NMMI Sports Press
The No. 8 Broncos downed No. 13 Eastern Arizona 25-18, 25-21 and 25-19 to kick off the 15th annual NMMI Classic Thursday night inside a packed Cahoon Armory gym.
After weeks of practice, the Broncos and 18-year head coach Shelby Forchtner were chomping at the bit for some real action.
"It was good to just finally be across the net from someone else," Forchtner said after the game. "So I think we came out very competitive in Game 1. We pushed the envelope and had them out of system for most of the set. We served aggressively and our offense was firing on all cylinders."
NMMI took a commanding lead in the opening set behind big swings from sophomore middle blocker Vitoria Oliveira. The most productive offensive returner for the Broncos had 13 kills off 20 attempts with three errors, giving her a .500 hitting percentage on the night. With a packed house full of rowdy cadets, every scoring smash by Oliveira was celebrated loudly.
"Vitoria just has great energy. Even when her name was announced pregame the crowd went crazy," Forchtner explained. "That comes from her love of volleyball. And we have plenty of girls who love the game the same way, but Vitoria just exudes that energy in a different way. She loves to win and she celebrates with a lot of fire and fans react to that."
When the teams switched sides, the momentum seemed to shift as well, but it had less to do with EAC's play and more with NMMI's lack of concentration.
"We gave them a lot of their points on errors — serving errors, passing errors, hitting errors," Forchtner said. "But once we called a timeout and talked to them about getting back and focused, they were able to flip the switch and get back into a good rhythm."
The second set featured several ties and lead changes as the Broncos wouldn't allow EAC to build a sustainable lead, and when NMMI took the lead midway through at 14-13, they wouldn't give it up again. The final point featured a tough serve from freshman setter Dilean Bounds that the Monsters had to lob back over, leading to a perfect set from Bounds that Oliveira smashed cross court.
"Dilean just controls the floor really well," Forchtner said of the young player from El Paso. "A lot of our freshmen have a lot of confidence. They didn't play scared at all, and with a big crowd on opening night, that's really great news for us."
The Broncos took the final set behind Oliveira and sophomore opposite Leah Linares, who led the team with 15 kills. Freshmen Yuliana Favela and Sarah Shubert recored nine and six kills, respectively, and both players helped out on the defensive end with eight digs and a couple blocks between them.
"We are going to need that type of production from Vitoria and Leah every night," Forchtner said. "They both have the ability and they both love the competition. They get better the more you give them the ball. And with the freshmen pushing them, they'll thrive even more."
In the backcourt, new libero Fuka Sekita from Japan was as good as advertised, digging 18 balls with no errors, and serving up three aces in 13 attempts with a service error.
The NMMI Classic continues tomorrow morning (Friday) at 9 a.m. in Cahoon Armory and the Godfrey Athletic Center as the rest of the visiting teams start their seasons.
The Broncos are back on the court at 7 p.m. to take on Laramie County Community College in Cahoon.
All games will be streamed online for free at KSVPtv.com.