BUCS WIN TWO AT AMARILLO TOURNAMENT
Story by Joe Alberico, Blinn College Sports Information
The No. 8 Blinn College volleyball team bounced back from its first loss of the season with a pair of victories on day one of the Amarillo Tournament on Friday in Amarillo, Texas.
The Buccaneers swept Trinidad State College 25-13, 25-20, 25-21 before blanking Western Texas College 25-17, 25-14, 25-9.
Blinn is now 18-1 on the season.
“It was good to get back on track with two wins,” Bucs head coach Gregg Whitis said. “We’ll get back out there and try to get two more Saturday.”
Blinn began play Friday against Trinidad State and raced past the Trojans.
Sophomore hitter Olivia Stringer paced the Bucs’ attack with 11 kills; sophomore hitter Kaliko Schilling followed with nine; and sophomore middle blockers Jana Cetkovic and Karolina Karabasz had seven and six, respectively.
Running the floor for Blinn were setters Leah Hoss and Camden Bizot. Hoss, a sophomore, handed out a team-high 24 set assists while her freshman counterpart chipped in 15.
At the service line, Bizot was also a factor with five aces. Schilling and Stringer finished with two apiece.
Defensively, Schilling anchored the floor with 10 digs. At the net, Cetkovic rounded out her strong performance with one solo block and five block assists. Stringer had three assists while Karabasz and freshman hitter Annika Brooks added two apiece.
The Bucs put the finishing touches on a perfect day by completing a three-game season sweep of Western Texas.
Stringer again led Blinn hitters, this time with 12 kills. Schilling racked up 11.
Hoss distributed 20 assists with Bizot following with 13. Bizot continued her game-one service dominance with five more aces against the Westerners. Stringer, Schilling, and Hoss each knocked down two.
Stringer had a team-high nine digs.
Karabasz had one solo block, and Cetkovic and Brooks had three and two assists, respectively.
Blinn will end play in Amarillo with matches against Otero College at 11 a.m. and host Amarillo College at 1 p.m. on Saturday.