The 12th-ranked Blinn Buccaneers were happy to have Bruna Evangelista back in action here Tuesday night.
The freshman middle blocker from Brazil led the Buccaneers with 12 kills and seven blocks in Blinn's 25-22, 25-22, 25-17 sweep of Wharton County Junior College in the Blinn P.E. Building. It was just Evangelista's second match since a knee injury that took her out of the Bucs' lineup for almost two weeks.
"She's a breath of fresh air," Blinn (20-5, 9-2) coach Erin Mellinger said. "She's going to be moved into that slot where she's our go-to person and the other teams know that. Wharton knew that and just had trouble stopping it."
Freshman setter Crystal Young dished out 21 assists and had seven digs, while fellow setter Celeste Ramirez dished out 11 assists and made eight digs.
Sophomore libero Cara Fisher led the defense with 20 digs while freshman middle blocker Emily Salter added six blocks.
The match marked Blinn's Dig Pink night for breast cancer awareness, and prior to the contest the Buccaneers took a moment to honor two community members who have survived breast cancer – Karla Roper, Blinn's director of human relations, and Robbie Thomas, the wife of compliance officer Keith Thomas.
The Buccaneers will travel to Temple on Friday for an 11 a.m. match against Temple Junior College and a 3 p.m. contest against Odessa College.
Blinn's final home match will be Oct. 25 when it hosts Lee College at 6 p.m.
