Christina Hammett

The Advocate

The Mt. Hood Community College Saints volleyball team defeated the Chemeketa Community College Storm Wednesday in the MHCC gym by a score of 30-24, 25-30, 28-30, 30-24, and 15-5.

The victory moved the Saints into sole posession of second place in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC) Southern Region.

“We had our good moments and we had our bad moments but I think overall, we played a good game and we came back from losing games and made a good run,” said head coach Lena Chan.

Some key players were sophomore right side Yelena Kasyanova, freshman outside hitter/middle blocker Brittany Jackson, and sophomore right side Krystal Armstrong.

“I played pretty well tonight,” said Kasyanova. “I’m happy with the way I played, but I’ve got to play that way every night.”

The Saint’s main goal this year is to learn how to trust each other, come together and establish good communication. Chan and many of the players agree that improvement is happening, however gradually.

“I think I struggled individually but I got it together again towards the end of the game,” said freshman outside hitter Jeannette Jones. “As a team I think we connected really well, though. It was cool how we could lose games and still come back. It shows that we have a lot of togetherness.”

The first four games of the match were intensely close but during the fifth game, the Saints rallied early to take the win. Armstrong served five consecutive winning points and the team played at the top of their ability to knock off rival Chemeketa.

“The run at the end was pretty exciting,” said Kasyanova.

Despite the rally toward the end of the match, Chan still wants the team to improve on a few things.

“Part of the time (during the match) we met our goals and part of the time we didn’t. What we are working on is confidence and trust in each other and we had that some of the time, but not the whole game,” she said.

Jones concedes. “I think that we really need to work on our court communication. We have been, but we just need to come together.”

Sophomore outside hitter and middle blocker Katrina Jenssen also agrees with Jones and Chan. “Trusting each other is one of the biggest things that we are trying to work on,” she said.

The Saints hope to continue working on these things before their games at Linn-Benton Friday at 7 p.m. and at Southwestern Oregon Community College (SWOCC) on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Their next home game will be the Mt. Hood Classic Tournament Oct. 29 and 30.