Box Score EL DORADO, Kan. – Coming off a five-set home defeat on Saturday night, the Cloud County Community College volleyball team would once again find themselves locked into a five-set match on Monday night as part of a 3-2 road loss to Butler Community College inside the Power Plant in El Dorado, Kansas on October 16th.
 
Coming up just short of completing the season sweep of the Grizzlies, Cloud County falls to 19-12 overall and 5-8 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference with the defeat while seeing Butler improve to 14-11 overall and 6-5 in conference play.
 
Hampered by a slow start that would see BCCC jump out to a 5-1 lead to force an early timeout, Cloud County would trail by as many as five in the first set twice before taking advantage of three-straight Grizzly attack errors to start a 4-1 run that would bring CCCC back within two at 8-6. After allowing Butler to push their lead back out to four at 10-6, CCCC would start to put things together by scoring seven of the next 10 points to pull back even at 13-13 to get back into the set. Trading points back-and-forth to see another tie at 14-14, the T-Birds would use a block from Doga Eski and Emery May to take their first lead of the match and start a 7-1 run that would give Cloud County a 21-15 lead. Butler would end the rally with a kill before trading service errors with CCCC as part of a 4-1 Grizzly run that would turn a six-point set into a two-point set at 22-20 to force a T-Bird timeout. Out of the timeout, Cloud County would see Butler score on an attack error to pull within one before a service ace that would tie the set before getting back out in front on an Eski kill that would be followed by a Bradie Medina kill and Katelynn Brogan service ace to end the set and give CCCC a 25-22 victory.
 
There wouldn't be much separation in the early stages of the second as neither team would be able to build a lead of more than three throughout the opening 20 points of action as things would be back where they started with a tie at 10-10 along with 11-11. A Butler kill would allow the Grizzlies to take a 12-11 lead before scoring four of the next five points to go up 16-12 and force a Cloud County timeout as BCCC would start to find their offensive attack. Following the timeout, Cloud County would keep the Grizzlies from extending their lead while also not being able to cut into the deficit as things would remain a four-point difference until back-to-back kills 18-14 from Eski and Ashley Suter would get CCCC back within two heading into the final stretch. Three of the next four points would be scored by the Grizzlies however as the deficit would reach four again to force a Cloud County timeout as the T-Birds could get no closer than two the rest of the way while seeing BCCC take a 25-21 set win to tie the match at 1-1.
 
Momentum from the second set victory would be a boon for Butler as the Grizzlies would use a kill and service ace to break a 6-6 tie to go up 8-6 to establish a lead that would grow to three at 14-11 to force a CCCC timeout. The T-Birds would respond with a Kloë Waymel end the rally before back-to-back kills and a service ace for BCCC to grow the deficit to five at 17-12 with things eventually reaching a seven-point difference at 21-14. Needing to make a push to have a chance at coming back in the set, Cloud County never would find a way to close the gap the rest of the way as Butler would score four of the final six to take a 25-16 set win in what would ultimately become the largest set win of the night by either team.
 
Down but not out, Cloud County would trade the opening eight points of the fourth before using an Eski kill and Butler attack error to break the string of back-and-forth play to go up 6-4 as the lead would hold until a tie at 8-8. Quickly regaining the lead on a Medina kill, the T-Birds would maintain their lead over the next nine points until three straight kills for Butler that would be followed by a Grizzly block to turn a three-point CCCC advantage into a 14-13 BCCC lead. Battling back to tie things at 16-16, Cloud County would see Butler reclaim a two-point lead at 19-17 on a T-Bird attack error before Cloud County would get a Grizzly service error to regain service as part of a 3-0 spurt to go back up 20-19. Things would become tied back up one final time at 20-20 before another Butler attack error that would give Cloud County the lead that would never be relinquished as a ball-handling error by BCCC would set off a 3-1 run by CCCC to finish off the set and send things to a deciding fifth set.
 
The carry over effect of momentum would once again be present to start a set as the first three points of the fifth would be scored by Cloud County with kills from Jacey Schurle and May be followed by a Butler attack error to put CCCC up 3-0. Responding with three straight kills to tie the set back up at 3-3, Butler would continue what would amount to a 7-0 run to go up 7-3 as things would suddenly be breaking in favor of the home Grizzlies and continuing with the run reaching a match-high 13-2 to put BCCC up 13-5. Out of timeouts and needing things to break back in favor of the T-Birds, Cloud County would use a Butler service error to end the rally before seeing BCCC send things to match point with a kill as the Grizzlies would have numerous chances to end things for good. Fighting off three straight match points with kills from Madison Ronnebaum and Brogan to go along with a Medina and Ronnebaum block, the CCCC rally would end there as a kill from Butler down the middle would put an official end to the match as BCCC would take a 15-9 set victory to improve to 3-1 on the year in five-set matches.
 
What's Next?
Sandwiched between road contests this week is Cloud County's lone home match which will come on Wednesday, October 18th when the T-Birds play host to Dodge City Community College at 6:30 PM. The Conquistadors will be playing their first match of the week after having last played in a four-set home win over Seward County on October 14th while sitting one-half game ahead of Cloud County in the KJCCC standings for sixth. Earlier this season, CCCC took the first two sets on the road against Dodge City before taking down DC3 in four sets.