CONCORDIA, Kan. – It would take just three sets for the Cloud County Community College volleyball team on Wednesday night to down the visiting Hesston College Larks in straight sets with a 25-12, 25-12, 25-17 victory inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium in Concordia, Kansas on February 17th.

The win improves CCCC to a 3-4 overall record and 3-4 mark in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference as the T-Birds took the court for just the second time in nearly two weeks after seeing three of their previous five matches postponed. Hesston falls to 0-8 overall with the loss and now holds a 0-6 mark in the KJCCC.

Cloud County would waste no time jumping out to an early lead in the first set, scoring the first two points of the match and seven of the first nine to go up 7-2 with four kills in their first seven points. The T-Birds would also be able to take advantage of errors by Hesston, extending their lead to double-digits at 17-7 on a Lark attack error before eventually taking their largest lead of the set at 22-9. Holding a 23-10 lead on a Geraldyn Palacios kill, the Larks would manage to score two straight points on a block and a kill before seeing CCCC get a Delaney Herold kill and attack error from Hesston to end the set and go up 1-0 in the match.

It would be more of the same in the second set as the T-Birds would once again jump out to an early lead and never look back thanks in part to an 8-2 run to open the set and force a Hesston timeout. Things would continue to be all T-Birds out of the timeout as Herold and Lizzy Pfortmiller would combine in on a block to continue what would become a 5-0 run as CCCC would later on use a 6-1 run to force the Larks into their second timeout after going down 17-6 in the set. Keeping their foot on the pedal, Cloud County would lead by as many as 15 in the set before seeing a quick 4-0 Hesston run put the Larks in double-digits on the scoreboard before ending things with three straight points to take the set by a score of 25-12.

Holding a 2-0 match lead, CCCC would face some pressure from Hesston in the third as the Larks would battle their way through the opening points of the set by trading the first six points as well as the opening 10 points to make it a 5-5 set early on. Neither team would be able to gain any breathing room over the course of the next six points as ties would be had at 7-7, 8-8, and again at 9-9 before seeing the T-Birds use a 4-0 run to force Hesston to use a timeout at 13-9. Cloud County would use the run to take momentum in the set and continue to put pressure on the Larks, turning the 4-0 run into a 10-2 run to go up 19-11 and just six points away from their first sweep of the season. Hesston would not go down without a fight however, five of the next six points to pull back within four at 20-16. Following a service error from the Larks, CCCC would manage to finally take hold of things and put an end to the match as the final four points would be scored on the attack from the T-Birds as a 25-17 set score would end things in just under an hour's time.

Cloud County would hit an efficient .301 in the match, recording a total of 37 kills with Palacios leading the T-Birds with 11. Both Herold and Natasha Dooley would add nine kills each as the CCCC would record just 12 total attack errors in the match. Defensively, Cloud County would get 17 digs from Linnea Mowry as Herold would add 10 with all eight players who saw the court for CCCC recording at least two digs. The service line would also prove to be a factor tonight for the T-Birds, with seven total service aces being served up including a team-best two from Dooley.

What's Next?

A quick turnaround will see the T-Birds back in action at home tomorrow night at 6:30 PM when CCCC hosts Allen. The Red Devils have not played since last Saturday in a five-set home win over Coffeyville and will enter with a 4-4 overall record.