HUTCHINSON, Kan. – Forcing a match-deciding fifth set after falling in a 2-0 hole, the Cloud County Community College volleyball team would be left still seeking their first victory in a five-set match this season following a 25-17, 25-15, 19-25, 15-25, 15-11 defeat at the hands of Hutchinson Community College inside the Hutchinson Sports Arena in Hutchinson, Kansas on Wednesday, September 1st.
The defeat drops Cloud County to 6-4 overall this season while sitting at 0-2 in Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference play while the Blue Dragons improve to 2-0 on the year and 2-0 in the KJCCC.
After dropping the opening set to fall behind 1-0 in the match, the T-Birds would find themselves in a 7-1 hole early in the second before going on a 5-1 run of their own to get back within two at 8-6 to try and stifle the Blue Dragon momentum. Four straight points from HCC however would push the lead back out to 12-6 as CCCC would be forced into a timeout to try and keep things from getting any worse. Hutchinson would manage to continue their push out of the timeout as Cloud County would seemingly be doubled up in the scoring column at every chance the Blue Dragons had as the T-Birds would drop a 25-15 decision to go into a must-win set three situation.
Momentum would seemingly shift following the break between sets as CCCC would grab an early 6-2 lead to force an HCC timeout with Cloud County taking their largest lead of the match to that point. Keeping their foot on the gas from an offensive standpoint, the T-Birds would force Hutchinson into burning their second and final timeout of the set at 15-8 as things would finally start to go CCCC's way. Earning a set victory would not be easy however as the Blue Dragons would not go down quietly with the score closing to within five at 24-19 before a
Geraldyn Palacios kill would give the T-Birds their first set win of the night.
Following a back-and-forth start to the fourth set, Cloud County would manage to turn a 5-4 deficit into a 9-5 lead as a 5-0 CCCC run would get Hutchinson to use an early timeout. 10 of the next 15 points would then score in favor of the T-Birds to make it a 19-10 lead as Cloud County would seemingly be on their way to running away with the set, but HCC would manage to go on a run of their own with four straight points closing the gap to get CCCC to use a timeout of their own. It would then be all T-Birds down the stretch as will and determination from Cloud County would lead to a 6-1 run to end the set with the exclamation point coming from a
Lakyn Tenbrink kill to secure the set victory at 25-15 as a fifth set would be needed to determine the outcome.
In the fifth set, neither team would be able to truly grab momentum early as slim leads would come and go for both teams due to unforced errors. With both teams not wanting to lose possible control of the set, the first 16 points of the set would come and go with a timeout used on both sides and the score tied at eight apiece. The back end of the crucial winner-take-all set would once again prove to be problematic for CCCC as has been in other five-set matches this season as Hutchinson would end the match by scoring seven of the final 10 points to outlast the T-Birds in the first of what is scheduled to be two matches between the two teams this year.
Freshman
Hollie Stewart would lead Cloud County in kills by finishing as the only T-Bird in double-digits with 13 while Palacios and
Natasha Dooley would each finish with eight. Tenbrink would add seven kills of her own as no other T-Bird would finish with more than three kills in the match in what would be an off night offensively for CCCC.
Palacios would also record three of Cloud County's seven service aces in the match with freshman
Kylie Fuller adding two service aces to go along with a team-best 25 set assists. The Minneapolis, Kansas native would also put up 15 digs to finish with a double-double while trailing only a team-high 23 digs from
Michaela Bowers defensively.
What's Next?
Cloud County will have a week to regroup and prepare for their next match which will take place on Wednesday, September 8th when the T-Birds host number 13 nationally ranked Seward County Community College for a 6:30 PM matchup. The Saints are currently 4-2 on the season after picking up their KJCCC opening win in three sets over Pratt on Wednesday night as both losses come to teams currently ranked in the top-10 of the latest NJCAA Division I Top 20 poll. SCCC is slated to play four matches this weekend at Cisco College in Texas before making the trek to Concordia a week from tonight.
