CONCORDIA, Kan. – Cruising to a three-set win in their opening match of the day against the Ottawa University JV team, the Cloud County Community College volleyball team would find themselves in a battle throughout during the nightcap before earning a three-set win over Southeast Community College to cap off a 2-0 day at the Cloud County triangular inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Saturday, October 22nd.
The pair of wins allows CCCC to improve to 9-17 overall on the season heading into the final week of regular season action while Southeast splits their two matches on the day to move to 9-27 overall.
Against Ottawa JV:
Wasting little time to jump out to an early 5-3 lead, Cloud County would trail only twice in the opening set with the Braves as an 8-0 run would turn a 10-7 lead into a commanding 17-7 lead for the T-Birds. After seeing Ottawa JV respond with four of the next six points, CCCC would rattle off three straight to get within two points of a set win before managing to take the opening set by a score of 25-16.
Things would play out in a similar role in the second set as Cloud County would once again jump out to an early lead and never look back as a 6-2 lead would turn into a 10-4 lead after seeing the T-Birds put together a pair of 4-0 spurts in the opening stages of the set. As the set continued, Ottawa JV would get back within four at 11-7, but Cloud County would respond by six of the next eight to open up an eight-point lead at 17-9 before doubling up the Braves at 20-10. OUJV would make one final push by going on a 4-1 run to get back within seven at 21-14, but a 4-1 Cloud County run to end the set would give the T-Birds a 25-15 set victory.
After a back-and-forth start to the third set that would see ties at 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, and 5-5, Ottawa JV would jump out to their biggest lead of the match after a 6-0 run to put the Braves up 10-5. Sparked by a
Camryn Wessel kill to end the run, CCCC would respond by going on a 5-0 run to tie the set at 10-10 before going on a 9-1 run to go up by a score of 19-12. Not wanting to give Ottawa JV any hopes of mounting a comeback, CCCC would manage to score six of the final eight points to win by a score of 25-14 and come away with a sweep in their first match of the day.
Individually, a match-high 11 kills from sophomore
Kenzie Cooper would lead the way along with eight kills each from the duo of Wessel and
Katelynn Brogan. Brogan would also add a match-high 17 set assists and seven digs while
Madelynn Wells would lead the T-Birds with a team-best 12 digs.
Against Southeast Community College:
Having the benefit of taking on a Storm team that had just played their first match of the day right before the nightcap, Cloud County would manage to turn a 5-4 deficit into an 11-5 lead as a 7-0 run would force SCC to use their first timeout of the match early in the opening set. Managing to hold their lead throughout much of the set, CCCC would see a pesky Southeast squad cut into the deficit little by little before eventually tying things at 20-20 after a 5-0 run that included a pair of Cloud County attack errors. Reclaiming the lead briefly with a kill by Wessel, the T-Birds would then see SCC use a 3-0 spurt to force Cloud County into a timeout as CCCC would suddenly trail 23-21. Fighting off three straight set points to tie things back up at 24-24, Cloud County would be forced to fend off one more set point at 25-24 as the final three points of the set would be scored by the T-Birds to rally back for a 27-25 opening set victory and grab momentum heading into the second set.
Unable to build an early lead like the first set, Cloud County would face an 8-6 deficit before tying things up thanks to a service error from the Storm that would be followed by a
Jacey Schurle block in what would prove to be a foreshadow for how the rest of the set would go. Once tied, neither team would be able to get a lead of more than two until a 4-0 Southeast run with the score tied at 12-12 would force a CCCC timeout. Out of the timeout, Cloud County would respond by scoring each of the next five points to reclaim the lead at 17-16 before giving the lead right back after a 3-0 spurt from SCC. Another tie at 19-19 would be followed by ties at 20-20 and 21-21 as the end of the second would be heading for another tight finish. Three straight points by Cloud County would get the T-Birds to set point before back-to-back kills for Southeast would put things back at a one-point margin, but a service error would end any hopes of a comeback by the Storm to allow CCCC to escape with a 25-23 set win.
Having had to play from behind at some point in each of the first two sets, Cloud County would all but take that potential in the third set out of the equation in the opening points as a 7-0 run to start the set would give the T-Birds one of their largest leads of the match. Southeast would respond with four of the next five points before allowing CCCC to put together an 8-0 run that would put the deficit at double digits as it would appear that Cloud County would be on its way to an easy third-set victory. After seeing the lead grow to 15 at 20-5, SCC would put together a furious rally that included a 9-1 run to get back within eight at 23-15. With mistakes beginning to pile up on the side of Cloud County, CCCC would get a kill from Cooper to get to match point before finding a way to end the match on a
Marcella Garcia kill to take a 25-16 set win and finish the day without dropping a single set.
Eclipsing her offensive output from the first match, Cooper would once again lead all players in the match by recording 12 kills in addition to two of CCCC's seven service aces. Putting up her third-highest total of set assists on the season, Brogan would account for 24 of Cloud County's 42 set assists while Wells would lead the defensive charge with 12 digs.
What's Next?
Cloud County will host their final match of the 2022 season on Monday, October 24th when they host the Bethany College JV team as part of sophomore night which begins at 6:30 PM. Five sophomores (
Camryn Wessel,
Zoe Bechard,
Mariah Janda,
Erin Deters, and
Kenzie Cooper) will be honored prior to the match with the Swedes.
