CONCORDIA, Kan. – Offensive struggles and unforced errors would lead to the Cloud County Community College volleyball team dropping their Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference and 2021 home opening match to the number-12 ranked Barton County Community College Cougars in straight sets inside of Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Wednesday, August 25th.
 
The loss drops Cloud County to 3-2 overall on the season and 0-1 in the KJCCC while the Cougars remain undefeated on the year to improve to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in league play.
 
Two attack errors and a kill from freshman Erin Deters would allow CCCC to jump out to a quick 3-0 lead in the opening moments of the first set, but it would be short lived as the Cougars would manage to claw their way back to a 6-6 tie. Following a Barton service error and Mariah Janda service ace, BCCC would manage to six straight points to go up 11-8 before a service error would stop the rally. The Barton lead would then manage to stay between one and three points as the T-Birds would close the gap on multiple occasions but never could quite get back to even. Trailing 17-16, Cloud County would see Barton score three straight points before back-to-back kills from Hollie Stewart would give the CCCC faithful some momentum. It wouldn't be enough as Barton would close out the set by scoring five of the final seven points to claim a 25-20 set one victory.
 
The Cougars would step on the gas from the start of set two as a 7-1 run from BCCC would force a quick Cloud County timeout with the T-Birds looking out of sorts and in need of a change. Things would not get much better throughout the set as the Barton lead would reach double-digits at 17-7 as CCCC would have no answer offensively or defensively for what the Cougars were throwing at them. Despite a small rally late in the set, it would once again be Barton who would come out victorious as Cloud County would drop the set by a score of 25-13 and now be forced into a must-win set three to extend the match.

Another quick start from the Cougars would allow BCCC to jump out to a 5-1 lead before a service error and attack error would pull the T-Birds back within two. Cloud County would manage to keep within striking distance of the Cougars over the course of the next several points as the Barton lead would never get higher than five before breaking through for back-to-back points to make it 15-8 in favor of BCCC to get CCCC to use a timeout. The seven-point lead would prove to be a breaking point for Cloud County however as the T-Birds would get no closer than five at 19-14 the rest of the way with Barton closing things out with a 25-15 set victory to take the match.
 
Stewart would lead CCCC's offensive output with eight kills and a .300 attack percentage while Natasha Dooley would tack on six kills. 16 of Cloud County's 18 set assists would come courtesy of Kylie Fuller who would also add one of the three T-Bird service aces.
 
What's Next?
Cloud County returns to non-conference action with four matches this weekend all taking place at the Highland Community College Invitational. CCCC will take on Northeastern Oklahoma A&M and host Highland on Friday, August 27th before closing out the tournament on Saturday by taking on Fort Scott and Allen.