Volleyballers’ strong season ends in districts
By Julie Newell
Sports/Photo Editor
From Wednesday, Nov. 6 through Saturday, Nov. 9, St. Clair Community College in Port Huron hosted the NJCAA Division II Volleyball Great Lakes B District Championship.
The LCC volleyball team fought hard in three matches against Glen Oaks Community College, Muskegon Community College and Kalamazoo Valley Community College, but won only one of the three matches.
"I think that we had a really good season, but districts just got the best of us," sophomore left-side hitter Mackenzie Winger commented.
The Stars played first against Glen Oaks Nov. 7 and lost by scores of 25-17, 25-23 and 25-21.
"I personally feel like the first game that we had, it was just a long car ride, and (we were) just not ready to play," freshman defensive specialist Harley Roe said. "We definitely could have won that game."
On Nov. 8, the Stars came back and won against Muskegon, 20-25, 25-19 and 25-21.
"We did beat Muskegon, which is a big one for us," freshman defensive specialist Jacquelyn Rollins said.
The Stars lacked that winning energy and lost in the next match against Kalamazoo Valley, 25-20, 20-25, 21-25, 25-17 and 15-9. That match was also played Nov. 8.
"The third game … it was back to back so it was really hard to keep our energy up," Roe said.
The Stars' finished with a season record of 24-9. LCC placed third in the MCCAA Western Conference with a record of 12-4.
"I think we had a good season overall," sophomore middle hitter Maya Ferland said.
Ferland led the team with 356 kills during the 2019 season. Sophomore setter Allison Couturier paced the Stars with 1,182 assists.
Roe had 655 digs to lead LCC defensively. Freshman left-side hitter Shelby Smyers led the Stars with 42 service aces.
Ferland earned the conference Player of the Year award, as well as 2019 MCCAA First-Team All-Western Conference honors.
"It meant a lot," Ferland said. "In a meeting we had with Coach (Emily Quintero) just the other day, she said she wasn't at all disappointed in us and she was really proud. … That's overall the goals; make each other proud and make coach proud. Good run, good season."