BAYTOWN, Texas – There's one thing Blinn College volleyball coach Erin Mellinger can undoubtedly say after the Buccaneers' four-set win over Lee College here Tuesday night: the top-ranked Bucs took a big step in improving their game.
How scary for the rest of the NJCAA Division I volleyball teams.
After struggles during the first set, Blinn beat the Lady Rebels 23-25, 25-13, 25-14, 25-13.
"We were lost in the first set, but after that we played really well the next three sets," Mellinger said, whose team won its eighth straight match. "Our serve receive was better –– it struggled in the first set –– our hitting was better and our defense was better. We got more comfortable and found a rhythm."
The rhythm was possibly the best it's been all year. Blinn (16-1, 4-0) had four players with double-digit kills and three with double-digit digs.
"When you have four people contribute with kills and three with digs, you're playing good as a team," Mellinger said.
Bruna Evangelista, the Bucs' sophomore returning All-American, crushed 20 kills and had a .545 hitting percentage. Sophomore Kariana Castanon-Hill was just as good as she posted 12 kills and a .667 hitting percentage. Rebecca Reeve had 10 kills and Trinity Alualu added another seven.
The four benefitted from sophomore setter Crystal Young's game-high 38 assists.
Alualu had 15 digs, Young contributed 11 and Alyssa LaMont, a two-time Region XIV Conference player of the week, added another 12.
The Bucs had 20 more digs (63-43) than the Lady Rebels, a fact Mellinger admits surprised her at the end of the match.
"I really feel like we got better tonight, and I don't know we've been able to say that a lot lately," she said. "We settled in and I truly think we got better, and that's the important part."
Blinn returns home Thursday night at 6 for a match against Wharton Junior College. The Bucs will host Adam's Angels Night to benefit Adam's Angels Ministries, a non-profit organization founded by Donna and Tim Culliver of Brenham as a way to reach out to families that have been affected by childhood cancer. The Cullivers lost their 4-year-old son, Adam Christian Culliver, to acute myelogenous leukemia.
All monetary donations and fund-raising proceeds raised from the event will allow Adam's Angels to assist families with living expenses, fuel costs, medical parking and meal vouchers. Individuals or companies wishing to donate directly to Adam's Angels Ministry can send checks to: P.O. Box 2573, Brenham, TX 77834-2573, or visit www.adamsangelsministry.org.
