Photo by mvcyclones.com
By: Joey Fernandez, Sports Editor
Volleyball: Successful season falls short of regional title
Women’s volleyball suffered a crushing 3-0 loss to Carl Sandburg College on Saturday in the semi-final of the NJCAA Region IV championship tournament, bringing the team’s successful season to an end.
The Cyclones had a 14-5 record and a second place finish in conference. In the first match of the tournament, they had advanced due to a 3-0 sweep of Elgin Community College.
Ending the season without achieving the final goal felt bittersweet to freshman DS Caitlyn Comiskey.
“I think overall we had a pretty good season.” Comiskey said. “I don’t think it was really successful, because we didn’t meet any of our goals besides being first in our side of the region, but we did end with a decent record.” Looking to build off the success of this season, the Cyclones will have half of the team returning with five of the 10 players being freshman.
Cross Country: Women nationally ranked
While official cross country action hasn’t taken place this week, the women’s roster was still able to generate some buzz with a national ranking announcement of No. 20 in the NJCAA DII National Coaches’ poll.
Coach Dimitri Dimizas hopes the recognition can propel the women to more success.
“The goal is to finish in the top 25 at the national meet,” Dimizas said. “It was a surprise beating Carl Sandburg College for the regional title, but we also want to beat them again at Nationals.”
The men’s team continued its rise in the rankings moving up three spots from No. 18 to No. 15.
Dimizas has similar expectations for the men’s roster: “There will be 32 teams at the men’s meet (which is the most at any meet all year), so top 20 is the goal.”
Nationals’ will take place on Nov. 13 in Richmond, VA.
Photo by mvcyclones.com
Men’s basketball kicked off its season with two games this past week, splitting for a record of 1-1.
Men’s Basketball: Season begins with mixed results
The Cyclone men’s hoops season began with games on Tuesday and Thursday. They did not get the result that was expected on Tuesday, falling 87-79 to Kankakee Community College.
The second game of the week came with a much different outcome, as the Cyclones dominated Lincoln Land Community College 71-42.
Sophomore forward Trevon Jones believes the team is worried about the long-term progression of the roster.
“It’s all a process. We’re meshing together well,” Jones said. “We’re still learning new things every day to help us win games.”
The Cyclones’ continue their season on Thursday at Olive-Harvey College.
Women’s Basketball: Defeats leave room to improve
Traveling to Parkland College for a weekend tournament, women’s basketball suffered two blowout losses: 91-50 to Parkland College, and 73-32 to Lincoln Land C.C.
With the season still young, freshman F/C Mikayla Dove is confident the play of the team will turn around.
“We had areas where we did really well, but we could have done a lot better overall,” Dove said. “We have a lot of room to improve.”
The Cyclones will get their next chance to improve on Tuesday, when they face off against Joliet Junior College at home.
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