The Allen Community College volleyball team slipped up to Independence Community College on Wednesday night at home.
Allen (13-9; 3-4) began by getting in front with a 25-13 victory. After Independence took a 25-19 win, the Lady Red Devils went ahead two sets to one in a 25-15 third-set victory.
The Pirates then took the final two sets in a come-from-behind win, 25-17 and 15-13.
The Lady Red Devils were led offensively by Veronica Agostini’s 14 kills, Gabriela Dominguez’s 11 kills and Abby Altic’s nine kills. Alycia Shaw also managed seven kills while Lexi Deweese knocked six kills.
“Veronica hadn’t really played a significant amount until a week ago,” said Allen head coach Whitney Shaw. “She has a really strong volleyball IQ. It’s good for us, as we get late into the season. We need different people to step up. Gabriela has been a threat, we know that and other teams know that. We rely on her to do that.”
Sofia Otero dominated from the serving line where she registered 42 aces, followed by Andrea Maldonado’s nine aces and Aurivette Santos’s three aces.
Lady Red Devil Arlette Becerra notched three solo blocks while Katherine Harris, Deweese and Shaw each made one solo block.
“In the first and third sets we had some good serving runs that put us ahead. We struggled to shut down their best player,” said Shaw. “We should have put the ball away more and been a little stronger in all aspects.”
Agostini led with 18 points to help get Allen the pair of match victories while Dominguez totaled 11 points and Altic had 10 points. Shaw ripped 8.5 points as Becerra hit 7.5 points.
Allen will play again on Thursday night as they host Northeastern Oklahoma A&M at 6 p.m.
“We should know what to expect. We need to do a better job of shutting them down than we did last night,” Shaw said.
