The Dodge City Community College volleyball team served the season in motion with three contests at the Laramie County Community College Invitational in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and capped the weekend going 3-0 to open the season.
Conquistadors open the season against the host of the tournament, Laramie County, and earned the 3-1 win (25-19, 14-25, 25-17, 25-23) while topping McCook (25-20, 30-32, 25-23, 25-12) and Colorado Northwestern (22-25, 25-18, 25-18, 25-21) on Saturday both in fourth sets. The 3-0 performance in the first winning record at a regular-season tournament for the Conquistadors since 2017.
Won 3-1 vs Laramie County
The season opened up for the Conquistadors in a road contest against Laramie County and the Conqs put together a four-set win to open the year. Dodge City used a run midway through the first set to push the 25-19 set win but saw Laramie County bounce back in set two as the Conqs fell 14-25 in the set. The ladies responded in set three to claim it 25-17 and then went down 19-10 in the fourth set but came back to win the set and match with a 25-23 fourth set.
Ozge Tan and Antia Vallecas Rodriguez led the offensive attack for the Conqs finishing with 19 and 12 kills, respectively and each added 11 and 21 digs, respectively to give themselves a double-double in the contest. Nur Yaren Turkmenoglu helped set the offense in motion with 27 assists and added 14 digs, while Bruna Torres was strong at libero with 33 digs. Hillary English filled the stat sheet nicely with 16 digs, 13 assists, and seven kills.
Won 3-1 vs McCook
After opening the season with a win the Conqs looked to continue their strong start and did so against McCook by picking up another win in four sets. Set one the Conqs captured 25-20 and in set two while the Conqs were able to stave off set point by McCook five times they ultimately were unable to take the set falling 30-32 to even the match up at one set each. Set three was a tight affair but the Conqs were able to take it 25-23 and then the ladies finished off the match with a dominant fourth set 25-12 to claim the win.
English left her imprint all over the contest for the Conqs as she led the team with 13 kills, added 13 digs, and led the team with 21 assists while adding four block assists in the match. Tan posted another double-double with 12 kills and 11 digs, and added four aces, while Martyna Kmuk added nine kills and eight digs. Torres tallied 30 digs and Turkmenoglu posted 20 assists and nine digs.
Won 3-1 vs Colorado Northwestern
Conqs were back in action quickly after the win over McCook on Saturday as they played back-to-back facing off with Colorado Northwestern to cap their tournament performance. Perhaps playing back-to-back showed itself early in the match as Colorado Northwestern captured the first set 22-25. Dodge City responded winning the second and third set by the same score 25-18 and capped the tournament with a 25-21 fourth set to win the match.
It was once again English making an impact in several facets of the game as she recorded 18 kills, 16 digs, nine assists, and three block assists. Turkmenoglu once again helped set the Conq offense in motion with 34 assists and added 10 kills herself along with 14 digs. Torres again was everywhere defensively for the Conqs registering 29 digs, while Tan had 12 kills and Vallecas Rodriguez finished with eight kills and 13 digs. Alannah Lozoya had a strong presence in the contest with five aces and five digs.
The 3-0 start to the season is one of the best starts in years for the Conquistadors and they look to build upon the strong start to the season when they open up Jayhawk Conference play on Wednesday, August 25th at 6:30 pm on the road against Colby.
