BY MIKE MONTFORT
Fourth-ranked Navarro overcame an 0-2 deficit, a spate of errors, and found a way through five intense games to defeat ninth-ranked Blinn, using a meager .207 hitting percentage – its third lowest mark of the season.
Navarro, unbeaten at home, maintained its perfect Region XIV record and notched its 20th win of the season with a stirring 20-25, 19-25, 25-23, 29-27, 15-11 triumph that snapped Blinn's 25-match winning streak.
The two-hour, eleven-minute match featured a combined 131 kills, 347 attempts, 125 assists, 161 digs, 25 block asissts, and a recorded total 95 errors of the attack, service or return variety.
Navarro got kill-dig double-doubles from outside hitters Hanna Tylska (20/18) and Kalina Pylinska (16/15), plus a third assist-dig double-double this season from setter Alessandra Pantoja (47/11) – marking the first time this season the Bulldogs have had a three double-double match.
Pylinska achieved her team-leading 13th double-double of the season, her third in the last four matches. Tylska, the NJCAA service-ace leader, registered her ninth double-double and sixth in the last seven outings. Pantoja used anindividual and team season-high 47 assists to accomplish her first double since a sweep over Western Texas at the Weatherford Invitational.
Sophomores Alivia Sotelo added 16 assists, and Alyssa Rojo led NC's backline defense with 25 digs.
Freshmen stepped up and were difference makers down the stretch for the Bulldogs.
Belizean Khaya Gordon hit .433 with a personal-best 17 kills – her third double-digit kill match and first since opening weekend when she posted 12 in wins over New Mexico and Indian Hills at Odesaa.
Ganriela Smolenska hit .333 with six kills and six total blocks.
Yelizaveta Ivakina contributed seven kills and three block assists.
Gordon, Smolenska and Ivakina combined on 64 attempts in 14 games with only eight attack errors.
Navarro returns for a 2 pm Saturday non-conference match against Division III Dallas College-Ceda Valley at The Wolens Special Events Cneter. The Bulldogs are using the non-conference match as a bridge to the second half of the Region XIV conference season that resumes next week. In the second half, the Bulldogs play eight of their final 10 regular-season matches on the road. Only two conference matches remain on the home schedule – against Tyler on October 11 and against Lee on October 13.
-------
HIGH FIVES: Since 2017, Navarro is 20-11 in five-game matches. Now in the fourth year of the Apolinario Era, the Bulldogs are 8-4 in five-gamers. Tuesday's Instant Classic win here over ninth-ranked Blinn served as program payback for a five-game loss to the Buccaneers at Brenham on September 20, 2022 (25-22, 19-25, 19-25, 25-23, 15-9). Tuesday's win also was NC's first since August 23, 2022 when the 'Dawgs beat North Central Texas at Athens, 28-30, 25-15, 25-20, 20-25, 15-13.
FROM 0-2 TO WIN: Navarro's most recent victorious comebacks from an 0-2 deficit occurred in the 2019 and 2017 seasons. The unbeaten 2019 national champions bounced back for a 21-25, 24-26, 25-15, 25-19, 15-4 win in a September 6 match against Division II Cowley College at the Cisco-Ranger Tournament. In 2017, coach Ronda Shirley's team handed No. 2 ranked Iowa Western its first loss, breaking the Reivers' 13-match winning streak with a 24-26, 23-25, 25-20, 25-23, 17-15 at The Blue Dragon Classic in Hutchnson, Ks., on September 22.
