#13 LLCC loses to #10 Johnson County 25-21, 21-25, 21-25, 16-25

LLCC started Saturday against #10 Johnson County who was coming off their big win Friday against Parkland College.   LLCC started fast with a 25-21 win in the first set behind kills from Kiley Brunstein, taking the lead for good after alternating to 8-8.  In the second set, Loggers fell behind because of strong Cavalier net play, coming close at 9-10, but not able to catch JCCC as they won 25-21.  In the third set, the Loggers suffered a string of bad passes to start leading to three Cavalier overpass kills and a quick 10-3 lead over LLCC.  The Loggers didn't give up and behind kills from Erika Miller and Molly Tauke, were able to catch Johnson at 20-20.  At that point, after a timeout, the Loggers hit two balls out which were followed by two JCCC kills and a 25-21 loss for Lincoln Land.  In the final set, the Loggers switched the lineup around, inserting Olivia Dour at outside hitter.  The change proved effective for the first half of the match, but consecutive defensive mishaps and a big Johnson block led to a 20-15 deficit which Johnson closed out for a final 25-16 win.

"I'm disappointed a bit.  We were mentally tough in the first set from start to finish, but after that, we had runs where we made silly mistakes.  I'm glad we didn't give up and in the third set pushed back to tie it at 20," Dietz said afterwards, "The problem is that once we tie a set after trailing, that's the point we let up mentally.  Ideally, we'll fix that later today against McHenry."

MATCH STATS:
Digs: Marusic 19, Tauke 18
Aces: 3 with 1
Blocks: Melton 3, Dour 2
Assists: Jackson 50
Kills: Melton 15, Brunstein 14, Miller 10