Outstanding performances from freshman middle blocker Bruna Evangelista and sophomore outside hitter Ksenia Sukhareva weren't quite enough to lift the 15th-ranked Blinn College volleyball team to a victory over No. 5 San Jacinto Monday night at the Blinn P.E. Building.
San Jacinto defeated Blinn 29-27, 25-19, 23-25, 25-20.
Evangelista, a 6-foot-1 freshman from Brazil, recorded a team-high 14 kills with just one hitting error, while Sukhareva, a 5-foot-10 sophomore from Russia, added 13 kills while committing just three errors.
"I'm proud of Bruna," said Blinn (10-4) coach Erin Mellinger. "Fourteen kills and one error in 31 kills is incredible. We just have to get more people going in the offense. We can't have two people carry us."
San Jacinto received that balanced offensive effort, Mellinger said, and that proved the difference in the match.
"We're going to be OK," she said. "We're young, but you can see what our ability can be. It's early in the season, we'll see them again and at the end all that really matters is the regional tournament. Now we have film on them and we can use this as a learning experience for our girls."
All four of Blinn's losses this season have come against ranked teams.
The Buccaneers will look to bounce back Friday night when they host Hill College at 6 p.m. in the Blinn P.E. Building.
