CONCORDIA, Kan. – Looking to pull an upset and build momentum heading into the final two weeks of the regular season, the Cloud County Community College volleyball team fell into a 2-0 hole before giving number-19 nationally-ranked Barton Community College all they could handle as the match would be decided in extra points in a winner-take-all fifth set as part of a 25-12, 25-16, 16-25, 23-25, 20-18 defeat inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Saturday, October 14th.
Nearly pulling the upset against the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference leaders, Cloud County falls to 19-11 overall and 5-7 in the KJCCC while Barton improves to 21-3 overall and 11-1 in conference play.
Things couldn't have started much worse for CCCC as Barton would score 10 of the first 11 points of the match and never give the T-Birds a chance to try and get back into the set as the closest Cloud County would get is five at 11-6 before seeing the Cougars go on an 8-0 run and putting things out of reach to go up 1-0. Avoiding the slow start that plagued them in the first, CCCC would trade the opening eight points of the second back-and-forth with Barton before seeing the Cougars score back-to-back points to go up 6-4. Kills by
Doga Eski and
Bradie Medina would appear to give the T-Birds a little momentum by tying things back up before seeing 10 of the next 12 points be scored BCCC to double up Cloud County at 16-8. Trying to get back into the set with a 4-1 rally to make things 17-12 in favor of the Cougars, Cloud County would see Barton once again put together a strong push as eight of the final 12 points in the set would go in favor of BCCC to cap off a nine-point set win.
Looking like a completely different team in the third set, Cloud County would use a Brogan service ace to open the set and never look back as nine of the first 11 points of the set would be scored by the T-Birds with seemingly everything going right for CCCC. Barton would then score three of the next four points before the T-Birds would respond with four of the next five as the set would become a game of runs to put the score at 15-10 in favor of Cloud County. A service error from Barton would then allow the T-Birds to regain serve and go on a 7-0 run to take a massive 22-10 lead and get a growing home crowd back into the match. Barton would make one final push by scoring five of the next six points to get back within single digits at 23-15, but the final three points of the set would be traded to give Cloud County a set win to extend the match.
Momentum swings highlighted the fourth set as the first three points would be scored by BCC as part of a 5-1 run to open the set as the home crowd would be quieted by the Cougars momentarily. A big kill from Eski to get the T-Birds back on the board would start to get Cloud County back on track as the T-Birds would keep within four at 8-4 before going on a 10-0 run that would put Barton back on their heels and into a 14-8 deficit. Resiliency would be shown by BCCC however as the Cougars would score the next four points of the set to force a Cloud County timeout with things eventually becoming tied up at 16-16 followed by Barton taking the lead on a service ace. Not fazed by seeing a six-point lead vanish, CCCC would use a Medina kill to kickstart a 5-0 run of their own as the back-and-forth would now see the T-Birds back up by four at 21-17 heading into the final stretch run of the set. Barton would get back within a point on three separate occasions late at 22-21, 23-22, and 24-23, but the T-Birds would use a block from Brogan and Kloë Waymel to score the set-ending point as the match would now become a winner-take-all fifth set.
In a sign of things to come in the set, both Barton and Cloud County would score back-to-back points as part of a 2-2 start to the fifth with two ties coming in the opening six points. Three-straight points from the Cougars to break a 3-3 tie would force CCCC to use their first timeout of the set as Barton would look to control things throughout the next nine points with the score sitting at 9-6 in favor of BCCC following back-to-back Cougar points. Stopping the run with a Waymel kill, Cloud County would score five of the next six points to turn a three-point deficit into a one-point lead at 11-10. After a Barton timeout, the Cougars would tie things up at 11-all and start a run of seven ties over the next 13 points as neither team would be able to string consecutive points together despite four match point opportunities for CCCC and one for BCCC. One final match point opportunity for Cloud County would come following an
Emery May kill to put the T-Birds up 18-17, but an attack error by CCCC would keep the Cougars in the match and be followed by a service ace and kill to allow BCCC to avoid the upset.
Offensively, things would be far from clean on either side as the two squads would combine for 59 attack errors as both Cloud County and Barton would hit under .150 for the match. Keeping the T-Birds in the match throughout the night would be a 16-3 advantage in blocks to offset a 14-3 difference in favor of the Cougars in service aces.
A 14-kill effort from Medina and 13-kill effort from Eski would see both players record double-doubles as Medina would finish with 12 digs while Eski had a match-high 24 to go along with three blocks. 36 of CCCC's 46 set assists would be dished out by Brogan while
Jacey Schurle and May would each finish with six blocks. Barton would get a 20-kill effort from Phoebe Reyes to lea all players as three different Cougars would record double-digit kills.
What's Next?
No time to dwell on the near upset for the T-Birds as Cloud County is on the road for a 6 PM match in El Dorado, Kansas to take on Butler Community College on Monday, October 16th. The Grizzlies currently hold a 13-11 overall record and 5-5 mark in the KJCCC but have lost their past two matches with both matches coming at home.
