Individual recognition from the recently completed NJCAA National Volleyball Tournament were announced and Blinn College was well represented on the list of honorees.
All-Tournament Team honorees included Juliana Paz and Rachel Green of Iowa Western; Soriana Pacheco, Bianca Rivera and Leticia Kuhn, all of Western Nebraska; Luiza Jarocka and Patricia Gandolfo of Missouri State-West Plains; Lauren Stern and Amanda Misa of North Idaho College; Haley Thomas of Blinn College; Brandi Hood of Hutchinson Community College; and Camilla Pagnan of University of Arkansas-Fort Smith.
Several other individual awards also were presented. University
of Arkansas-Fort Smith' s Leslie Riepl received the Ozarks Medical Center Service
Aces Award for serving up 16 aces during the event. The State
Farm Insurance Outstanding Setter Award went to Megan Loftis of Blinn College
for her 187 assists. Teammate Haley Thomas received the Ozarks Medical
Center Top Point Maker Award. Miami-Dade College's Paola Ampudia
received the State Farm Insurance Top Gun Award for her 84 kills. The
Ozarks Medical Center Outstanding Blocker Award went to Ludmila Amaral for
40 blocks. And, Miami-Dade' s Liliana Berrios received the State Farm
Libero Award for her 86 digs.
Nov 22 - The Blinn volleyball team ended the year with a fifth place finish at the NJCAA National Volleyball Tournament. That marks the highest Blinn has ever finished surpassing the sixth place finish achieved on two separate occasions. But for just the third time this season, and the second time against Frank Phillips, the team was forced to a five-game match in order to do so. The Bucs won the match 3-2 (23-30; 30-19; 28-30; 30-17; 15-12) and end the year with a record of 34-4.
Later in the day, Iowa Western and Western Nebraska will play for the NJCAA
National Championship.
Nov 21 - Sixth-seeded Blinn College rebounded
from a loss to a powerful Iowa Western squad as they defeated in-state rival
San Jacinto 3-1 (20-30; 30-26; 30-21; 32-30 ) at the NJCAA National Volleyball
Tournament. The Bucs lost the first game of the match but then Blinn's two
Haley's took over. Both Haley Thomas and Haley Ball were outstanding as the
Bucs then won three straight to advance to the fifth-place match tomorrow at
2:00 p.m. Once again, the national tournament has the feel of the Blinn College
Labor Day Classic as Blinn will face a fellow Texas school in tomorrow' s match.
Frank Phillips College, from Borger, Texas, defeated Hutchinson 3-2 to advance.
Blinn coach David Rehr began his coaching career at Frank Phillips and took
them to the national tournament before coming to Brenham. Blinn has a chance
to better it's highest-ever finish at the national tournament with a win tomorrow.
The highest Blinn has ever finished is sixth place.
To follow the progress of the tournament, please visit www.njcaavolleyball.org