CONCORDIA, Kan. – Free points at crucial moments would be the undoing of the number 13 ranked Cloud County Community College volleyball team in a four-set home loss to number two ranked Coffeyville Community College at Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Wednesday, October 9th.

Suffering their first home loss of the season, Cloud County falls to 18-5 overall and 3-3 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while the two-time defending national champion Red Ravens improve to 29-2 overall and remain perfect in the KJCCC at 5-0.

Errors from both squads would be the story of the first set as it would appear that neither team wanted to take control in the early going while trying to battle nerves in a battle of top-15 teams. Following two net errors in the first three points, things would eventually settle in as Coffeyville would jump out to an 8-5 lead before seeing CCCC come back with three straight points to tie it up at 8-8. A 5-1 Red Raven run would then force a Cloud County timeout at 14-9 as the run would continue out of the timeout to force a second T-Bird timeout with Cloud County trailing 18-9. The hold would wind up being too much for CCCC to overcome in the opening set as Coffeyville would take the set 25-14 and grab an early lead.

Returning to their own style of play, Cloud County would jump out on the Red Ravens early in the second set to take leads of 6-4 and 10-6 to eventually force a Coffeyville timeout just one point later while holding an 11-6 lead. Things wouldn't get much better for the Red Ravens as Cloud County would push their lead out to 15-7 and force a second timeout from Coffeyville as the lead would grow to as many as nine points in the set to allow the T-Birds to take a 25-16 set victory and tie things up at one set each.

In the third set, the two teams would split the first four points before seeing Cloud County take the lead at 3-2 and manage to push their lead to 10-7. The three point lead would be short lived however as four straight points by Coffeyville forced a T-Bird timeout as the Red Ravens would flip the switch and put their lead to 21-16 and force Cloud County to take a timeout trailing 21-16. Facing a five-point deficit, a comeback in the set would not be in the cards for CCCC as Coffeyville would pull away late for a 25-17 set victory and reclaim a 2-1 lead heading to the fourth set.

Following a 3-0 start from the Red Ravens, Cloud County would manage to battle back to within a point at 5-4 before seeing another string of three points put together by Coffeyville to force a T-Bird timeout at 8-4. Mary Broxterman would make close the gap to 10-8 with a kill, but Coffeyville would come right back to push their lead back to five at 14-9 and eventually go up seven at 17-10. A service error by the Red Ravens would look to give CCCC a glimmer of hope, but it would all be for not as a service error by the T-Birds would unravel things with Coffeyville taking the match in four sets following a 25-19 victory in the set.

13 service errors compared to just two service aces for Cloud County would loom large throughout the match as things would not get much better due to three block errors and four ball handling errors. Outside of a nine-kill performance on 10 attacks from Dayana Chara in the second set, CCCC would have a hard time getting their offense in rhythm, combining for just 28 kills in the first, second, and fourth set of the evening. Chara would record a total of 18 kills on the evening while Emelys Martinez would put up 12 of her own, with Riley Bontrager adding 40 assists and 16 digs. Sophomore Willow Hunt would be the team leader in digs on the night, finishing with 17.

What's Next?

There won't be much time for Cloud County to sit and dwell on the defeat as the T-Birds will play host to Southeast Community College and number 10 Highland Community College for a 3 p.m. triangular on Friday, October 11th. CCCC has yet to play the Storm this season, but will be looking to even the season series with the Scotties after falling on the road to Highland earlier in the year.