RedTail Volleyball Goes 3-1 at Parkland College Tournament

The RedTails traveled to Champaign, Illinois,  where they participated in the Parkland College Tournament September 20-21. They had a successful weekend, going 3-1.

The volleyball team opened their weekend on Friday against Danville Area Community College. The match was a battle as the Jaguars took the first set (23-25). The RedTails rallied back, taking the second set (25-23), the third set (25-22), and taking it home in the fourth set (25-20). 

"I think getting the first match of the tournament set the tone for the weekend," said head coach Chris Mahi" I like that we battled hard throughout the match and felt good to get the win."

Statistics: 

Emersyn Secora led all hitters with 15 kills while hitting .393. Mallory Tisue added 13 (.300) and Alexis Even and Ruby Patterson added 10 kills a piece in the offensive effort. 

Nohea Mahi had 46 assists and Lexi Gehrke lead the defense with 15 digs.

After a short break the RedTails continued play facing Morton Community College just 30 minutes after they finished playing Danville Area Community College. In another five set thriller, the RedTails got the win 3-2. The team started off strong taking the first set (25-14), the Panther's kept the fight, taking the second set (15-25) and the third set (23-25). Once again the RedTails rallied back taking the fourth set (25-16) and completing the win, taking the fifth set (16-14).

"We struggled offensively in sets two and five, but we kept working hard and our defense dug in and got to work to help carry us while we got back into a rhythm offensively," Mahi said. I was proud of our efforts on day one of the tournament and happy to finish the day 2-0 after playing nine sets in a row." 

Statistics:

Freshman pin hitter Ruby Patterson had a great match with 12 kills while hitting .370.  Freshman Alexis Even also added 12 kills. Setter Nohea Mahi had 35 assists while libero Lexi Gehrke fueled the defensive effort with 17 digs.

To begin play Saturday, The RedTails competed against the #2 team in the country, Parkland College. Giving it their all, the RedTails fell short losing 1-3. The Cobras took a quick lead taking the first set (15-25) and the second set (23-25). The RedTails turned it around taking the third set (25-22), but couldn't keep the energy, losing the fourth set (11-25). 

"I thought we made some adjustments from set 1 to set 2 that allowed us to play them tightly in set 2 and then win set 3," Mahi said "They made adjustments on their end after set 3 and we just couldn't counter fast enough and fell behind early and just couldn't catch up. Overall, I was very proud of how we competed against one of the top teams in the country."

Statistics:

Emersyn Secora & Mallory Tisue led the team in attacks with 11 apiece hitting .222 and .286 respectively. Alexis Even led the defensive end with 15 digs and Nohea Mahi led in asists with 25.

Their last match of the tournament was against Lake Michigan College where they won 3-1. The RedTails set the energy early taking the first set (25-18), the Red Hawks battled back and took the second set (21-25). The RedTails found their energy again and took the third set (25-19) and won the match in the fourth set (25-17). 
"Lake Michigan was a tough team to play. They were relentless and worked hard from point 1 to point 25 in every set," Mahi said"They are the type of team that can frustrate you because they keep coming up with the ball and extending the rally. I was proud of how hard we battled in sets three and four. I was also very pleased with the offensive efforts in those sets hitting .289 and .303 as a team."

Statistics:

Sophomore Mallory Tisue had a big match and finished with 21 kills while hitting .500. Ruby Patterson added 13 kills and Alexis Even finished the match with 12 kills. Allie Barrus helped behind the service line with five service aces. Defensively, libero Lexi Gehrke led the effort with 22 digs, while Alexis Even had 21 and Nohea Mahi added 16. Nohea Mahi finished the match with 48 assists.