BEATRICE, Neb. – For the eighth time in the past nine seasons, the Cloud County Community College volleyball team would start their season with a victory as a pair of 3-0 sweeps over Labette and Coffeyville would highlight a perfect day at the 2023 Southeast Community College RKP Invitational at the Truman Center in Beatrice, Nebraska on Friday, August 18th.
 
The win over Labette would serve as the season-opening match and first under head coach Hilta Ramos who made her head coaching debut with a 25-7, 25-12, and 25-17 victory for her first career win before seeing the T-Birds make quick work of the Red Ravens in the second match of the day with a 25-10, 25-15, and 25-20 three-set sweep of Coffeyville.
 
Against Labette:
Little would go wrong for CCCC against the Cardinals as the T-Birds would .348 in the opening set with 10 kills and two attack errors on 23 attempts to go along with three blocks and six service aces. For the match, The T-Birds would record five total blocks and 18 service aces while needing just 33 total kills on the scoring end.
 
Statistical leaders in the Labette match would see freshman Bradie Medina finish with a team-best eight kills alongside a seven-kill performance from Doga Eski. Medina would also lead CCCC in digs with 11 and be one of six T-Birds to have multiple service aces with two. Defensively, Madison Ronnebaum would a team-high four assisted blocks while seeing Emery May add three assisted blocks to go along with five digs.
 
Against Coffeyville:
Facing off with the Red Ravens for the third consecutive year in Beatrice, Cloud County would make the most of an efficient offensive start as the opening two sets would see CCCC commit just one attack error on 50 total attempts while recording 27 kills for a .520 attack percentage through two sets while finishing the match with a .432 attack percentage (39 kills, four attack errors, 81 total attempts). Defense would also do its part against the Coffeyville as a total of six blocks (five assisted, one solo) and just two service aces against the T-Birds would limit the Red Ravens offensively.
 
Another strong offensive performance from Medina would see the Holdredge, Nebraska native finish with a team-best 12 kills and hit .400 after committing just two attack errors on 25 attempts while seeing Ronnebaum notch eight kills and a .467 attack percentage. Recording four kills and four assisted blocks would be Jacey Schurle to lead CCCC in blocks for the match while seeing Eski record one solo block and one assisted block after being limited to just four kills while Madelynn Wells would have a team-best 11 digs.  
 
What's Next?
Cloud County will remain in the cornhusker state to conclude a four-match weekend on Saturday, August 19th by taking part in a triangular hosted by Central Community College in Columbus, Nebraska. Action inside the Raider Field House will begin at 11 AM with a match between host Central CC and Southwestern Iowa Community College before seeing Cloud County take on the Spartans at 1 PM. The T-Birds will then play host Central at 3 PM with the 3 PM match being streamed live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/centralcccolumbus.