Bearcats defeat Freeze, Greenwave in second and third games of the season
By Coach Tina Turn
KCC vs. Freeze
In their second match of the season, the KCC Bearcats volleyball team hosted their second home game, this time in Lancaster, on Tuesday, Sept. 5. They competed in their first Northern Lights Conference game of the season against the Northern Freeze. It was a packed house of fans to watch the Bearcats in action.
Sophomore Hanna Warnke opened the night with an ace serve. Fellow sophomore Kaydence White was strong from the line in the opening set as well serving all 4 of her aces for the night in set one. Berlyn Strege ended the set with an ace to win 25-15. White had 9 kills in set one to pace the Bearcats’ offense.
Junior Morgan Turn rattled off a string of serves toying with the Freeze serve receive enough to keep them out of system and help her team take an early 6-0 lead. Once again, White paced the offense with 4 kills, and she was followed closely by junior Berlyn Strege who recorded 3 kills in the set. White ended the set with a powerful kill to win with the same score as set one, 25-15.
Once again in set three, Warnke started the set with her purposeful serving and had 3 straight aces. The set started and ended with an ace as Warnke also scored point 25 with an ace for a solid 25-17 win. Junior middle hitter Lauryn Whitlock found her groove in set three as she garnered 3 kills while White pounded down another 4.
It always feels good to kick off conference play with a win. In repeat fashion to the Sacred Heart game, the Bearcats served well in the first two sets and then lost focus at the serving line in the third. Moving forward, the team will be working on the mental serving game in the stretch of a match. KCC passed well on serve receive, which allowed a fast offense to be set up, and the hitting efficiency for the night was outstanding at .48.
Click on the link below to see the stats of the game.
KCC at EGF Greenwave
In their first road game of the season, the Bearcats traveled to East Grand Forks, home of the Greenwave, on Thursday, Sept. 7. During summer play, the two teams had some epic battles so we anticipated a tough match-up.
The Bearcats scored first in the opening set jumping to a 2-1 and then a 6-1 lead. KCC maintained that lead the entire set in what was a great team effort. The offense was spread out and Kaydence White paced the team with 5 kills, followed closely by Berlyn Strege with 4, Morgan Turn with 3, and Lauryn Whitlock with 2. It was an out-of-system push by Turn that scored point 25 for a 25-17 win.
Both teams traded points for three servers until Strege stepped to the line and scored on an ace. The offense once again was spread out in set two, but it was the back row play that really lit things up. Libero Lily Peterson notched 6 big digs in the set, followed by Turn with 5, and Afton Lindgren with 4. That relentless defense really frustrated the Greenwave and KCC marched to a 25-16 win with the final point coming on an ace from Turn.
Warnke opened set three with a run of 5 serves to start the game on the right foot. Turn added three more and the Bearcats had a sizable lead. Midway through the set, though, an EGF server forced some passing struggles for KCC and the Greenwave took their first lead of the night 17-15. The team responded after a timeout and Turn rattled off 5 serves where she played cat-and-mouse and forced the Greenwave back out of system. As a repeat of set two, Strege stepped to the line at point 24 and pounded over an ace for a 25-20 victory.
It’s always fun to beat a AA team, and East Grand Forks has a lot of talent this year. They passed well as we had a season-low 5 aces, but we also had a record-setting night at the line with 100 percent serves. Blocking wasn’t where we needed it to be, but fortunately back row defense was on fire as they picked up nearly every swing the Greenwave punched over. Berlyn Strege recorded a double-double with 13 kills and 13 digs. We are pleased to start the season with a 3-0 run.
Click on the link below to see the stats of the game.
