BLINN VOLLEYBALL DROPS A ROAD MATCH TO LEE COLLEGE

(Story by Joe Alberico, Blinn College Sports Information)

The No. 15 Blinn College volleyball team dropped a hard-fought Region 14 match to Lee College on Friday night, falling 26-24, 25-18, 26-24 in Baytown, Texas.

The Buccaneers fell to 24-7 overall and 5-6 in Region 14 play.

Blinn head coach Gregg Whitis called it the team’s worst performance of the season in terms of hitting efficiency, pointing to costly hitting and receiving errors that prevented the Bucs from closing out tight sets.

Blinn held 24-22 leads in both the first and third sets but was unable to close out either.

“Give credit to Lee, they out-scrapped us tonight and deserved to win,” Whitis said.

Despite falling behind 2-0, Blinn battled back in the third set and had an opportunity to extend the match. Whitis praised the contributions of freshman liberos/defensive specialists Sophia Green and Kayla Aranda, along with freshman middle blocker Kansas Lamar, who entered the lineup and provided a spark in the third set.

“I’m proud of the way we fought back after going down 2-0,” Whitis said.

Sophomore hitter Aliyah Harris led Blinn with 12 kills, while freshman hitter Akira Smallwood added nine. Freshman hitter Nevaeh English contributed six kills, and sophomore middle blocker Alana Asante finished with four.

Freshman setter Valerie Yambao paced the Bucs defensively with 14 digs, followed by sophomore liberos/DS Natalia Silva with 10 and Smallwood with eight. 

The Bucs will conclude their regular season at home against Wharton County Junior College at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, at the Kruse Center in Brenham, Texas. Blinn will celebrate Sophomore Day before the match.