Conqs win first 2 home matches of season after opening with 19 on road

Finally, the Conqs volleyball team gave a home crowd something to cheer about.
    Not that the team has not played well in the first part of the 2008 season — after Saturday's home triangular, the Conqs are 12-9 overall and 2-1 in Jayhawk Conference play — but Saturday's matches against Clarendon (Texas) College and Otero (Colo.) Junior College were the first the Conqs had played at home all year.
    Dodge City completed more than half of its regular season before even stepping on its home floor in competition, but they made the wait worth it as they swept the triangular, beating Clarendon 26-24, 25-14 and 25-19 and Otero 24-26, 25-23, 25-8 and 25-21.
    "That third set against Otero is one of the things that I just don't understand about this game," said Conqs head coach Shaun Pohlman. "Volleyball is such a game of runs, and you've got to rely on everybody to get the job done in order to get on that type of streak. It's hard to do with just nine girls."
    Pohlman's players showed him what they were capable of in that third set, but perhaps what perplexed him was why they don't consistently put opponents away like that.
    "We shouldn't have struggled with Otero like we did," Pohlman said. "We're still trying to find that consistency, and our time for trial and error is over."
    Pohlman's concerns were validated in Wednesday's three-set loss at Hutchinson Community College, in which his team was taken out of its element early and never looked like the team he knows it can be.
    "But we were able to let that match go that night and move forward," Pohlman said.
    The Conqs will host Hutchinson CC on Oct. 21.
    Saturday's match against Clarendon saw the Conqs show some of that progress and exact revenge after a loss at the season-opening tournament at Lamar (Colo.) Community College. Outside hitter Janelle Burnett recorded 14 kills, right side/middle blocker Robin Somogyi killed 11 and recorded four aces, and middle blocker/right side Shannan Lane added 10 kills.
    Lane also had two blocks and six assists in what Pohlman called "the match of her life." Setter Danika Lucyshyn assisted on 33 points in the Clarendon match.
    Burnett again led the Conqs in kills in the match against Otero, with 12. Somogyi added 11 more.
    Mikaela Holsten and Jamisha Johnson recorded one block apiece against Otero, while Somogyi had 1.5. Lucyshyn added 36 more assists in the Otero match.
    The Conqs volleyball team will play again at home Wednesday against Pratt Community College in a Jayhawk Conference match. Pratt, coached by Pat Hall, is currently 1-2 in conference play.
    "Pat Hall is an excellent, excellent coach," Pohlman said. "His teams are competitive with a lot of teams that have better records than they do. It will be an even match, and we've got to take advantage of the fact that they may not be the best serve/receive team we've faced."