The CCC volleyball opened up their 2011 season with a home loss to Southwestern College. The Tigers were swept in three games 14-25, 13-25, 10-25. The Tigers started 2 seniors, 3 sophomores, and 2 freshmen and first match jitters seemed to get the best of the Tigers. CCC had 9 kills on 75 attempts, 4 blocks,and 3 service aces. 

Offensively the Tigers were led by sophomore Audra Howell. She had 3 kills on 22 attempts from the setter position. Defensively, senior Ashley Johnson led the way with 10 digs. Four different Tigers got in the books with solo blocks.

Coach Burrill commented on his team's performance saying, "A loss was certainly not what we had hoped for. That is just the way it turned out. It was our 1^st time out this year and it showed. Southwestern runs a quick tempo offense and we struggled to adjust. Our block was just a little late getting there to close which left our defense with more holes than we could cover. They did a good job of keeping us off balance and ran the slide well. We dug the ball ok and we passed fairly well, probably better than we have in the 3 years I've been here, which is surprising considering that Friday night was the first time since we started that we have been able to put the starting lineup on the floor together. We have really been struck with nagging injuries and a rash of early illnesses. The thing that hurt us more than anything was not being able to build any momentum. When you commit 10 service errors you had better be clicking on all of your other cylinders to make up for it, and we weren't. We will have to take care of the ball better if we want to stay in the match. We have a lot of younger players with little or no collegiate experience. That will come. We are going to keep working hard to get better and we will. "

The Tigers head on the road Tuesday for a pair of matches in Lincoln, NE. They play Nebraska Christian at 6:00 pm and Union College at 8:00 pm.