No. 13 Commodores Nearly Derail No. 2 Express; Fall in Five Sets

October 18, 2022 - - The Lorain County Community College volleyball team came up short in their bid to upset NJCAA DIII No. 2 Owens Community College Tuesday evening, losing to the Express after mounting a comeback to force a fifth set.

Owens is the two-time defending champion in the NJCAA DIII and looked the part in the fifth set, where they capitalized on LCCC's worst game hitting percentage-wise, 15-6. The No. 13 Commodores didn't seem intimidated in the early going, losing the first two sets by a combined four points.  They responded by taking the next two games, 25-19 and 25-13, aided by an explosive fourth set where they hit .316 as a team and committed only two errors. 

For the match, LCCC hit .216 and had 49 total assists, with Jordan Benware (Avon Lake, Ohio/Avon Lake HS) and Maggie Riley (Elyria, Ohio/Midview HS) each logging 23.  Benware also had six services aces and was one of four Commodores to have double-digit digs with 15, the others being Riley - 11, Brooklyn Ollis (Amherst, Ohio/Firelands HS) - 12, and Izabel Gallardo-Santo Domingo (Elyria, Ohio/Elyria HS) - 26.

For Santo Domingo, it was her sixth match with 20 or more digs this season.  She is currently first in the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference in digs per set with 5.34. Benware also leads the conference in services aces per set with .64.

Three Commodores cracked double-digit kills, with Chelsey Farris (Elyria, Ohio/Elyria HS) getting a team-high 17 and her fourth 6+ blocks game of the season.  MJ Blair (Lorain, Ohio/North Ridgeville HS) and Abbey Williams (North Ridgeville, Ohio/First Baptist Christian) each had 11 kills.  Josie Filice (Lakewood, Ohio/Lakewood HS) hit a team-high .308 (10 or more attacks) with six kills.

The Commodores (11-6) have two games left before they compete in the NJCAA Region XII DIII Championships next Tuesday at Owens Community College.  First, on Friday, they will host Edison State Community College at 6 p.m. The Commodores opened the season against the Edison's Chargers on August 20 with a comeback five-set victory. On Saturday, LCCC will close out the season against Clark State, who they defeated in four sets on September 23.