MCC volleyball team fall in 3 games to No. 17 NPCC

Wednesday, October 3, 2007
John J. Mesh/McCook Daily Gazette McCook Community College's Lacey Parker (9), a 5-foot-8 freshman from Ogallala, slams a shot over the net in Tuesday night's match at North Platte Community College. MCC's Tara Long (5), a 5-11 freshman from Sidney, waits for a return shot. NPCC beat MCC 30-14, 30-24, 30-27. The match was played at MCC True Hall Gymnasium.

The McCook Community College volleyball team played their third straight ranked team Tuesday night with a similar outcome.

MCC, which lost last week to Northeastern Junior College and Western Nebraska, the No. 17 and No. 1 teams in NJCAA Division I, lost to North Platte CC Tuesday night.

NPCC, the No. 17-ranked team in NJCAA Division II, defeated the Indians 30-14, 30-24, 30-27 at True Hall Gymnasium.

There were several area players on the court. MCC features Cayla Skaritka and Chelsey Quigley, Southwest; Whitney Hochstetler, Wallace; Jaimie Lapp, Hayes Center; and Samantha Brown, McCook.

NPCC features Stephanie Padilla and Kiane Alberts, Wauneta-Palisade; and Terra Bishop, Hayes Center.

The Knights won the first game handily, but the Indians rallied toward the end of the final two games to make things close.

"We had too many unforced errors," said MCC coach Gary Payne. "We put a lot of balls into the net, out of bounds and shanked a lot of shots. If we get half of those back, we have a shot at winning Games 2 and 3. We've got to serve better -- either take a little off or put a little on to get it over the net. We are a little better passing team than we've shown the last two weeks.

"You have to give credit to North Platte -- they are the 17th-ranked team in Division II. They have a lot of weapons. Their middle hitters killed us. They did more damage to us than their outside hitters. Melissa Miller, No. 3, is a phenomenal defensive player. They should go pretty far (in postseason)."

Quigley led the Indians in kills with 9, followed by Skaritka 8, Lacey Parker 5, Hochstetler 4 and Tara Long 2.

Quigley was 32-of-39 in attacks, Skaritka 22-of-25, Parker 25-of-32, Hochstetler 10-of-14 and Long 3-of-3.

Long had 22 set assists and was 16-of-16 in serving with 1 ace.

Quigley was 8-of-11 serving with 1 ace. Ashley Cordova was 7-of-7 with 0 aces. Sharyn Cape was 3-of-3 with 0 aces. Parker was 9-of-12 with 1 ace. Skaritka was 7-of-12 with 3 aces.

Long had 6 service points, Skaritka 5, Hochstetler 3, Quigley 3, Parker 2, Cordova 1 and Cape 1.

Parker had 3 digs, Skaritka 1, Alicia Vandenbark 1 and Quigley 1.

Quigley had 16 digs, Kelsey Kathman 12, Skaritka 9, Long 8, Cordova 4, Parker 3, Cape 1 and Hochstetler 1.

The Indians (7-22) will host Region IX opponents Trinidad State Thursday and Lamar Community College Friday. Both matches start at 7 p.m.

"All region games are important," Payne said. "I'd like to see us sitting fourth in the region."

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