UKIAH – The Mendocino College Volleyball Team battled to win one of their two matches at the Butte Classic this past weekend.

The Eagles opened up against College of the Redwoods and established the tone of the match early on route to a straight set victory 30-24, 30-23 and 30-28.

Mendocino used its strong serving to take advantage of Redwood’s passing difficulties. The Eagles managed 21 aces in the match, including nine by Freshman Passion Allen Lenard (Lower Lake) and six by Freshman Shana Hiatt (Clearlake).

Sophomore Alisa Cannia (Fort Bragg) had six kills and Freshmen Jenn Cox (Upper Lake) had four kills, while Sophomore Sarah Luetke (Yreka) had 16 assists.

Against Butte College, the Eagles were defeated by the Roadrunners 30-16, 30-16 and 30-14.

Butte took advantage from the service line, while the Eagles only scored three aces during the match. Despite actually playing better volleyball against Butte, the Eagles were unable to get going and take advantage of their opportunities on offense.

“Playing Butte, a perennial conference front-runner, will only benefit us. They are a skilled team with a lot of weapons. My players battled them and will take away some valuable experience,” Mendocino College Head Coach Ori Polkinghorne said.

Mendocino is 2-6 on the season. They will travel to Eureka to play College of the Redwoods on Friday, Sept. 21.

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