CONCORDIA, Kansas — The final home stand of the regular season for the Cloud County Community College volleyball team got off to a rocky start Monday night as the T-Birds struggled to score the crucial points in a 25-23, 25-18 and 25-16 loss to Hutchinson Community College.

Cloud County (11-19 overall, 5-9 KJCCC), the fifth place team in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC), held leads in all three sets, but couldn't create separation as the KJCCC DI leading Blue Dragons (23-11, 13-2 KJCCC) were resilient.

The T-Birds played their best set of the night in first, taking a quick 3-1 lead on a kill from freshman outside hitter Elizabeth Nobert, who tallied four of her team-high nine kills in the first set.  Nobert and redshirt freshman Drew Mann, who was a perfect 5-for-5 attacking in the first set, had Cloud County in prime position to steal the first set as the duo combined for a block to give the T-Birds a 23-21 lead and force a Hutchinson timeout.

That 1:15 did wonders for the Blue Dragons as they went on a quick 4-0 blitz to steal the first set, 25-23.

Freshman outside hitter Irem Bat took her turn as the T-Birds sparkplug in the second set as she tallied two kills and a pair of solo blocks, the last of which tied the score at 16-16. Freshman hitter Katelyn Ruth followed Bat's block with one of his eight kills to give Cloud County a 17-16 lead.

Hutchinson Community College countered with a 7-0 run, spanning two T-Birds' timeouts, en route to a 25-18 win, capturing a 2-0 advantage and all the momentum.

The Blue Dragons jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the third set and didn't look back, completing the sweep with a 25-16 win.

Sophomore libero Bailey Lewis upped her team lead in service aces with three on Monday and added a team-high eight digs. Fellow sophomore Cara Flach finished with seven digs and a team-high 18 assists.

Cloud County will look to rebound when it continues its three-match home stand at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday against Garden City Community College.