CONCORDIA, Kansas — Heavy rains on Monday knocked out power throughout Concordia two hours prior to the Cloud County Community College volleyball team's match against Pratt Community College.

Once play started, there'd be no shortage of energy inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium as the T-Birds rolled to a much needed sweep (25-17, 25-21 and 25-15) over the visiting Beavers, turning the lights out on a six-match losing skid.

"We've kind of reached a point in the season where, if we're going to turn things around, the girls needed to see some pay off for their hard work and focus they've put in the last couple of weeks," said Cloud County head coach, Molly Skocny. "We were able to see some good things (in 3-1 loss to No. 20 ranked Colby on Sept. 20 ), but finally tonight we were able to get that conference win. I'm really happy for the girls."

Monday's win was the first Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC) victory of the season for Cloud County (4-14 overall, 1-6 KJCCC) and doubled as redemption for the T-Birds after they fell to the Beavers (6-17 overall, 2-6 KJCCC) in the first meeting between the two teams back on Aug. 30.

"Pratt saw us on probably one of the worst nights of our season that first match," Skocny said. "We just didn't show up that night. We had a case of the Bad News Bears where we couldn't do anything right. For the most part, we were able to keep things on track (Monday)."

The T-Birds set the tone from the beginning, jumping out to an 8-1 lead in the first set following a block by sophomore middle hitter, Elizabeth Nobert.

Cloud County would lead by as many as 11 points en route to the 25-17 win in Set One.

Pratt would play the T-Birds tough to begin the second set as two teams were tied at 8-8 early on before a 7-3 blitz by Cloud created some cushion. The Beavers climbed back within three as late as 23-20. But an ensuing kill by sophomore Irem Bat, who finished with a team-high 11 kills, halted the momentum and Cloud County hung on for a 25-21 win.

Cloud County would put the match away with a dominating 25-15 win in Set Three, keyed by an 8-0 run in the middle of the set during sophomore Katelyn Ruth's serve that ballooned the T-Birds' lead from 8-6 to 16-6.

Ruth and Nobert helped pace the offense with eight kills and seven kills, respectively. Freshmen setters Cammie Miller and Kamryn Stark each had solid performances as they tied for the team high in assists with 17.

Defensively, sophomore Christen Greving had a solo block and three block assists. Freshmen hitter Giovanna Fundaro led all T-Birds with 12 digs, while freshman libero Britt Michaelis joined her in double-figures with 10.

Up next for Cloud County will be a crucial seven-match road swing, starting at 6:30 p.m. this Wednesday against Butler Community College.

"We've talked a lot about this last week in September and October as being a pivotal momentum for our program this season," Skocny said. "We'll have the opportunity to go back and see these teams again — we haven't seen Butler yet — and have a chance for a comeback. We talked a lot (Monday) about how the comeback can be a lot bigger than the setback. The girls are focusing on what they can do versus what we haven't done. Over the next month, I think we can see some great things and they can be a different team than we saw most of September."