NMMI Sports Press

The No. 12 Bronco Volleyball squad picked up a crucial conference victory Wednesday night at Cahoon Armory, downing Frank Phillips College 3-0 in a contest that saw the Institute hit .300 as a team.

The biggest hitters of the match were freshman opposite Leah Linares who had 17 kills on 36 tries with just two errors, and sophomore hitter Allyah Tokelau with 11 kills on 22 attempts with four errors. Sophomores Barbara Guedes and Baby Moleni had decent offensive outing, going 4-of-12 and 9-of-24, respectively.

Bronco head coach Shelby Forchtner was pleased to see so much good hitting after Saturday's game, which ended in a 3-2 loss and team percentage of just .145.

"When we have two or three people doing their jobs offensively, we're going to beat teams," she said. "With Leah and Allyah both in the .300s and Baby close to what she normally does, we're tough. When we play and hit like that, we beat people."

NMMI won the first and third sets handily, 25-14 and 25-12, but the second set was almost given away due to errors, until the "first to five" mantra took hold and the Broncos scratched out a 25-23 win.

"We've been working on just five points at a time," said Forchtner. "So when it got really close in the second set, we just said, be the first to five. We had some errors and they took the lead at 22-2- and we told them, you still have the opportunity to win this, go be the first to five. We went on a run and took the set."

Forchtner was happy to see her team quickly forget their mistakes and keep playing hard while down on the scoreboard.

"Halfway through the second, we had given them at least 10 points that they didn't have to earn," she said. "We have a tendency to give those sets away to a lot of teams, but this was one opportunity we actually took away from someone."

All-American sophomore libero Mio Yamamoto had her typical stellar night in the back row, digging 26 balls and serving up five aces. In the third set, Yamamoto got the serve with the score tied at 10-all and kept it for 11 points.

"She's one of our best servers," Forchtner said. "If I ask her to go inside arm, outside arm, a little short, push her deep…she's one of the few on the team that can go back there and be that aggressive. Lots of movement on her balls. If we can get back there with her serving and stay there, it's hard for other teams. And after her serve, she steps in, digs balls and boom, we can score fast. She can really put balls on a dime."

With five of the eight teams in the Western Junior College Athletic Conference in contention for the top spot halfway through the league schedule, every win is important. Up next for the Broncos is a trip to Hobbs on Saturday to try and even the score with New Mexico Junior College, which defeated NMMI at home in straight sets back on Sept. 14.

"It's nice to finish the first round with a win," Forchtner said. "We knew everybody was better this year. We have to be very good every time we step out to play. We need to win out. For Saturday, we told our kids let's go make them feel the way they made us feel. We want to beat them on their floor the same way. That's our goal."