Women's Volleyball 8/21/2026 9:45:00 PM

No. 12 Blinn opens season with two wins at Western Texas Fall Classic

The Buccaneers swept both Temple and Western Texas

Women's Volleyball 8/21/2026 9:45:00 PM

No. 12 Blinn opens season with two wins at Western Texas Fall Classic

The Buccaneers swept both Temple and Western Texas

No. 12 Blinn College volleyball opened the season with a pair of victories Friday at the Western Texas College Fall Classic, defeating Temple College and host Western Texas College to improve to 2-0.

The Bucs swept Temple 25-10, 25-4, 25-8 in their season opener before rallying past Western Texas 26-24, 25-15, 25-15 later in the day.

Blinn also extended its streak of winning its season opener to eight consecutive seasons.

The Bucs were especially dominant against Temple, hitting .536 as a team while committing just four errors.

Sophomore hitter Aliyah Harris led Blinn with 11 kills, while freshman hitter Nevaeh English added 10.

Freshman setter Skylar Herring finished with 17 assists and fellow freshman setter Valerie Yambao added 13. Yambao also recorded three of Blinn's six service aces.

Sophomore middle blocker Alana Asante posted two solo blocks and four block assists. Harris added two solo blocks and one assist, while English had three block assists.

Sophomore libero/defensive specialist Natalia Silva recorded a team-high 11 digs, and Herring contributed 10.

Blinn finished the match with 41 digs.

"We were ready and prepared and played very clean volleyball with very few errors," Blinn head coach Gregg Whitis said. "It's not easy to defeat a team the way we beat Temple today; to do that, you have to play extremely clean volleyball and we did that."

The second match presented a much different challenge.

Blinn committed more hitting and serving errors against Western Texas and allowed the host team to stay within striking distance in the opening set before pulling away for the 26-24 victory.

Harris again led the Bucs offensively, finishing with 15 kills.

Herring and Yambao finished with 15 and 14 set assists, respectively. Sophomore hitter McKynzee Beddes recorded a team-high four service aces.

Silva posted a team-high 19 digs, while Herring added 10 as Blinn collected 45 total.

Asante led Blinn at the net with four block assists, while sophomore hitter/setter Kassandra De La Garza and freshman middle blocker London King each added three.

Whitis said the inconsistency was understandable given Blinn's youth and the challenge of playing twice in one day.

"That's to be expected with so many young players," Whitis said.

Harris helped stabilize the Bucs during the second match, particularly in the second set.

"Aliyah bailed us out in game two," Whitis added.

While Blinn was not as clean against Western Texas, Whitis was pleased with the team's ability to persevere.

"The mark of a good team is when you don't play well, you're tough enough to stay with it and find a way to win," he said. "Somebody steps up and makes plays, and we had some kids do that."

Blinn also continued to show progress defensively. Whitis said the Bucs are becoming a strong floor-defense team and have improved their digging, while blocking and setting remain areas of development.

The Bucs will close the Fall Classic on Saturday with two more matches. Blinn will face Otero College at noon before taking on Dallas College Cedar Valley at 2 p.m.

Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 53 national championships since 1987.

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