After saying that he would sacrifice wins on the Dodge City Community College Conquistadors' trip to Colorado for knowledge of a newly installed blocking scheme and offensive set, head coach Shaun Pohlman ended up not having to sacrifice much.
The Conqs won three of their four matches over Friday and Saturday against Otero Junior College and Colorado Northwestern Community College.
"We were fortunate enough to learn an important lesson along the way while still getting three out of four," Pohlman said.
The coach wanted to install a 6-2 offensive set, to complement the regular 5-1. The 6-2 features six hitters and two setters, and Pohlman said that he installed it partly to get backup setters some repetitions.
In Friday's matches, Pohlman said it was apparent that the new blocking scheme was working, as the Conqs notched seven blocks against Otero and five against Colorado Northwestern.
"Blocking isn't really the strength of our game, but the girls picked up what we were trying to do quickly," Pohlman said.
The Conqs lost the first set of Friday's match against Otero 28-30, but reeled off three straight victories 25-20, 25-15 and 25-17 after the slow start. Shannan Lane led the Conqs with 3.5 blocks, while Janelle Burnett had 13 kills.
Robin Somogyi added 11 more kills and four aces.
"We didn't come out of the gates very strong," Pohlman said. "So in sets two, three and four we started playing mini-games, trying to beat them (Otero) to five [points], 11 points, first to 13, and it really helped the girls focus on executing early."
Friday's match against Colorado Northwestern CC was also a four-set affair. Dodge beat in the first, second and fourth sets 25-18, 28-26 and 25-22. Northwestern took the third 25-22.
Burnett again led Dodge with 18 kills, and she also recorded six aces. Mikaela Holsten chipped in with 2.5 blocks.
"We started earning more of our points," Pohlman said of his team's second match. "We were controlling the game as opposed to just waiting for the opponent to make a mistake and taking advantage of them."
Saturday, the Conqs again handled Northwestern, winning 25-14, 22-25, 25-16, 25-21. Jamisha Johnson led the Conqs with 15 kills, while Danika Lucyshyn had 8 aces.
The second match against Otero taught the Conqs the lesson that Pohlman to which Pohlman referred. They lost in three sets: 16-25, 14-25 and 15-25.
"We found out that they still needed coaching during a game to be successful," Pohlman said. "I was trying to asses where the girls in their understanding of what we're trying to do out there and that last game showed me."
The win moves the Conqs to an 8-5 record overall. They are 1-0 in Kansas Jayhawk Community Conference play.
The next time the Conqs will be in action is Friday, when they travel to Colby for the Colby CC Invitational tournament. The team's first home matches are September 13 against Otero and Clarendon (Texas) College.
Dodge City —
