Red Devils claim home-opening match

In front of a boisterous student crowd, Allen County Community College’s Red Devils did not disappoint their fans Monday night.
The Red Devils collected a 25-19, 25-21, 19-25, 25-23 victory over visiting Longview Community College in their home opener. The win puts the Red Devils at 2-3 on the season.
“Tonight was a good example of what we can do,” said Jessica Peters, ACCC head coach. “This was the level we finished at Saturday at the Fort Scott tournament. We were able to start there and not have to build back up to it.”
Allen County steps into Jayhawk Eastern Division play Wednesday at Kansas City, Kan., Community College.
Another good thing to report for ACCC is that a day after announcing sophomore Makhala Giardina would be red-shirted, Peters informed the Register the outside hitter was cleared to play this season. Giardina played over the weekend at Fort Scott and made an impact Monday with 11 kills.
“We had counted on Makhala going into the season and it’s nice to have her just like we had planned,” Peters said.
Allen County used its outside and right side hitters effectively against the Longview Lakers Monday. “They earned 52 of the 57 kills we had on the night,” Peters said. “We were effective out of all offensive options.”
In a tight first set, freshman setter Jacqui Ortiz stepped to the service line with the teams tied at 19-19. She served up the final six points for Allen County. In that run was a dual block by freshmen Hayley Mertens and Autumn Douglas.
Allen County led throughout the second set. Longview had the serve with the Red Devils up 24-21 when Giardina put down the kill for the win.
Coming off a short break in the action, Allen County was up 6-3 but Longview kept battling. The Lakers used a five-point service run to take an 18-15 lead and went on to win set three 25-19.
Sophomore Alli Jenicke served for three points, including an ace, to push ACCC up 11-7 in the fourth set. Longview pushed back to get within one, 24-23 and had the serve.
On defense, the Red Devils received the service and set the ball up to their go-to-hitter — Jenicke. Jenicke planted her team-high 15th kill for the victory.
“Our serve-receive was effective as we only had four errors in that area. That allowed us to successfully execute an offense out of it,” Peter said. “Our serves on the night were very aggressive  which is something we put a lot of work into during Sunday’s practice. It paid off.”
Ortiz served for 10 points in the match and had three aces. Mertens had 10 service points and one ace. Sabrina Stanley served six points and had two ace serves and Douglas had five points and two ace serves.
Jenicke served four points and had one ace. Nicole Reed had two service points and Alisha Keith served for one point.
Behind Jenicke at the net, Mertens and Jordyne Seichepine each delivered 13 kills and Giardinia had 11. Ortiz and Douglas each had two kills and Randi Billings ha done kill.
Ortiz was credited with 27 set assists and Stanley put up 15 assists. Keith set seven assists and Seichepine had four assists.
Mertens came up with 21 digs and Reed had 19 digs. Ortiz made 18 digs. Jenicke had 13 digs followed by Stanley with 10 and Billings with four.
Mertens put up a solo block and had an assist on a block. Jenicke had a solo block. Douglas, Seichepine and Billings each had an assisted block.
“We put pressure on all areas throughout the four sets, creating chaos and out -of-system balls from Longview. That allowed us opportunities to turn the plays into something good,” Peters said.
“We also saw serious blocks in sets one and two but we weren’t as effective blocking in the last two sets.”
Allen County won’t play at home again until Sept. 12 when Northeastern Oklahoma comes to Iola. The Red Devils have Fort Scott coming in on Sept. 14 and the ACCC Invitational tournament on Sept. 24.