CONCORDIA, Kansas — Wednesday marked the second day of classes for Cloud County Community College students. Wednesday evening, the volleyball team properly welcomed their peers to campus as the T-Birds swept their season opener against McCook Community College in front of a spirited Arley Bryant Gymnasium crowd.

"For the most part, the girls came out and did exactly what we talked about (Wednesday)," said Cloud County head coach, Molly Skocny. "We wanted to open up strong at home. The girls know the crowd likes it when you get the job done in three sets and that's the best way to get people to come back and to stay."

Those in attendance were treated to an impressive debut from the T-Birds (1-0 overall) as they never trailed by more than four points in any set all evening.

McCook capitalized on some early jitters as it jumped out to a  6-3 lead in Set One, but the T-Birds found their footing and went on a 16-3 blitz — capped by a solo block from sophomore Elizabeth Nobert— to balloon their lead to 19-9. Cloud would go on to take the first set, 25-21.

In Set Two, sophomore middle hitter Irem Bat powered down six of her team-high 10 kills, helping Cloud to a 25-19 set win and a 2-0 advantage.

Fellow sophomore hitter Katelyn Ruth then took over the heavy lifting in the third set as she tallied five of her nine kills. Ruth was a near flawless 5-for-6 in attack attempts in the set, which included the match-clinching kill that put the bow on a 25-22 win in Set Three.

"I thought that Katelyn did an outstanding job offensively for us," Skocny said. "She kind of felt like she struggled this week in practice. But we were talking (Wednesday) about all the positive things she brings to our program… That kid can finish when she wants to. When she has a strong performance like this, I think it helps all the girls."

Cloud County also received solid play from its setters in the 6-2 offense as sophomore Christen Greving finished with a team-high 16 assists, two solo blocks and two block assists, while freshman Kamryn Stark added 14 assists in her collegiate debut.

Defensively, freshman libero Britt Michaelis paced the back row with 14 digs.

The T-Birds will now turn their attention toward a two-day, four-game tournament set for this weekend at Southeast Community College. Cloud County will begin action Friday against Northeast Community College (10 a.m.) and North Platte Community College (2 p.m.).