The MCC Rebel Volleyball team was on the road Tuesday night to take on the Red Rock Central Falcons. The two teams entered the game with 1-2 records but the Rebels were coming off their dominating win over the Dawson Boyd Blackjacks. The Rebels were hoping to make it two wins in a row while picking up their first conference win of the season.
The first two games were not the Rebels best. Service errors and missed hitting opportunities plagued the Rebels play throughout the first two games. The Falcons dominated the net play with their 6’3” junior middle hitter Tia Donkersloot whose blocking was one thing, but her hitting gave the Rebels problems and it didn’t matter if she was swinging hard or taking a little off for a soft shot into the open floor. The Falcons took game one 25 to 17 and game two 25 to 22.
The Rebels looked like they were headed to a three game sweep as they trailed by five points midway through the third game. The Rebels had to make adjustments to their lineup with Reese Gilbertson playing all the way around and Kate Blankenship becoming more of a target on offense for the Rebel passers. The Rebel serve receive tightened up and the setters were not having to move much to get a good pass from the back row. MCC started to chip away at the Falcon lead. They had to fend off a game point before rallying for a 26 to 24 win to force a game 4. The Rebels got some key plays in the 4th game from Peyton Degreeff and Thea Schneider, but it was the constant hustle to keep plays alive that pushed the Rebels to a 25 to 20 win, forcing a game 5. MCC was on a roll and they would not be denied in the 5th and final game. The Rebels took the early lead and never looked back, getting the come from behind win 15 to 10.
There were four teams in this game. The first two sets the RRC Falcons dominated the play taking advantage of Rebel mistakes and coming up with key hits. The Jekyll and Hyde version of this game had the final three with the Rebels forcing the Falcons to play more balls than they wanted to play and the Rebels took advantage of the Falcon mistakes. Tia Donkersloot finished the game with 20 kills but the vast majority of her kills came in the first 2.5 sets, while she spent more time on the bench in games 4 and 5. The Rebels were led in kills by Reese Gilbertson with 12 and Kate Blankenship added 10. Reese Gilbertson showed off her all around game by leading the team with 17 set assists while Kelli Miller added 15. It was a great win for the Rebels who will host the HLOF Coyotes on Thursday night in Slayton. The Coyotes are coming off a 3-0 loss to RTR.
