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The Montcalm Community College Centurions women’s volleyball team enjoyed a second consecutive stay at home, however, securing a win was just out of its grasp. 

The Centurions (0-3 MCCAA Northern, 1-10 overall) fell short of earning what would have been their first home win of the season, falling to Alpena Community College, 3-2, Monday, Sept. 21.  

Centurions head coach Kara Youngs was seeking to get her team to rebound from a 3-0 loss to Owens Community College at home Sept. 18. The Centurions took the Lumberjacks (1-2 overall, 3-8 MCCAA Northern) to the brink, which was a seesaw battle that took five sets to decide a winner.   

MCC took the first and third set, 25-15 and 25-15, while AAC won the second and the fourth, 25-10 and 25-23. The fifth and final set, the Lumberjacks managed to build and lead and they never relinquished it, winning 15-7 to take the series. 

Youngs said improvement is needed in a few areas, but she emphasized the level of energy the Centurions needed to keep up if they want to turn the close losses into close wins. 

“We talked about things we still need to improve on. Keeping the energy has been a big discussion this last week and a half throughout full matches,” Youngs said. 

Both teams’ offenses showed an ebb and flow through each set, trading dominance in the first three sets before the fourth set went down to the wire. Youngs said the Centurions offense was clicking quite well and her team was productive at the service line in the beginning. However, things got away from them in the second set.  

The Centurions got back on track in the third set, making the needed adjustments that led to a convincing win. 

“I felt they stayed positive in making adjustments and just started off strong with a lot of energy that helped set the pace of the match for them,” Youngs said. 

The fourth set, a 25-23 win by ACC, was the closest of the five sets and was MCC’s closest chance to win the series. Throughout the early season, Youngs has preached to her players about not getting behind early against opponents, but in the fourth set, that’s where the Centurions found themselves.  

“We got down a few points early in the fourth, so we were chasing points to get caught up,” Youngs said. “We had limited runs on the service line, so it didn’t give us many chances for points or runs.” 

Youngs said that disconnect in play spilt over into the fifth set, which led to the 15-7 loss. 

“We started off very flat and had limited energy,” she said. “We weren't communicating well when things weren't going well. Our communication really broke down.” 

With a big matchup against the division’s second-place team, Bay College (3-1 MCCAA Northern, 8-5 overall), a long road trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Monday, Sept. 28, Youngs is hoping her team fixes its in-game communication problems and will be working to keep the energy up throughout each set. 

“That communication and energy can’t just come and go,” she said. “You have to maintain it from start to finish in each match, not just sets. We’ll be focusing on communicating differently and celebrating more of the little things that help make a match successful.” 

Against Alpena, the Centurions were led by freshman Ayanna Sanders (Caledonia, Mich.), who finished with 19 kills. Sophomore Erin Borek (Grand Rapids, Mich.) once again led the team in digs with 19. Borek has led the team in digs in all but one game so far this season. 

Borek also led the team in service aces with four.  

The road game against Bay College begins at 6:30 p.m. 

MCC will then travel to Kirtland Community College for another road game, Wednesday, Sept. 30, before returning home again to face North Central Michigan Community College on Friday, Oct. 2.