BEATRICE, Nebraska — The Cloud County Community College volleyball team had a busy weekend up in Beatrice, Nebraska as the T-Birds played four matches in two days at the RKP Invitational, hosted by Southeast Community College.

The T-Birds posted a tournament record of 1-3 in what was their final non-conference tune-ups prior to the start of Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC) action, which begins at 6:30 p.m. on the road against Pratt Community College.

Cloud County (2-3 overall) battled through some early season growing pains, starting the weekend off 0-2 in Friday's action against Northeast Community College and North Platte Community College.

On Saturday, the T-Birds fell 3-0 in a rematch against McCook Community College, which Cloud County had swept three days earlier when the teams met in Concordia for Cloud's home opener.

The T-Birds would respond in its final game of the tournament, earning a hard-fought five set victory (25-27, 25-19, 23-25, 25-20 and 15-9) over Southwestern Community College.

"We faced some adversity as a group throughout the first three matches of the weekend. As a team, we keep focusing on the importance of coming together as a group and finding our chemistry," said Cloud County head coach, Molly Skocny. "The season is still early so we tend to be hot and cold in that department. But it is obvious that when we have that cohesiveness, we are much more successful at executing our offense and our transition play is clean."

RKP Invitational Results

Match One: Northeast Community College defeats Cloud County [25-18, 25-17 and 25-18]

Cloud County sophomore setter/right side hitter Christen Greving led the way offensively for the T-Birds with a career-high 10 kills in its first match of the tournament against Northeast Community College.

Greving, who's previous career high was seven kills against Hutchinson on Oct. 12, 2016, finished the match with a .600 hitting percentage. It was a bright spot in what was a tough match offensively for the T-Birds as their team hitting percentage was .183.

Freshman defensive specialist Britt Michaelis tallied team highs in digs (18) and service aces (2).

Match Two: North Platte Community College defeats Cloud County [25-23, 20-25, 25-21 and 26-24]

Key points decided Cloud County's second match of the tournament against North Platte Community College as the T-Birds, despite edging the Lady Knights in most statistical categories, were stuck on the wrong end of a closely contested 3-1 loss.

The T-birds finished with a higher hitting percentage (.292) than North Platte (.075), the same amount of aces (6), more digs (61-56) and more solo blocks (8-3). But the Lady Knights held the edge in total team kills (46-35) and took advantage of six block errors by the T-Birds.

Redshirt sophomore Drew Mann led the way for Cloud with 10 kills and eight digs, while sophomore Elizabeth Nobert added eight kills.

Match Three: McCook Community College defeats Cloud County [25-19, 25-21 and 25-17]

Sophomore hitter Katelyn Ruth finished with a team-high eight kills, while Mann and Nobert added six kills apiece in the rematch against McCook Community College.

Match Four: Cloud County defeats Southwestern Community College [25-27, 25-19, 23-25, 25-20 and 15-9]

The T-Birds concluded the tournament on a high note, rallying back from a 2-1 deficit to earn a five-set victory over Southwestern Community College.

Cloud County posted its best hitting percentage (.392) of the tournament in the win and were paced by Ruth, who finished with a team-high 12 kills. Nobert added eight kills and freshman Giovanna Fundaro followed with seven kills.

Michaelis and Fundaro gave Southwestern fits behind the service line as Michaelis finished with 10 aces and Fundaro added five. The duo combined for 15 of Cloud County's 19 aces; the most aces in a game for a T-Birds team since Sept. 24, 2012 when they had 20 against Southeast Community College.