CONCORDIA, Kansas — The Cloud County Community College volleyball team struggled in its return home Wednesday, falling in straight sets to Garden City Community College in what was the T-Birds first match back inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium since September 25.

Slow starts plagued Cloud County (4-22 overall, 1-13 KJCCC) in all three sets Wednesday. Garden City (10-19 overall, 6-7 KJCCC), which entered on a three-match win streak, jumped out to a quick 7-3 lead in Set One.

"That's been a constant battle for us; a general flatness and lack of positive energy," said Cloud County head coach, Molly Skocny. "We're struggled to consistently find that individually and collectively as a group."

The Lady Broncbusters was able to maintain that 4-6 point advantage, despite a strong, seven-kill first set from Cloud sophomore Elizabeth Nobert, en route to a 25-21 win.

Garden City rode that momentum to a 6-1 lead in Set Two, again forcing an early timeout from the T-Birds to regroup.

Cloud battled back to within two points at 13-11 following a kill from Nobert, but the Broncbusters would close the set on a 12-5 blitz to go up 2-0 in the match.

The T-Birds, after falling down 18-4 in Set Three, showed fight as they rallied all the way back to within five on three occasions to make Garden City sweat out a 25-20 win to conclude the match.

Offensively, Nobert led the way for Cloud County with 11 kills and five total blocks. Fellow sophomore Katelyn Ruth chipped in six kills, while freshman Janessa Zenger had a solid showing off the bench with four kills on six attempts.

"We have some of our freshmen who are physically getting to the point where they can hang, so that's really great to see," Skocny said. "I'd really like for them to start developing a voice on the team, especially heading into next year."

Freshman setter Kamryn Stark tallied 26 assists and five digs.

In the back row, freshman libero Britt Michaelis led all Cloud players with 13 digs. Freshman outside hitter Giovanna Fundaro and sophomore defensive specialist Brooke Baird followed with 10 digs and nine digs, respectively.

Up next for Cloud County will be a trip out east to Missouri to compete in the Jefferson College Invitational this Friday and Saturday. The T-Birds begin tournament action at 6 p.m. Friday against Illinois Central College.

"We'll see some good teams out there and hopefully it'll be a good weekend for us," said Skocny.

The weekend will serve as a quick non-conference break, and a chance for the team to rally back together, before the T-Birds wrap up the regular season next week with a pair of home matches against Butler Community College and Dodge City.

"This weekend I'm hoping for the same thing I've wanted since Day One and that is to see the team that I know we can be," Skocny said. "I know the girls' confidence is down. Anyone's would be in our situation, but they really have nothing to lose at this point. I don't care if it is the very last day that this team takes the court, but I want to see the team that I recruited and the team we saw the first two weeks of the season. That's what I'd love to see this weekend."