News

By Ryan Schlehuber, MCC Sportswriter

It has been a tough month of October for the Montcalm Community College Centurions women’s volleyball team, going 0-6 so far, however, the short-handed team is hoping to end the regular season on a high note with two more games left. 

The Centurions (1-10 MCCAA Northern, 5-18 overall) will finish out the regular season with two home games, with the next one being at 6:30 p.m., Monday, Oct. 27, against Great Lakes Christian College (8-11 overall). It will be Family and Alumni Night.  

MCC beat GLCC 3-1 on the road Sept. 19. 

“We’ll need to step up because this is the last week for the season and we want to go out strong,” Centurions head coach Kara Youngs said. “We’ve really been focusing on a few things these last couple weeks, which one of them has been playing strong throughout the whole set.” 

The Centurions are hoping to snap an overall eight-game skid tonight and Youngs is looking to sophomore leaders like Katelyn Bignall (Belding, Mich.) to continue to step up for their team after losing three key players for the season. 

“I feel like Katelyn has come in well lately with stepping up for the team,” Youngs said. “Against Muskegon (a 3-0 loss at home Oct. 20), she had three solo blocks in a row. She’s made some big, momentum plays. She has stepped up with her energy and she’s made some big plays that we’ve been able to feed off of.” 

In MCC’s most recent loss, the Centurions lost to Delta College in three sets, 25-18, 25-21 and 25-18.  

Freshman outside hitter Erin Borek (Grand Rapids, Mich.) led the team in digs with 10 while sophomore Alanna Kent (Belding, Mich.) and freshman Erin Borek (Grand Rapids, Mich.) tied for most kills with seven each. Sophomore Jordan Dompreh led the team with 23 assists.  

As the season for “Team 3” comes to a close, Youngs said she has learned what it takes to overcome adversity and to be able to pivot in schemes on the fly. 

“As a coach, it’s been overcoming adversity and making those quick changes that I’ve learned a lot this year,” Youngs said. “Especially with the injuries we’ve seen. I’ve learned how to make sure this team is ready to go in any circumstance.” 

Since losing three starters for the season, Youngs said her team has done well in making the necessary adjustments, with a few active players adjusting to new positions to fill the vacancies. 

“We’ve had so many injuries and they’ve come right when we were in a groove,” Youngs said. “That has been more of a challenge than anything else. We’d find a new rhythm and then another season-ending injury would hit us. So that’s what this team has been doing, having to overcome injuries and adapt to new changes.” 

The Centurions’ finale will be against North Central Michigan (5-6 MCCAA Northern, 14-11 overall), Wednesday, Oct. 29. MCC lost to the Timberwolves on the road, 3-0, on Sept. 26.