CONCORDIA, Kan. – Shaking off the rust from Wednesday night's 3-2 heartbreaking loss at number 11 Cowley, the number 13 nationally ranked Cloud County Community College volleyball team would win twice on Friday with a pair of 3-0 sweeps over Bethany College JV and Hesston College at the Cloud County Triangular inside of Arley Bryant Gymnasium on September 13th.

Against Bethany JV:

Plagued by a hangover effect from Wednesday night, the T-Birds would see Bethany JV open the match by scoring the first six points of the set and nine of the first 11 points to grab a stunning 9-2 lead over CCCC. Delaney Herold would get Cloud County back on track at the service line to tie it at 10-10 as things would become a back-and-forth affair until midway through the set. With the T-Birds holding a slim 19-18 lead, a 6-0 run would end the set with CCCC taking a 25-18 victory and back in form heading into set two.

It would be all Cloud County from the start of set two as a 7-2 run to open the set forced a Hesston timeout before seeing the lead grow to 11-3 T-Birds and in full control. The closest that the Swedes would get the rest of the set would be nine at 20-11 as Allisyn Davis would end the set with a service ace to give the T-Birds a 25-14 set victory.

In the third set, Cloud County would jump out to a 7-3 lead before seeing Bethany JV battle back to close within two at 11-9. Things would then become tied at 13-13 with Bethany JV taking a 17-13 lead before a Davis kill would end the rally. With the Swedes holding a 19-16 lead, CCCC would battle back with back-to-back aces from Mary Broxterman to tie things up at 20-20 as the run would continue all the way to 24-20 to set up match point. Bethany JV would only be able to score one point before conceding the match as Cloud County would end things rather quickly.

A balanced effort saw freshman Broxterman lead the T-Birds with nine kills in the match to go along with a team-best three service aces while Grace Messenger added a career-best seven kills and five digs. Jaycee Burghart would lead Cloud County with 23 assists in the match and would just miss out on a double-double after recording nine digs.

Against Hesston:

It wouldn't be the slow start by Cloud County that was seen against the Swedes earlier in the day as the T-Birds would break open a 3-3 deadlock by scoring six of the next seven points to force an early Hesston timeout leading 9-4. The Larks would battle back to 10-8 before seeing Cloud County reel off five straight points to go up 15-8 to give CCCC some breathing room once again. After a pair of quick points by the Larks, Messenger would force Hesston to use their second timeout of the set with back-to-back service aces as the Cloud County lead would grow back out to seven at 18-11. The T-Birds would go on to win the set by a final score of 25-13.

A similar start to the second set found Cloud County in a 3-2 before a 6-0 rally would propel the T-Birds out to an 8-3 lead. The lead for CCCC would narrow to 9-7 as Hesston would battle back but a response for the T-Birds with four straight points as part of a 7-1 run would see the score get pushed to 16-8 in favor of Cloud County. With a comfortable cushion, the T-Birds would be able to trade points throughout the rest of the set to claim a 25-17 set victory as the Larks never posed a real threat in the second stanza.

No time would be wasted by Cloud County to open the third set as eight of the first 10 points scored went to the T-Birds to open an 8-2 lead. With the Cloud County lead growing to eight at 14-6, Hesston would respond with five straight points to pull within three at 14-11 before the two teams would trade service errors to make the score 15-12. Geraldyn Palacios would get the T-Birds back on track with a kill down the line to break serve once more for the Larks. The back and forth would continue with Cloud County doing everything in their power to stave off Hesston and keep the match from going to a fourth set. CCCC would eventually start to pull away late in the set, scoring two quick points to force a Hesston timeout at 20-14 as the T-Birds would win by a final of 25-18 to sweep the match.

Palacios picked up the offense late in the second and carried it over to the third set as the freshman finished the night with 14 kills and five digs while Broxterman put up six kills, six digs, and four blocks. Burghart followed up her afternoon performance with an additional 25 assists while also recording 21 digs.

What's Next?

Cloud County will face their toughest opponent yet when they travel to number-four nationally ranked Highland Community College for a 6:30 p.m. matchup on Wednesday, September 18th. The Scotties entered the weekend with a 9-2 overall record with their only losses coming to number one Coffeyville and number eight Fort Scott.