The Rainy River Community College volleyball team played its first home match of the season Wednesday when the Voyageurs were swept in three straight games by Mesabi Range, 25-13, 25-23, 25-12.
“It was nice to play at home, but I think the nerves kind of got to the girls,” said RRCC head coach Mel Millerbernd. “In the first set, we were just out of synch from the beginning.”
Mesabi Range opened game one by scoring 13 unanswered points.
The Voyageurs took an early 3-0 lead in game two and led for most of the set. Mesabi Range broke a 21-21 before winning by two points.
“I thought we played way better in game two and wish we could have pulled that one out, because I think it would have been a different match,” said Millerbernd, who noted the Voyageurs passed the ball better in the second game.
“We were able to set it up and hit,” she said. “We had a lot more hits. We attacked a lot more in game two than in the others.
“We’ve just got to cut down on errors. We missed serves, and we were in the net a couple of times. You can’t do that at this level. You’ve got to just do the little things right.”
Emily Jerome led the Voyageurs with five kills for the match, followed by Casey Evans and Andrea Barylski with four kills apiece.
Jerome and sophomore setter Nakita Estling led RRCC with nine digs each, while Estling added 16 set assists.
Rachel Clark recorded four ace serves for the Voyageurs.
Millerbernd said the Voyageurs’ other second-year player, hitter Kristen Cruickshank, did not see action Wednesday because of a pulled abdominal muscle.
“Hopefully she’ll be back in two weeks,” she said. “Those freshmen got thrown in there. They work hard, a great group of kids, but it’s a tough level to play at. We need to learn from this one.”
RRCC, which had a road match scheduled Friday against Itasca, plays today in the Itasca Tournament at Grand Rapids.
