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Ava Deacon -
Erynn Rorher -
Kate Blankenship
The MCC Rebel Volleyball team opened their season on Tuesday night with one of the top teams in the area, the Canby Lancers. The Rebels and Lancers have played one another in the first game of the season heading back to the Covid shortened season and the two teams have played one another years before that and in most of those matchups the Lancers have beat the Rebels 3-0. That would not be the case on Tuesday as the Rebels would show some grit and determination to take one game from the Lancers.
The Canby Lancers bring back six players from a team that won 24 games a year ago but on Tuesday one of those players was missing. Karli Wollum, one of the top outside hitters in the Camden Conference was not in the lineup and that changed the game. No one would have noticed the change in game as the Lancers jumped out to an 11-0 lead, led by Emily Nelson’s strong service game which included 4 aces. The Lancers never looked back in the first game as the Rebels struggled to get their footing. The Lancers age and experience showed in game 1 as they jumped out to a great start taking the set 25-7.
The Rebels would again fall behind 8-3 in the second game but then Erynn Rohrer would answer back. The Rebels would get a sideout to make the score 8-4. Rohrer would go to the service line and she would get 5 service points to give MCC the lead 9-8. Rohrer served well while the Rebels defense got their hands on several shots for blocks allowing the team to set up their offense. Suttyn Schryvers and Reese Gilbertson would take turns getting kills while the Lancers committed several errors. MCC would stay in front of the Lancers throughout the second set. The Rebels showed off some of their depth getting some great swings from four and five players as the Rebels would take the second set 25 to 20.
The Rebels wouldn’t have as much luck in the final two games. Though the Rebels would have their moments the Lancers did a better job at passing quickly, beating the Rebel blockers to spots on the floor where they could disrupt the Canby shots.Canby also started setting their hitters further off the net to give themselves some room to hit around the Rebel blockers. The Rebels would fall behind in game three but would rally late scoring 8 of the final 10 points of set three losing 25 to 17. The third set would see much of the same with Canby getting the win 2515.
The first game of any season has its ups and downs and the Rebels showed that Tuesday night. The Rebels were led in kills by Suttyn Schryvers and Reese Gilbertson while Kate Blankenship had a nice all around game for the Rebels. Erynn Rohrer and Avery Thovson had nice moments for the Rebels over the course of the game. The Rebels were lacking consistency but that is to be expected in game 1 of the season especially playing a senior laden team like the Lancers who are going to make adjustments quicker than less experienced teams.
The Rebels showed glimpses of what they can develop into as the season continues. The Rebels will have two non conference games coming up next week with a home game against Lakeview on September 2nd and a road game to Dawson Boyd on Thursday September 4th.
