BLINN’S SEASON ENDS WITH LOSS TO TRINITY VALLEY AT NATIONAL TOURNAMENT

Story by Joe Alberico, Blinn College Sports Information

An incredible season of Blinn College volleyball came to an end Thursday as the Buccaneers fell to Trinity Valley Community College 25-22, 25-21, 25-23 in consolation play at the NJCAA Division I Volleyball Championship in Clarksville, Tenn.

Blinn went 0-2 in the national tournament, a rare hiccup during an otherwise spectacular campaign. The Buccaneers finished their season 38-4 overall with a 14-0 record in Region XIV. Blinn won the region regular-season championship as well as the Region XIV Tournament and earned the fourth seed in the national tournament. The Bucs' 38 wins included a 31-match winning streak. Blinn also concluded the regular-season ranked sixth in the NJCAA Division I national poll.

The Bucs had a rough go of things in Clarksville, as serve receive errors and hitting gaffes stalled the blue, black, and white across both of their matches.

That was the story Thursday as Blinn was unable to topple Trinity Valley – its region rival – for a third time this fall.

Bucs freshman outside hitter MaKenna Loo had a strong offensive showing with a team-high 14 kills, while sophomore right-side hitter Kellen Dorotik tallied seven. Freshman setters Leah Hoss and Bromli Watson dished out 15 and 11 set assists apiece. Sophomore libero Kirby Kliafas had three aces at the service line.

Defensively, sophomore libero Cierra Pesak had a nifty 21 digs. At the net, Blinn racked up 12 block assists and one solo effort. Freshman middle blockers Jana Cetkovic and Karolina Karabasz had three block assists apiece, while Dorotik had one solo.