CONCORDIA, Kan. – Behind a trio of players with a team-high eight kills each and 11 service aces, the Cloud County Community College volleyball team would cruise to a 25-19, 25-19, 25-22 home victory over the University of Nebraska-Kearney JV team in non-conference action inside of Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Monday, September 27th.
 
With the victory, Cloud County improves to 10-9 overall on the season and wins at home for the first time in six tries during the 2021 campaign as three of the previous five opponents that CCCC has hosted were ranked inside the NJCAA Division I Top-20 poll at the time of the match.
 
Following a slow start to the opening set that would see the visiting Lopers jump out to a 4-2 lead, the T-Birds would get things going offensively as Kylie Fuller would put down a kill to spark a 5-0 run that would be capped off by a Kenzie Cooper service ace. Things would then tighten up again as the UNK JV team would get back within a point at 8-7 and keep things within a point of CCCC until a Lakyn Tenbrink kill and T-Bird block would push the lead back out to three at 12-9. With things still at a three-point margin in favor of Cloud County six points later at 15-12, CCCC would see the Lopers make another attempt at closing the gap and reclaiming the lead as two T-Bird errors would get things tied back up at 15-15. Fuller and sophomore Geraldyn Palacios would then kick start another CCCC rally by scoring four of the next six points as part of a 6-3 run that would force the Lopers into a timeout at 21-18. Out of the timeout, Cloud County would commit an attack error before cleaning things up to close out the set by getting a kill from Natasha Dooley followed by a pair of service aces from the Garden Plain, Kansas native to secure an opening set win.
 
Another slow start from Cloud County in the second would allow UNK to claim an early lead as four of the first five points would be scored by the Lopers to make it a 4-1 deficit for the T-Birds. The UNK lead would remain at three points until a kill by Cooper would be the start of three-straight kills for Cloud County to tie things up at eight all before quickly giving the lead back to the Lopers on a service error. It wouldn't take long for the T-Birds to tie things back up as back-to-back kills from Tenbrink and Palacios would make it 10-10 as Cloud County would manage to finally grab their first lead of the set at 13-12 and force UNK into a timeout. The Lopers would then call their second and final timeout of the set just four points later as the T-Birds would extend their lead to three at 16-13 with momentum starting to shift over to CCCC in the set. Down the stretch, it would be the offensive power of Cloud County as the T-Birds would hit .317 as a team in the set with 18 kills on 41 attempts including a set-ending kill off the block from Palacios to give the T-Birds the second set by the same score as the first.
 
Closing out the Lopers in straight sets would not be easy for Cloud County as UNK would again come out and take advantage of some T-Bird errors to grab the lead that would manage to hold until a Palacios service ace at 7-7 would give CCCC the lead. The set would then become a back-and-forth-affair for the next several points as neither team could find a way to string together points with things remaining a one-point set until two UNK kills and a Cloud County error would make it 13-10 and force the T-Birds into their first timeout of the match. The timeout would seemingly wake up CCCC as a block from Cooper and Camryn Wessel would be the first of six straight points to flip the three-point deficit into a three-point lead for the T-Birds with freshman Zoe Bechard providing two service aces in the run. Cloud County would then push their lead out to five at 19-14 following another kill from Cooper as the lead would remain at five all the way up until match point. The Lopers would do all that they could to try and stay alive in the match by fighting off three match points from CCCC, but Tenbrink would have the final say with a kill off the block that would allow Cloud County to hang on for the three-point set victory to close out the night.
 
It would be Dooley and Cooper along with Kylie Fuller who would all end their night with eight kills to account for 24 of CCCC's 38 total kills on the night. Fuller would record five of her kills on five attempts in the opening set while both Dooley and Cooper would overcome slow starts to finish with seven kills each over the final two sets. Mariah Janda would lead the T-Birds in set assists with 18 on the night to go along with nine digs to finish one dig shy of her first collegiate double-double while Palacios would have a season-high four service aces in the match.
 
What's Next?
Cloud County returns to Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference play on the road as the T-Birds will travel to Great Bend to take on Barton Community College at 6:30 PM on Wednesday, September 29th. Barton is 14-8 overall this season and 5-1 in the KJCCC after winning their past two matches which included a three-set home win over Hutchinson last Friday. The lone Jayhawk Conference loss for the Cougars would come at the hands of KJCCC leading Butler in straight sets back on September 15th.