West Burlington, IA-Team chemistry doesn't always begin on the playing field or the court. For Southeastern Community College's volleyball team, it began in cyberspace.
And it appears to be paying off.
With 11 freshmen and two sophomores from Hawaii to Michigan on the roster, the Blackhawks swept both of their matches in Saturday's Jimmy John Invitational No. 2 at Loren Walker Arena. SCC beat Highland, 25-16, 25-9, 25-17, and then held on for a 28-26, 25-23, 25-23 win over Lake Land Community College. The Blackhawks improved to 10-7.
How did SCC coach Michelle Glass blend 13 strangers together to form a team?
"Luckily, I put them together around March so they could talk and bond and get ready," she said.
Of course, the 11 freshmen were still in separate high schools last spring.
"We did their housing situation and who their roommates were going to be," Glass said. "Now with the use of social media, the way they connect is so much easier. Really, the group itself is an amazing group with the chemistry. When they're on, they're on."
Saturday's first match against Highland presented just minor problems. The Rachels, Bingham and Malinowski, had nine kills each and Lesieli Vaenuku and Sarah Shambaugh each added five kills. Bingham served four aces and had a block and one block assist. Tori Lasley had two blocks. Jenna Saad set for 19 assists and Melodee Schulte led the Blackhawk defense with 16 digs.
It was the Lake Land match that tested the Blackhawks' chemistry. SCC swept, but won each set by the minimum two points.
"That was definitely the match of the day," Glass said. "That's why we do tournaments like this. We need to get ready for the ranked teams in our conference and overall. We play two ranked teams (this) week. We have (No. 19) NIACC to face on Wednesday (at home) and (No. 13) Illinois Central on (the road) Thursday. This was the perfect setup."
SCC led much of the first set against Lake Land, but the Lakers went on a five-point run to take a 23-22 led. The two teams traded points until Malinowski's kill and a Laker spiking error gave the win to SCC.
Lake Land dominated the early-going of the second set. SCC got its first lead at 16-15 and didn't fall behind again. Malinowski's block of Carolina Souza's spike provided the set point.
In the third set, Lake Land led at 22-19, but SCC scored six of the next seven points for the set and match win. The luck of the rotation helped. Lake Land's top hitter, Souza, was on the back row the final two points.
Souza, a Brazilian, finished with 17 kills.
Malinowski had 14 kills against Lake Land, Bingham had nine and Kennedy Good added eight. Saad had 33 assists. Bingham served three aces. Vaenuku finished with six blocks and one block assist. Lasley had three blocks. Bingham had one block and two assists and Malinowski added a block and an assist. Schulte had 18 digs, Malinowski had 16 and Bingham added 13.
″They've come a long way," Glass said. "When they first started it wasn't too pretty. Now that we're a little bit deeper in the season, I'm telling them that our (Iowa Community College Athletic) conference is not a joke. We have to fight if we even want a shot. Being in the top three in our conference, that's our goal. We've got some really great teams and if we want to be one of the powerhouses, it all starts here in our gym in what we do and what our culture will be."
No. 12 Iowa Central and Northeast are tied for the ICCAC Division II lead with 3-0 conference marks. SCC, 2-1, is tied for third with No. 8 Kirkwood and No. 12 Iowa Central.
Written by: Joe Green, The Hawkeye
