BRENHAM, Texas – Blinn College volleyball played so well in the first two sets and then lost that momentum to drop the following three in a 3-2 loss to Lee College Thursday night inside the P.E. Building.
Lee won by the score 20-25, 19-25, 25-19, 25-18 and 15-13 to drop Blinn's overall record to 17-18. That was the final Region XIV regular season match for the Buccaneers as they finish with a 6-4 record and likely will be the No. 3 seed from the South in the regional tournament.
"Game one and game two we definitely had control the entire match," said Kalie Mader, Blinn head coach. "We just let them in during game three and fourth and we had too many ups and downs in game five to win."
Alexis Kingston led Blinn with 17 kills and 21 digs. Eboni Mitchell added 16 kills while Danusia Sipa Borgeaud and MeKayla Gurley each had 14 digs. Ally Lanik earned 45 assists in the loss.
Blinn had everything going at the beginning of the match as it led 6-1 to start the match behind the serve of Borgeaud. Following a Lee error, the Buccaneers led 18-9 later in the set. Lee crept back slightly but Mitchell was able to put away a kill to help Blinn take the first set 25-20.
The second set started out much closer but Blinn was able to pull away for a 14-6 lead after a couple Lee errors. Again Lee made it a little bit closer but another kill from Mitchell closed out the second set with a 25-19 win to take a 2-0 lead in sets.
The third and fourth sets are two to forget for Blinn as Lee charged back to tie the match by claiming both sets. Lee took the third 25-19 and the fourth 25-18 to force a fifth set.
The fifth set didn't start out so hot as Lee grabbed a 5-2 lead but Blinn charged back to take an 11-6 lead after a Lee error. The Buccaneers were two points away from winning the match at 13-11 after a kill from Kingston but Lee scored the next four points to steal away the match with a 15-13 win.
Blinn will have a non-conference match on Thursday, Oct. 27 at Hill College at 6 p.m.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 34 NJCAA national championships since 1987. For more information, visit www.buccaneersports.com.
About Blinn College
With an enrollment of 19,422 students, Blinn ranks among the nation's leaders in transferring students to leading four-year universities and has received national recognition for affordable educational excellence. For more information, visit www.blinn.edu.
