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Photo by Ryan Kennedy Contributing Photographer |
Sophomore Dominique Altamirano tries to block an attempted kill during the T-bird’s loss to Eastern Arizona. |
The Thunderbird volleyball team fell twice at home, once Oct. 1, to Eastern Arizona Community College and Sept. 29, to national power Arizona Western Community College. The two losses are part of a three game home losing streak.
The two losses leave MCC at 18-8 on the year.
Eastern Arizona arrived Oct. 1, in Mesa to avenge an early season loss to the Thunderbirds. MCC could not hold onto the momentum after winning the first game, losing the next three by close scores.
Sophomore outside hitter, Meghan Julander, said there was “no team effort” against Eastern Arizona.
“Everyone needed to play harder. We are a better team then we are showing out there,” Julander said. “We needed more intensity. We couldn’t get it done.”
MCC stormed onto the volleyball floor and quickly dismantled the Gila Monsters of Eastern Arizona 30-17 to claim game one.
Freshman Irene Bahe, was dominant from the start, constantly spiking the ball too fierce for Eastern Arizona to respond. Bahe towered over every player with her 6-foot frame.
She stood in the middle, close to the net, patiently waiting for a perfect serve by co-captain Cassie Campbell, to strike while Julander would soar in from the far side to spike the ball when the serve came her way.
Unfortunately, neither were enough to stop Eastern Arizona.
The Thunderbirds momentum pushed them to a 27-25 lead in the second game, but Eastern Arizona signaled for timeout and regrouped for the comeback win 31-29.
Once again MCC started game three quickly, leading 27-25 only to lose the two point lead and later the game 30-28.
The Gila Monsters of Eastern Arizona built a 5-2 lead in game four and did not look back. Eastern Arizona did not let MCC back into the game winning 30-26 to finish off the Thunderbirds three games to one.
“We are on a down slope,” Julander said about the losing streak. “I hate losing, I wanna win every game.”
MCC stepped on the floor, Sept. 29, ranked eighth in the nation according to NJCAA, in division two volleyball. The Arizona Western Matadors walked in ranked fifth nationally in division one volleyball and according to coach Melfy undefeated in Arizona competition.
MCC played stride for stride with Arizona Western but could not handle the bigger team. They lost the first three matches not scoring more than 23 points.
Sophomore Cassie Campbell, said her squad played cautious with no discipline.
“We played scared tonight and came out tentative,” Campbell said. “We depended on our neighbor to hit the ball for us, when we should have stepped up, we had no discipline.”
Coach Melfy agreed with Campbell and stressed to be ready to play. “We have to be on our game, doing our job. We must play aggressive, confident and assertive to be able to win.”
The Matadors were physically bigger and played like it. They quickly outworked MCC in the first game winning 30-17 and beating MCC 30-23 in the second game. The Thunderbirds fought to the end, but came up short in game three 22-30 losing the match 3-0.
Game highlights, according to Melfy, were when Katie Weiss came off the bench with 11 digs and six kills, while co-captain Hayden Johnson had double digit digs with 14. Still Melfy was not satisfied with her team’s effort, saying they were playing selfish. “We have to take responsibility and stop pointing fingers,” Melfy said.
“We have to be one with unity, not twelve different individuals.”
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