REBEL VOLLEYBALL FALL TO THE DRAGONS

The MCC Rebel Volleyball team completed its 2024 regular season on Monday night in Adrian. The Rebels faced off against the Dragons as two teams tied for fourth place in the Red Rock Conference. Not only were the two teams tied in the conference, but with similar records it made sense that the winner of the game would not only take over fourth place in the conference, the winner would likely be the 5th seed in the subsection tournament, with the loser becoming the 6th seed. The Rebels would come out on fire in set 1 but it would be the Dragons taking the win.

The Rebels biggest issue all season has been consistency, as the Rebels have ridden an elevator all season long with really good play followed by poor play. Unfortunately for the Rebels, especially over the last two weeks, it has been too often on the side of poor play. MCC came out strong against the Dragons, jumping out to a big lead, 11 to 3. The Dragons fought back and at one point tied the game, but the Rebels pulled off the win, 25 to 23. The Dragons and the Rebels went back and forth in the second set, with neither team pulling away until very late in the set, and the Dragons would get the win 25 to 21. The third set, Adrian Ellsworth started to take over, led by Brylee Zebe’s hitting on the outside. The Dragons were up by 6 and then 8 points throughout the set. Late in the set, the Rebels trailed 24 to 17. Reese Gilbertson got three service points before the Dragons finished the set, 25 to 20. The Dragons would finish the game in set 4 as they dominated the Rebels, 25 to 16 taking the match, 3 sets to 1.

The Rebels complete the regular season 10 and 12 on the season, losing 7 of their final 8 games of the season. Avery Thovson led the Rebels tonight with 16 set assists, many coming in the first game when the Rebels were on point. Suttyn Schryvers led the Rebels with 8 kills. Reese Gilbertson had 10 digs for the Rebels. The Rebels team combined for 5 aces in the game with Thovson and Ava Deacon having 2 each. The Dragons defense played extremely well and if the Rebels took softer shots the Dragons did a great job covering the floor, creating long rallies that far too often ended with a big swing by Zebe, Kamry Lehnhoff, or Charless Lehnhoff. The Rebels will now wait to find out who they play in the first round of the playoffs in one week.