The LCCC Commodores Volleyball Team Heading to Nationals! Capture Regional Title

November 2, 2014 - The Lorain County Community College Commodores Volleyball team is heading to the NJCAA National Tournament in Rochester, Minnesota on November 14 and 15 after finishing its regular season with a 24-11 record.

"All of our competition was against DII teams and eight of the 11 losses were against top 20 nationally-ranked DII teams," said LCCC Volleyball Coach Ted Whitsel. "The squad has seasoned players and focused on the goal of making it to Nationals."

The semi-final match on Saturday, Nov. 1 was against Howard Community College. LCCC won 3-0 (25-15, 25-2, & 25-12). With the hitting, serving, and digs, LCCC had too many ways to score for Howard to try to answer a team focused on a single goal. Danya Corlew led in kills with 12 of the team's 40 kills and the team had a kill efficiency of 41percent, Whitsel noted.

Kady Whitsel set the offense with 25 assists and 6 aces from behind the service line when the Commodores went on a 20-0 run in the second set which saw Kara Szabo control the net and Paige Elias dig up whatever Howard had to offer with 16 digs for the match.

On Sunday, the finals featured a repeat of last year's finals – Montgomery Community College verses the Commodores. After a few early hitting errors, LCCC controlled the match and won 3-0 (25-16, 25-8, & 25-13). "Again, Montgomery couldn't counter the offensive options, the tough serving, and the endless defense that came to play at Butler County Community College with one goal in mind and that was to head to Rochester, Minnesota to represent their college at nationals," Whitsel said.

Danya Corlew led the team with 14 of the team's 46 kills. Paige Elias had 6 service of the team's 11 aces and 17 serve receptions. Emily Mandoke controlled the net with 3 block kills while Kady Whitsel dug up Montgomery's offense with 18 digs and dished out 26 assists. Next stop, Rochester MN on November 14-15th.

"The Commodores take a spread offense that has three attackers in the front row that at any time can put away the ball and a never say die defense that keeps the ball alive. The Commodores love to play this game and they will compete for LCCC, Region 12, each other, and themselves at Nationals just fine," Whitsel said.

Box Score vs Howard CC
Box Score vs Montgomery CC