Buccaneers open San Jacinto tournament with a pair of victories
Blinn beats Southwestern Christian and Miami Dade to start 2-0
PASADENA, Texas – Blinn College volleyball only dropped a single set in two matches in picking up a pair of victories over Southwestern Christian College and Miami Dade College to open the San Jacinto Military Appreciation Classic Friday in Pasadena.
The Buccaneers opened by sweeping Southwestern Christian 3-0 by the score 25-11, 25-8, and 25-10. Blinn dropped the first set to Miami Dade but came back to win 3-1 by the score 17-25, 25-18, 25-12 and 25-18.
Blinn ran out a slightly different lineup in the opening game against Southwestern Christian but it was still effective as the Buccaneers dominated all three sets.
Ally Lanik and Justus Tuiolosega each shared time at the setter position and Lanik led with 26 assists and Tuiolosega pitched in 13. The team hitting percentage of .448 for Blinn was a big reason that the Buccaneers were able to control the match.
Haley Howard led the team with 11 kills and Eboni Mitchell earned eight. Danusia Borgeaud earned eight kills with a .636 hitting percentage while Alexis Kingston had five kills with a .714 hitting percentage.
Serving was another positive for Blinn with nine team aces with seven of those aces going to Borgeaud in the sweep.
“I was just happy that we played a clean match,” said head coach Kalie Mader. “We really controlled our side well and controlled our errors.”
Early errors hurt Blinn against Miami Dade in losing the first set 17-25 but Blinn was able to bounce back and tie the match 1-1 in sets with a 25-18 victory.
“We came out real aggressively on offense in the first set and that didn’t work for us so we changed it up,” Mader said. “This match showed us what we need to work on to compete with top teams in the nation.”
Serving helped the Buccaneers grab the momentum in the third set as Borgeaud served aggressively 15 times in a row to help Blinn win the third set 25-12. From there Blinn maintained the momentum and sealed the victory in the fourth set to end the day with a pair of victories.
Borgeaud finished with four aces as the team had 10 total aces. Alexis Kingston led Blinn with 10 kills and a .471 hitting percentage. Abolanle Onipede had eight kills while Howard and Mitchell each had five kills. Jordyn Keamo dished out 33 assists in the win.
Blinn will continue in the San Jacinto Tournament Saturday when it opens the day with Western Texas College at 9 a.m. and then finish the tournament at 1 p.m. against Northeastern Junior College in Pasadena.
Story Courtesy of:
Jake Gordon
Communications and Sports Information Specialist
Blinn College