#8-NAVARRO DEALS #12-BUC VOLLEYBALL FIRST LOSS
Three Buccaneers record double-digit digs
The No. 8 Navarro College volleyball team dealt No. 12 Blinn College its first loss of the season by taking the match, 3-0 (25-18, 28-26, 25-23), in the Kruse Center Monday night.
With the loss, the Buccaneers are now 12-1 overall and 5-1 in conference play.
(Tara Dreyer)
“I thought we struggled ball control wise and serve receive really hurt us tonight,” head coach Terry Gamble said. “Navarro did a really good job tonight and I don’t want to take anything away from them, I just thought that we struggled with a lot of parts of our game tonight that we haven’t all season. I am disappointed in some of the things we did, but we will go back to work and learn from this.”
On defense, Lixai Perez Velez led the Buccaneers with 12 digs, while Loren Scott and Emily Smajstrla each had 10. Ashley Taylor led with four block assists, while Jayde Shelton followed with three.
(Tara Dreyer)
Shelton led the offense with a .424 hitting percentage for a team-high 16 kills. Kyndal Coufal followed with eight kills and Chard’e Vanzandt had six. Scott led the Buccaneers with 30 assists.
In the first set the Buccaneers took off with an early 8-3 lead as Shelton came up with three kills, and Coufal and Scott each had one. Navarro went on a 9-0 run to get back in the game and lead 10-9. The Bulldogs built their lead to 18-14, but back-to-back kills by Shelton kept the Buccaneers two points away. Navarro separated with a 4-0 run and eventually walked away with a 25-18 victory.
The Bulldogs carried the momentum from the first win into the second set to take a 6-2 lead. However, the Buccaneers fought back to hold a 16-13 lead. Two kills by Taylor kept Blinn ahead 23-21. Navarro rallied for a 25-24 lead, but Shelton’s kill evened the score. The Bulldogs went back up 26-25, but a tip by Shelton evened the score again. Navarro finally scored the last two points of the match for a 28-26 win.
Blinn started the third set with a 13-10 lead, however Navarro fought back for a 19-17 advantage. Shelton came up with a kill and a block assist to even the score 19-19. She tallied three straight kills for Blinn to take a 22-20 lead. Navarro evened the score 22-22, but Shelton answered back with her final kill to give Blinn a 23-22 lead. The Bulldogs rallied for the final three points for the 25-23 win.
Next, Blinn will take a break from conference play with a game against Our Lady of the Lake University JV on Tuesday, March 9, at 6 p.m. in the Kruse Center.
For more information, visit www.buccaneersports.com.
(COURTESY: Tara Dreyer, Blinn Information)