The ninth-ranked Blinn College volleyball team battled past a spirited Wharton County Junior College squad for a 3-1 Region 14 win Tuesday in Wharton.
The Buccaneers prevailed 25-12, 25-20, 24-26, 25-15 over the Pioneers.
Following an 11-day layoff, Blinn (35-2 overall, 11-2 region) found itself in a hostile environment as Wharton County fans packed the Gene Bahnsen Gymnasium for the Pioneers’ sophomore day.
Bucs head coach Gregg Whitis said he was impressed with how his team performed given the circumstances.
“It was good to get back at it, and I was proud of our players for fighting through some of the adversity that comes with a long layoff,” Whitis said. “Wharton brought a good crowd and played hard with some emotion, and we were able to overcome that.”
A clean opener helped the Bucs earn a 1-0 set advantage, and even as the Pioneers began to fight back in set two, Blinn was able to hold off a Wharton County rally to set itself up for a sweep.
The Pioneers would ultimately delay the Bucs’ victory with a hard-fought win in the third set, but Blinn responded successfully to close out the match in four.
"We responded and completely controlled the fourth set," Whitis said.
Whitis complimented sophomore hitter Olivia Stringer for a strong performance that saw her a post-team 18 kills with 10 digs.
“She took some big swings for us tonight,” Whitis said.
Sophomore hitter Kaliko Schilling added 11 kills.
Sophomore setters Camden Bizot and Leah Hoss dished out 19 and 18 set assists, respectively.
At the service line, Bizot had four aces, followed by three for Schilling and two apiece for Stringer and Hoss.
Bizot paced the Bucs’ floor defense with 12 digs, while Hoss and Schilling each tacked on nine.
Whitis also lauded the efforts of freshman defensive specialists Gracie Moore and Ann Kat Barrett, who came on late to give Blinn a much-needed boost.
Barrett finished with seven digs.
“Ann Kat made a difference for us on defense and stepped in to set the second ball when we needed it,” Whitis explained. “Gracie entered the back row and really steadied our serve receive. Just really proud of those two littles.”
At the net, sophomore middle blocker Jana Cetkovic led Blinn with two solo blocks and three block assists. Sophomore hitter Shiloh Jones added four assists; sophomore middle blocker Karolina Karabasz had three; and freshman hitter Annika Brooks tallied two. Stringer added one solo block.
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