seeded Casper College (champion of the north division) will host the eight-team double elimination tournament Wednesday through Saturday. The top for teams in the standings from the south will play the top four teams in the north standings in first-round action Wednesday.
On Thursday, four more matches (two elimination games) will be held at the same times as the Wednesday games. On Friday, three matches will be held at noon and 2:30 p.m., with the Northwest Plains A Region 9 Championship at 5.
The tournament’s final day, Saturday, Nov. 7, will feature two matches: the first at 11 a.m. and the second will be the Northwest Plains B Championship, at 4 p.m.
The Northwest Plains A Region 9 and the Northwest Plains B champions will represent Region 9 at the NJCAA DI Volleyball Championship, Nov. 18-21, at the Hutchinson Sports Arena in Hutchinson, Kansas.
The all-tournament pass is $28 for all four days. All-day ticket prices are $10 for adults, $8 for seniors.
For fans unable to attend in person, all tournament matches will be available through a pay-per-view livestream at:
https://team1sports.com/njcaareg9/
THE FIRST-ROUND MATCHUP: MCC faced the Trappers once this season, sweeping them in the Labor Day Weekend Tournament in the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center, 25-12, 25-17, 25-18.
The team from Powell, Wyo. emerged from three teams vying for the second seed from the north division of Region IX. They come into the tournament winning their last three matches. The team began October losing six of seven sets against Laramie County CC and Eastern Wyoming, then taking a road game at Central College on Oct. 7. On Oct. 17 the Trappers lost to last-place Gillette College 3-2 in Gillette then were swept by Casper on Oct. 17 to go 1-5 in the month.
With three matches left to make-or-break their season, Northwest started the post-season charge with a big home weekend Oct. 23-24 when they beat Eastern Wyoming 3-2, and Laramie County 3-1 before closing out the season Oct. 28 with a 3-1 win at home over Central Wyoming.
THE TRAPPERS: Average 10.52 kills, 9.73 assists, 1.82 blocks and 1.97 service aces per set and hit .145.
They are led by freshman middle Torey Parker who averages 2.69 kills per set (third in the north) with 274 on the season (second in the north) and tops in the north with a .318 hitting mark. Sophomore outside Mckinlee Scammon is second on the team with 223 kills. Sophomore middle/outside Brakkin Larsen and freshman outside Jaylin Mills had 163 and 153 kills respectively.
“Northwest has two strong middles so we need to make sure we have hands in front at all times,” said Kobza.
Parker, Larsen and sophomore middle Saige Kidd had 76, 64 and 63 blocks combine for 73.6 percent of the team’s total blocks.
Sophomore Setter Jaylie Critchfield averages 6.21 assists per set (fourth in the north) while Critchfield and freshman libero/defensive specialist Ellee Summers finished the season tied for the team lead in digs with 258.
THE LADY INDIANS: Average 11.0 kills, 10.36 assists, 1.97 blocks and 1.97 service aces per set and hit .179. For the season MCC had 231 aces to lead all teams in Region IX South.
Freshman Relebohile Phamotse (Maseru, Lesotho) led MCC with 394 kills this year (two kills away from being the top hitter in the region. Phamotse is second in the south (and the region) with 3.37 kills per set and second in hitting percentage at .294.
“We need to utilize what they give us for options to score,” said Kobza.
Sophomore Bobbi Starkebaum (Haxtun, Colo.) led the south with .97 blocks per set and was the only player in the south to top the 100-mark with 113. She tied for second in Region IX in total blocks
Freshman Jade Powell (Sterling, Colo.) led MCC with 346 digs which was fifth best in the south. She was also second on the team and eighth in the south with her 260 kills. Shana Muller (Gretz-Armainvilliers, France) was third on the team with 157 kills.
In the passing game sophomore Zoe Mulholland (Lander, Wyo.) had 481 assists on the year (5.47 per set), and in the service game was second in south averaging .53 service aces per set and 47 for the season (third most in the south). Freshman Cheyanne Ortiz (Pueblo, Colo.) was fourth in the region with 566 assists and fifth in the south averaging 5.63 assists per set.
FINAL REGION IX SOUTH STANDINGS
Conference Overall
Northeastern JC 14-0 1.000 25-6
Western Nebraska 11-3 .786 21-14
McCook CC 9-5 .643 16-15
Trinidad State 8-6 .571 13-17
Teams that did not qualify for the tournament
North Platte CC 7-7 .500 13-14
Lamar CC 4-10 .286 6-15
Otero College 2-12 .143 5-19
Southeast CC 1-13 .071 5-23
FINAL REGION IX NORTH STANDINGS
Conference Overall
Casper College 10-0 1.000 18-13
Northwest College 5-5 .500 13-14
Eastern Wyoming 5-5 .500 9-19
Central Wyoming 5-5 .500 6-18
Teams that did not qualify for the tournament
Gillette College 3-5 .375 14-10
Laramie Co. CC 1-7 .125 3-22
(NJC/ C. Wyoming)
Region IX Tournament at Casper, Wyo.
Two teams qualify for NJCAA National Tournament
(All times listed as CST)
WEDNESDAY SCHEDULE
Match 1 - McCook (South#3) vs. Northwest College (North #2), Noon
Match 2 - Western Nebraska (South#2) vs. Eastern Wyoming (North #3), 2:30 p.m.
Match 3 - Northeastern JC (South #1) vs. Central Wyoming (North #4), 5:30 p.m.
Match 4 – Trinidad State (South #4) vs. Casper College (North #1), 8 p.m.
THURSDAY SCHEDULE
Elimination games
Match 5 – Match 1 loser (McCook/Northwest) vs Match 3 loser (NJC/ C. Wyoming), Noon
Match 6 – Match 2 loser (Western Neb./E. Wyoming) vs. Match 4 loser (Trinidad /Casper), 2:30 p.m.
Winner’s bracket games
Match 7 – Match 1 winner (McCook/Northwest College) vs. Match 2 winner (NJC/ C. Wyoming), 5:30 p.m.
Match 8 – Match 2 winner (Western Neb./E. Wyoming) vs. Match 4 winner (Trinidad /Casper), 2:30 p.m.
FRIDAY SCHEDULE
Elimination games
Match 9 – Winner of Match 5 winner vs. loser Match 7 or 8, 1 p.m.
Match 10 – Winner of Match 6 winner vs. loser Match 8 or 7, 5:30 p.m.
Region IX Northwest Plains A Championship
Match 11 – Winner of Match 7 vs. winner of Match 8, 8 p.m.
SATURDAY SCHEDULE
Elimination game
Match 12 – Winner of Match 9 vs. Winner of Match 10, Noon
Region IX Northwest Plains B Championship
Match 13 – Winner of Match 12 vs. Loser of Match 11, 3 p.m.
Up-to-date information about MCC volleyball including up-to-date schedule and changes, livestream links for home games, rosters, photos, statistics and more can be found on the MCC Athletics website,
www.mccindians.com
