News

By Ryan Schlehuber, MCC Sportswriter

Despite going 0-4, the Montcalm Community College Centurions women’s volleyball team earned valuable experience against teams from across the country in an opening-season tournament in Rockford, Ill., Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 23-24. 

With their first home game of the season against Grace Christian University, starting at 6 p.m. tonight, the Centurions will come into the game fresh off a weekend of facing top tier teams from Florida and New York in what was simply called the Open Weekend Tournament. 

“The big reason we go to this tournament is for the high level of play and getting the opportunity to play multiple teams around the nation,” Centurions Head Coach Kara Youngs said. “It really expands our experience outside of the state.” 

MCC lost 3-0 to both Finger Lakes Community College (NY) and Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ) on the first day of the tournament. On Day 2, MCC lost to Highland Community College-Illinois, 3-1, and finished the tournament against Gulf Coast State College (Fla.), losing 3-0. 

“It’s not the weekend we wanted to have, but we learned a lot individually and, as a team, we learned how to push on,” Youngs said. “This was exposure that will make us better and to compete better in our conference, as well.” 

Against Finger Lakes, first-game jitters were apparent as Youngs saw her team struggle with getting its offense under control while its defense tried to adjust to seeing a new style of offense. 

“Regardless of those nerves and jitters, which you usually see in first games, we had a lot of energy and excitement on the court,” Youngs said. “It was fun to watch the flow of the game as it progressed.” 

Sophomore defensive specialist and captain Briley Andres (Cedar Springs, Mich.) was excited to get the season going. 

“Stepping onto the court for the first game of the season was such an exciting feeling,” Andres said. “There’s always a mix of nerves and adrenaline, but mostly just excitement to finally apply all of the work we’ve been putting in.” 

The Centurions fell to Finger Lakes, 17-25, 17-25 and 20-25. Freshman outside hitter Emily Davis (Allendale, Mich.) led MCC in kills with seven while sophomore Jordan Dompreh (Flint, Mich,), the team’s new setter, finished with 19 assists and 10 digs. 

“This was Jordan’s first experience being our setter going in. Coming into a big tournament, running our offense, I think she did really well,” Youngs said. “She had great energy and did a fantastic job of talking to hitters about what they need to run and where they need to be.” 

Against FSCJ, MCC lost 17-25, 21-25 and 15-25. Dompreh finished with 12 assists and seven digs while Davis and sophomore Alana Kent (Belding, Mich.) tied with seven kills. Sophomore libero Jaden Gomez (White Cloud, Mich.) led the team in digs with nine. 

On Day 2, MCC saw some success against Highland Community College, winning the first set, 25-22, but then losing the next three, 19-25, 15-25 and 20-25. 

Davis led the team with 10 kills while Dompreh and Gomez finished with 13 and 10 digs, respectively. Dompreh also finished with 21 assists.  

The Centurions finished the tournament against a dominating team in Gulf Coast, losing 8-25, 20-25 and 14-25, which Youngs said was the best team it went up against all weekend. 

“Gulf Coast was a really strong team,” Youngs said. “They had a lot of powerful hitters. We had a really good second set, but we just struggled overall on offense.” 

Youngs said her team learned to make adjustments and her players were finding holes in the opponent’s defense better as the game progressed. However, she said the Centurions need to improve on communication and working out solutions when things aren’t going their way. 

Youngs was happy to get the season going finally, despite the rough start. 

“It feels great being back,” she said. “My players were happy, after all the practices, to start actually playing, kind of putting what they’re working on out there. Having more games will allow us to make better adjustments, both in practice and games.” 

Andres said she and her teammates soaked up the experience in Rockford, knowing the experience will help the team in the long run. 

“The biggest takeaway for us was realizing how much competition there really is at this level and how important it is that we push each other every day in practice,” Andres said. “Everyone is fighting for their spot and, from a player/captain standpoint, I can see how hard everyone is working. It doesn’t go unnoticed and it’s only going to make us stronger as a team.” 

As for tonight’s game, Andres said it will be important for the Centurions to focus on playing together throughout the sets. 

“For our first home game, we need to focus on consistency — communicating well, trusting each other and cleaning up the small errors,” she said. “If we play together and stay disciplined, we’ll put ourselves in a great position to get that win.” 

Though the season is newly underway, Youngs already knows what to expect out of her team night in and night out. 

“I think we showed moments of fight and moments of grit and emotions this past weekend,” she said. “The emotions they shared with each other, that was fun to watch. I think we’re going to see a lot of fight in this team this season.”