Box Score LIBERAL, Kan. – A fitting end to a three-match week would come for the Cloud County Community College volleyball team as a third-straight five-set match would end in a 19-25, 23-25, 25-18, 25-18, 15-10 road victory over Seward County Community College inside the Greenhouse in Liberal, Kansas on Saturday, October 21st.
Pulling off an improbable win after falling behind 2-0 in the match for the second time in four days, Cloud County earns their second regular season sweep of a Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference foe to improve to 21-12 overall and 7-8 in the KJCCC while Seward County falls to 12-15 overall and 4-10 in the Jayhawk Conference.
In what was expected to be a battle throughout after seeing the previous match have the first two sets decided in extra points, fans would get their money's worth and then some with the T-Birds once again going the distance to mark their fourth consecutive five-set match. The opening set of the night would see Seward County jump out to an early 6-3 lead that would grow to five at 12-7 before kills from
Bradie Medina and
Jacey Schurle would get the Cloud County offense moving in the right direction to try and close the deficit. Battling back to within a point at 14-13, CCCC would then see SCCC push their lead back out to three with back-to-back points as the T-Birds would be unable to completely erase the hole they had dug. With things starting to get away from them following a Seward County kill to make it 20-17 Saints, Cloud County would use their first timeout before having to burn their final timeout just three points later as SCCC would close out the set on a 6-2 run to take the match lead.
A chance to build an early lead for CCCC in the second set would see the T-Birds score the first four points of the set before allowing Seward to respond with five straight points to take their first lead of the set. After seeing the next six points traded back and forth to foreshadow what would be seen in the rest of the set, neither team would see a lead grow to more than five to set up another close race to the finish. Holding a 21-16 lead following a
Madison Ronnebaum kill, Cloud County would see the next two points scored by the Saints as part of a larger 5-1 run that would bring SCCC within a point before having Medina end the rally with a kill to put the T-Birds back up two at 23-21. Unfortunately for CCCC, the Saints would have one more response by scoring the final four points of the set which included back-to-back kills to close out a two-point set victory as CCCC would now face a 2-0 match deficit.
Despite the advantage for Seward County, the Saints would not appear to take advantage of the situation to open the third set as Cloud County would manage to force seven ties throughout the opening 20 points of the set as neither team would manage to take control in the early going. The next three points would then be scored by SCCC to put the Saints up 13-10 before seeing Cloud County claw their way back to even at 14-14 with a
Doga Eski kill and eventually take a 17-13 lead that would force Seward to call a timeout to try and slow a suddenly surging T-Bird team. The timeout would do little to stop CCCC however as Cloud County would continue with four straight points after the timeout and get to set point to finish off a 10-2 run and eventually extend the match with a 25-18 set win.
A clear shift in momentum would now have seemingly everything going the way of the T-Birds as eight of the first 10 points of the fourth set would be scored by CCCC to jump out to an 8-2 lead off a Ronnebaum kill. Three of the next four points would be scored by Seward County to see the Saints try and get back into the set before it could get out of hand as SCCC would get back within four before seeing the lead for CCCC grow back out to six at 15-9 and again at 16-10. Using another Eski kill to add to their lead and force a Saint timeout, the T-Birds would not take any chances in letting Seward try and make things interesting late as the lead would grow to as many as 11 at 23-12 with Cloud County fending off a 5-0 spurt from SCCC to force a fifth set with a 25-18 victory in the set.
The recent stretch of five-set matches would prove to be a benefit for Cloud County as the T-Birds would keep composed and ready to go in the situation against a Seward squad facing their first five-set match in over a month. Following an attack error to give the Saints the first point of the set, CCCC would score the next four points and go up 8-3 on a Ronnebaum kill to force a Seward timeout during the change of sides on the court. Not much would change following the timeout as kills from Eski and Ronnebaum would offset a SCCC kill to extend the lead to six at 10-4 with Cloud County eventually doubling up Seward at 12-6 to force the final Saint timeout of the match. Back-to-back Seward points would give the home crowd some momentary hope, but Schurle would quickly slam the door with a kill to allow Cloud County to reclaim service and end the match by trading the final four points as Eski would have two kills in the final three rallies to finish the T-Bird comeback.
What's Next?
A full week will go by before Cloud County's regular-season finale against Pratt Community College which will come at 6:30 PM on Saturday, October 28th. The T-Birds will be celebrating sophomore day as part of the match with the Beavers, with CCCC looking to earn one final regular season sweep of an opponent while solidifying their seed for the upcoming NJCAA Region VI Tournament. Pratt currently holds a 9-21 overall record and will have a home match against Seward County next Wednesday prior to their trip to Concordia.
