NMMI Sports Press
The New Mexico Military Institute Broncos moved to 3-0 on the year with a pair of victories Friday during the 14th annual NMMI Classic at Cahoon Armory Gym.
In the first match of the day, the No. 2 Broncos downed No. 10 Northeastern Junior College 3-1, once again dropping a close second set as they did Thursday night in the opening contest of the tournament. The set scores were 25-14, 21-25, 25-18 and 25-17.
"We seem to be really focused when we start a match, but once we win the first set, we lose focus," said Bronco head coach Shelby Forchtner. "And it's not just in one of two things, it was all bad. We need to learn to stay dialed in after a good first set."
All-American libero Mio Yamamoto dominated on defense, digging 27 balls with just two receiving errors. Setter Megan Waghorn was consistent throughout the match with 26 assists. Outside hitter Laila Bernardino had an all-around nice game with 12 kills, 12 digs and two aces on 8 serves.
"Mio played really, really well and Megan did a great job controlling the tempo while she was out there," Forchtner said. "Laila did a good job. We kind of switched our rotation a bit and had her play for six rotations and I thought she handled it well."
In the second match, the Broncos swept Pima Community College 25-21, 25-17 and 25-23, but Forchtner was not exactly pleases with her team's offensive performance.
"We made a lot of errors that we weren't making in the last couple games," she said. "They dug a lot of balls and made us attack over and over, and we knew they would be scrappy. Our defense won the game for us. And it wasn't just Mio, a lot of people are digging balls, but I'm not sure we win this one without her."
Barbara Guedes Rezende lead the offensive effort with eight kills while Baby Moleni had seven and Vitoria Oliveira chipped in with five. Yamamoto saved 23 balls and Moleni dug 12. Waghorn served up four aces on 13 attempts.
Forchtner said she was happy to get the wins, but sees plenty for her squad to improve on moving forward.
"Winning is awesome, but we know we have a lot to work on offensively in terms of connection with one another," she said. "We thought we'd block a lot more balls than we have, so we have to be better at setting our block, because our defense is play well around us, but we need them to take a way a little more space."
"These are all things that we knew we'd learn about during these first few games, so it just affirms to us the things we need to work on. But it's good, three wins is good."
The NMMI Classic concludes on Saturday with another eight matches. The Broncos take on Tyler Junior College at 9 a.m. and South Mountain CC at 3 p.m. Both games will be held in Cahoon Armory.