Miles City, MT – The Pioneers headed to Bismarck, ND to take part in the Mystic Invitational Tournament on Friday and Saturday. In the first game of the Mystic Invite, the Pioneers took on the Jacks of Dakota College at Bottineau and were able to get the win 3-2.
The Pioneers started off slowly, dropping the first two sets, 23-25 and 22-25. MCC then got into a rhythm and won the last three sets, 25-14, 25-17, and 15-4.
As a team, the Pioneers had 42 kills, Hailee Kuske led the team with 13. Samantha Bonenberger led the team with 26 of the team's 38 assists and six of the team's ten aces. On defense, Kailey Thomson led the way with 24 digs. Hailee Kuske recorded five blocks.
In Friday's second game, the Pioneers faced the Royals of Lake Region State College. MCC couldn't put much together the entire game and ended up losing all three sets falling, 0-3. Set 1, 19-25 set 2, 18-25and set 3, 14-25.
Tori Ogolin lead the way with 13 of the team's 27 assists. Brianna Quick had 6 of the Pioneer's 29 kills. MCC had 3 aces. On the defensive side, Kailey Thomson was the team leader in digs with 13 of the team's 40. Staiger led the team in blocks with 1.5.
Saturday's first game saw the Pioneers face the home team Bismarck State Mystics. The Pioneers were still have trouble playing together as a team and as a result ended up falling to the Mystics, 0-3. Set 1, 23-25, set 2, 19-25, and set 3, 15-25.
Sam Bonenberger led the Pioneers in assists, with 17 of the team's 30. MCC had 7 aces. Defensively, Hailee Kuskee led the team with 1.5 blocks and Kailey Thomson had 20 of the team's 57 digs.
In the final game of the Mystic Invite, the Pioneers faced Mayville State and got back in the win column with 3-1 victory over the Comets. The Pioneers started off strong, taking the set, 25-13. The second set saw MCC continue their strong play, winning 25-20. The Comets rallied back in the third set to win 23-25. However, the Pioneers proved too much for Mayville and the Pioneers took the fourth and final set 25-21 to take the game victory 3-1.
MCC had 10 aces in the game, four of these by AnnieKate Burghduff. Stahl led the way in Kills with 8 of the team's 36. Samantha Bonenberger had 20 of the Pioneer's 33 assists. Defensively, Kailey Thomson once again led the way in digs with 22 of the total 60. Stahl led with team in blocks with 2.
Coach Chase Soennichsen commented on the weekend tournament, "We didn't play our best each game, but we learned a lot and I saw a lot of positive things that we will be able to build on."
The Pioneers will be on the road again on Monday, August 27 when they travel to Wahpeton, ND to take on the Wildcats of North Dakota State College of Science at 6:00 pm.