Box Score CONCORDIA, Kan. - A new year and new teams would be the only changes to occur on Tuesday evening as the Cloud County Community College volleyball team would come out firing to win the first two sets as part of a 3-1 home upset win over number-three nationally-ranked Johnson County Community College inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Tuesday, March 9th.
With the win, Cloud County moves to 8-7 overall and 7-7 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while the Cavaliers drop just their second match of the year to fall to 11-2 overall and 10-2 in the KJCCC. The win also marks the second-consecutive year that CCCC has knocked off JCCC while the Cavaliers were ranked number three in the NJCAA Division II Volleyball Top-20 Poll.
What would start out as a tight opening set would see the T-Birds break open a 4-4 tie by scoring the next four points after taking advantage of three JCCC errors and a
Jaycee Burghart service ace to double up Johnson County 8-4. The Cavaliers would battle back to pull within one at 8-7, but CCCC would have a response and manage to maintain their lead before pushing it back out to 15-10 on a
Lakyn Tenbrink kill followed by a
Geraldyn Palacios and Tenbrink block. Johnson County would burn their first timeout of the set following the block, but it wouldn't do much as the T-Bird run would continue as the Cavaliers would call their second and final timeout after a
Delaney Herold kill put the T-Birds up 17-12. From that point on, Cloud County would close things out by scoring eight of the final 14 points as Johnson would get no closer than six points the rest of the set with CCCC winning the set 25-17.
Things would play out in a similar fashion in the second set as Cloud County would again battle with Johnson County in the opening points of the set before seeing JCCC take their first lead of the match at 11-10. Cloud County would battle back to tie things up at 12-12 and again at 14-14 as a Cavalier service error and Palacios/Burhgart block would put the T-Birds up 16-14 to force JCCC to call a timeout. The timeout wouldn't do much to slow down CCCC as momentum would begin to build in the set as the next four points of the set would go to Cloud County to put the T-Birds up 20-15. Holding the five-point advantage, CCCC would not allow Johnson County to make a comeback in the set, cruising to a 25-17 set victory to go up 2-0 on a stunned JCCC squad.
The third set would see Cloud County come out and play a little out of sorts after a commanding opening two sets as Johnson County would break an 8-8 tie by scoring three of the next four points to go up 11-9. JCCC's lead would grow to four at 13-9 as CCCC would face their largest deficit of the match, but it wouldn't last long as the T-Birds would battle their way back to tie things up yet again at 16-16. Both teams would then trade the next six points of the set as neither would concede an inch as the Cavaliers would be up against the wall down two sets to zero while Cloud County was looking to end the match in straight sets. Three straight points for Johnson County would allow the Cavaliers to open up a 22-19 lead on CCCC to force a T-Bird timeout as the lead for JCCC would hold for the rest of the set in a 25-23 win for the Cavaliers to force a fourth set.
Looking to put Johnson County away for good, Cloud County would come out strong in the fourth set by scoring the first three points of the set and jumping out to a 4-1 lead on a Herold kill. The Cavaliers would battle back to tie things up at 6-6 and again at 7-7 before eventually taking the lead at 10-7 after capping 4-1 rally. JCCC's lead would grow to 14-10 to force a Cloud County timeout as the T-Birds would begin to feel the set start to slip away as Johnson County would begin to take advantage of some CCCC errors. The lead for the Cavaliers would grow to as many as six at 16-10 before a rally by the T-Birds would get started on a JCCC error and Tenbrink kill as Cloud County would score seven of the next eight to tie things up at 17-17 and get back into the set.
Down the stretch in the fourth, Cloud County would continue their hot play as Palacios and Tenbrink would team up for yet another block before Herold would come up big with another kill to tie things at 19-19. The lead would be given back to CCCC on a Johnson County attack error as the Cavaliers would call a timeout trailing 20-19.
Lizzy Pfortmiller would then get involved for the T-Birds, coming up with a pair of massive kills as the second would get JCCC to use their final timeout of the match with Cloud County on top by a score of 23-21. Out of the timeout, Johnson County would get back within a point with a kill, but give up the ensuing two points as an attack error would end the match with Cloud County capping off the upset with a 25-22 set victory.
Finishing with 14 kills each would be the duo of Palacios and Herold as Palacios would also add three assisted blocks while Herold would have one service ace. Recording 49 of Cloud County's 50 set assists would be Burghart as the sophomore would also have 18 digs on the night to trail only teammate
Linnea Mowry who finished with 19. As a team, Cloud County would finish with 59 kills on 152 attempts and record a .250 attack percentage in the match.
