The #19 ranked DMACC volleyball team had two games Friday and two Saturday while hosting their annual home Invitational, going 1-1 on each day.
The Bears first game was against #2 Parkland, Ill. where they lost in 4 sets. DMACC split the first two sets with the national power, by scores of 19-25 and 25-21, respectively. After a less competitive third set where the Bears lost 25-14, they failed to secure the fourth set, falling just short by a score of 25-22. No DMACC stats were made available for this match.
The second game from Friday was against Neosho County, Kan., a team that defeated DMACC earlier this season by a score 3-0. This time the Bears were victorious, winning 3-2 in sets of 25-23, 23-25, 25-23, 22-25, and 16-14. The match was closely contested, as shown by how close each set was.
“[This rematch] was very important to us. Last time we played them we were totally off our game.” Sophomore Madison Paulson explains; “We were lucky that we got a second chance to play them, and we came out [filled with] energy and played hard in the 5th set.”
DMACC’s Saturday games began with a 3-1 victory over Rochester, Minn., another rematch for the Bears, as they had played in an invitational hosted by Rochester earlier this season, defeating the Yellow Jackets in straight sets.
After the Yellow Jackets battled back to win the third set, the Bears showed tremendous hustle to finish the match in the fourth set, playing beyond the lines of the court to keep the ball in play.
Paulson talked about the Bears team mentality when it comes to keeping plays alive, saying that “We know we need to hustle after every point, not let any balls drop.”
DMACC’s final competition of the 2018 home invite was against Highland, Kan., where the Bears came up short 3-2. The Bears were in the game until the final point of the final set, falling 15-13 in the tiebreaking set.
The Bears next home game is Wednesday, where they return to conference play hosting Southeastern, Iowa who is 2-4 in conference play compared to DMACC’s record of 4-2.
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