Pioneers 3... Dawson 0 (27-25, 30-28, 25-11)

The MCC Pioneers kicked off conference play on Tuesday night with a 3-0 win over rival Dawson at the MCC Centra. 

Games 1 and 2 were both back and forth games that were tightly contested. MCC trailed in game 1 19-20 before putting 4 straight points on the board for a 23-20 lead. Dawson rallied to tie the score at 24-24 before MCC finally scoring 3 of the final 4 points for the win. The Pioneers looked to be in control of game 2 with a 16-11 lead but Dawson scored 11 of the next 13 points to take a 22-18 lead. MCC rallied with the help of several Dawson service errors to tie the score at 22 and finally after both teams trading points, MCC finally took the game 30-28.

Game 3 was all Pioneers as they got off to a 9-1 start and pulled away for the victory. 

Offensively, the Pioneers got 14 kills from freshman Zeason Schaffer (Broadus, MT) and 13 more from Ashtynn Egan (Colstrip, MT). Bailey Nowicki (Miles City, MT) had 37 assists and Mia Mader (Broadus, MT) had 2 service aces. 

On the defensive side of the ball, Schaffer had 6 blocks and Bree Swanson (Chinook, MT) had 18 digs. 

The Pioneers head to Gillette Friday and Saturday for 4 matches. They play Colorado Northwestern at 12:00 and Northwest College at 2:00 on Friday. On Saturday, the Pioneers have matches with Western Wyoming at 12:00 and Gillette at 2:00.