There was a lot of swinging going on here Wednesday night.
Allen County Community College’s Red Devils and Neosho County Community College’s Panthers were taking swings at the volleyball. Both were after a Jayhawk Eastern Division victory.
The teams went four sets to determine the match. It all came crashing to a halt on a solo stuff block at the net by ACCC’s Andrea Miller.
Allen County sent Neosho County home with a loss. The Red Devils recorded a 25-20, 23-25, 25-18, 26-24 victory.
“We saw the determination out of these girls that we have been missing during conference matches,” said Jessica Peters, ACCC head coach. “We reached another level in the journey (Wednesday night).”
The Red Devils were up 2-1 in sets and led 12-8 in the fourth set. The Panthers served up five straight points to gain the advantage.
Allen County went down 22-20 when Nicole Rockhold, who had 27 kills on the night, came up with a hard shot to the floor to get the ball back. The teams were tied 23-23.
Neosho County had a 24-23 lead and was serving. Miller made a play at the net to tie the set up again.
Rockhold served and got the go-ahead point. Then served again and when the Panthers’ setter tried to “dump the ball” over the net Miller was there for the block.
Miller, Rockhold and Leesha Plagens each had a solo block in the match. Miller racked up four assisted blocks while Plagens, Makhala Giardina and Rockhold each had two assisted blocks.
Allison Jenicke, Morgan Scott and Erika Mack each had an assisted block.
It was Plagens setting a tone in the first set when she nailed a kill off an overpass by the Panthers. Allen County came back off a 10-8 deficit to win the first set.
Neosho County pushed the match to at least four sets when it won the second set.
The lone service ace of the night for Allen County was by Jenicke that moved the Red Devils to with one, 21-20. They never could catch up to the Panthers.
Casey Droddy opened the third set with a four-point run at the service line. Scott served five consecutive with Rockhold, Jenicke and Miller working the net.
Rockhold was serving and had a three-point run. Jenicke delivered a kill then Rockhold had back-to-back back row kills.
“The only struggle we had in the set was a run of overpasses that we fed to Neosho County’s Katie Brecheisen, who pounded the ball down on us,” Peters said.
“We were able to get ourselves out of the situation to finish the set.”
Scott ended up with 13 service points and 11 digs. Rockhold served 11 points and had 19 digs. Droddy served up nine points plus had 15 digs.
Mack served for six points and had 13 digs. Jenicke came up with 19 digs and had two service points. Miller served two points.
Droddy was credited with 26 set assists and Mack had 25 assists.
Jenicke delivered 12 kills while Miller had eight. Giardina put down five kills and Plagens had four kills.
Mack had three kills and Droddy had one kill.
Allen County improved to 3-5 in conference play and 13-12 overall. The Red Devils travel to a tournament at Central Community College in Columbus, Neb.
“This team is getting it and it shows in some solid plays. We’re looking forward to it because we’ll be competing against three top 20 NJCAA Division II teams,” Peters said.
Red Devils block out Panthers
