Trojans’ Eight-Match Surge Built on Balance, Resilience

The Colby Community College volleyball team’s winning streak has featured packed stands, victories over nationally ranked opponents and enough adversity to test nearly every part of the Trojans’ game.

Through it all, Colby has continued to find a way.

The Trojans extended their winning streak to eight matches Monday night by defeating Hutchinson Community College in five sets, 26-24, 17-25, 9-25, 25-18 and 15-11. The road victory moved Colby to 13-3 overall and 4-0 in Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference play.

It was the latest chapter in a run that began gaining national attention when Colby hosted No. 10 Barton Community College on Sept. 9. With the Event Center providing a charged home atmosphere, the Trojans defeated the Cougars in four sets, 25-23, 23-25, 25-22 and 25-17.

Colby was the more efficient attacking team that night, finishing with a .268 hitting percentage while holding Barton to .159. The Trojans committed 11 fewer attacking errors and closed the match by hitting .444 in the fourth set.

Ella Dridi led Colby with 14 kills and 12 digs. Lena Mihaljica recorded 12 kills and 19 digs, while Bianca Caputi supplied another 12 kills. Marta Cherubini finished with nine kills on 14 attacks, and Isadora Carrareto added seven kills without committing an attacking error.

Setter Priscilla Salas Moreno directed the balanced offense with 47 assists.

That victory sent Colby into the Sheila Worley Tournament in Sterling, Colorado, with momentum. The Trojans returned home with four more wins.

Colby opened the tournament by sweeping Casper College, avenging an earlier loss to the Thunderbirds. After winning the first two sets 25-19, the Trojans prevailed 31-29 in a demanding third set.

Dridi and Mihaljica produced 14 kills apiece, while Caputi contributed nine kills without an error. Colby hit .273 as a team, collected 78 digs and held Casper to a .093 attack percentage. Anita Ferri anchored the floor defense with 23 digs, and Salas Moreno distributed 43 assists.

The Trojans followed with another sweep against Western Nebraska Community College, winning 25-17, 25-23 and 25-15. Colby improved its hitting percentage in each set and finished the match at .305. Dridi led the attack with 13 kills, while Mihaljica had 10. Carrareto, Caputi and Cherubini combined for 23 kills and only three errors.

Day two brought an even greater test against No. 11 Frank Phillips College.

Colby responded with a four-set victory, 25-22, 19-25, 29-27 and 25-23. The Trojans opened the match with 14 kills on 19 attacks for a .526 hitting percentage, then showed their composure by capturing two closely contested sets after Frank Phillips evened the match.

Dridi finished with 15 kills and 14 digs. Caputi added 13 kills, while Carrareto delivered 12 kills with a .455 hitting percentage. Ferri collected 22 digs, Salas Moreno recorded 46 assists and the Trojans produced 11 service aces.

Colby completed its perfect tournament weekend by outlasting host Northeastern Junior College in five sets. The Trojans amassed 77 kills and 101 digs in the match. Dridi and Caputi each recorded 21 kills, Cherubini added 12 and Mihaljica finished with 13 kills and 21 digs. Ferri contributed 25 digs, while Salas Moreno assembled 71 assists and 10 digs.

Across the four tournament victories, the Trojans won 12 of 15 sets.

The return to conference play at Hutchinson demanded a different kind of resolve.

After taking the opening set, Colby struggled through the next two and entered the fourth set trailing 2-1. The Trojans had recorded only four kills with eight errors in a 25-9 third-set loss, but they refused to allow one difficult stretch to determine the match.

Colby rebounded by hitting .276 in the fourth set and forcing a decisive fifth. The Trojans then surged to an 8-1 advantage in the final set before closing out the match 15-11.

Dridi led Colby with 14 kills, Mihaljica added 12 kills and 19 digs, and Carrareto finished with eight kills and a .389 hitting percentage. Ferri supplied 17 digs, while Emma Ruch gave the Trojans a major lift from the service line with four aces.

Over the six victories beginning with Barton, Colby has won 18 of 24 sets. Dridi has accumulated 91 kills, Ferri has collected 110 digs and Salas Moreno has handed out 276 assists. The Trojans have swept opponents, survived extended sets, beaten ranked teams and recovered from being pushed to the edge on the road.

Those performances have carried Colby to an eight-match winning streak. More importantly, they have shown that the Trojans can win in more than one way.

The Trojans play again on September 16 at the Colby Event Center beginning at 6:30pm.