NMMI Sports Press
The No. 4 Bronco Volleyball team bounced back after dropping their first three matches at the Crystal Inn-vitational in Salt Lake City, taking down No. 5 Northeastern Junior College 3-1 Saturday afternoon at the Salt Lake Community College gym.
On Thursday, the No. 14 Bruins downed NMMI 3-2. Then the No. 2 Miami Dade Sharks beat the Broncos 3-1 on Friday afternoon. Saturday morning brought what looked like the most winnable matchup against unranked Casper College, but the improved T-Birds handed the Broncos a 3-2 loss.
The Broncos were up 2-1 against Casper, having blown the Birds out 25-12 in the first set, narrowly losing the second 23-25 and then taking the third 25-17 before the errors and inconsistencies began to pile up in the deciding sets.
Between Saturday's matches, NMMI head coach Shelby Forchtner said their first three SLC opponents had weaknesses that her team failed to exploit, but the NJC Plainswomen were solid across the board and would send the Broncos home winless if they kept giving away sets.
"When you start the fourth set and give them seven of the 12 points and then finish the set the same way, you don't deserve to win," she explained. "We're not playing as a team, we're not trusting each other and until we get back to those basics, we'll continue to lose against good teams."
Through the first three matches of the tournament, sophomore opposite Leah Linares racked up 72 kills, 24 in each contest, but the rest of her teammates were less than effective, especially against the big blockers from Miami Dade.
Against NJC, Linares led the way with 18 kills and several teammates chipped in with efficient line scores.
Freshman Yuliana Favela hit .500, converting 10-of-16 swings with just two errors. Sophomore Vitoria Oliveira buried 9-of-20 balls with three errors for a .300 average and freshman Sarah Schubert had seven kills on 19 attempts with three errors.
The Broncos were aggressive on the serve with 10 aces to six errors, led by sophomore setter Kekililani Helekahi with four aces on 18 attempts.
Defensively, freshmen libero Fuka Sekita was sharp with 23 digs and no errors. Freshmen Momoka Minamiya and Allison Miller each had double-digit digs, but took their lumps with six of the Broncos eight receiving errors.
The Broncos have one another long road trip before conference play begins as they travel to Sterling, Colorado for the Sheila Worley Invite where they will be tested by No. 10 Western Nebraska among others.
NMMI opens the WJCAC slate at home on Wednesday, Sept. 13 against the Amarillo College Badgers at 6 p.m. The game will be streamed live at KSVPtv.com.