NORFOLK, Neb. – Action on Saturday would have a familiar feel to the way things played out on Friday afternoon for the Cloud County Community College volleyball team with the T-Birds opening the day with a three-set sweep of the Mount Marty University JV team before battling host Northeast Community College to win a five-set thriller inside the Cox Activities Center in Norfolk, Nebraska on Saturday, August 26th.
Opening the day with a 25-22, 25-9, 25-22 win over the Lancers for their third win of the weekend, CCCC would close out the weekend by dropping the first set to the host Hawks 25-20 before rebounding with wins in the second (25-19) and third sets (25-18) to go up 2-1 in the match. Northeast would force a fifth and final set after a 25-22 fourth-set defeat for the T-Birds before pulling out the win with a 15-10 win in the deciding set to run their record to 8-1 on the year with six neutral-court victories.
Against Mount Marty JV:
Mixing lineups and getting a variety of players time on the court, CCCC would hit .273 for the match which included an astounding second-set attack percentage of .636 after recording 14 kills on 22 attempts without an attack error to go along with three service aces. The T-Birds would also finish with eight blocks as a team and allow just one service ace to Mount Marty JV in the match.
A balanced offensive effort would see
Madison Ronnebaum lead Cloud County in kills with eight on 15 attempts to edge out
Doga Eski who had seven kills and the duo of
Bradie Medina and
Jacey Schurle who each finished with six. A big match from sophomore
Brette Doile would see the McPherson, Kansas native have four kills and a .571 attack percentage on seven attempts, a team-best 23 set assists, 10 digs, two blocks, and three service aces. Other statistical leaders from the first match of the day for the T-Birds would see Medina have a team-high 14 digs while Ronnebaum, Schurle, and Kloë Waymel all recorded four assisted blocks.
Against Northeast CC:
Despite being held in check offensively with just a .192 attack percentage, CCCC would manage to utilize a season-best 11 blocks to come up with big points down the stretch in the sets that they would win while also recording 10 service aces as a team. When things mattered most, the T-Birds would not only be resilient by also efficient in the fifth set as nine kills on 26 attack attempts without an attack error would see a .346 attack percentage in the final set after hitting just .178 in the fourth.
Three different players for Cloud County would finish with double-digit kills led by a team-best 18 from Ronnebaum who also had a .370 attack percentage after taking a game-high 46 attack attempts. Not far off the pace set by Ronnebaum would be Eski with 16 kills on 43 attempts while
Katelynn Brogan would also reach double-digits with 10 total kills to go along with 20 set assists and 14 digs for her second triple-double in as many days.
Another big game from Doile would see season-highs in set assists (28) and digs (22) for her second double-double of the day while
Madelynn Wells would have a team-high 29 digs and account for the only two sets assists not recorded by Brogan or Doile. Providing a defensive presence would be Schurle with seven assisted blocks and four digs despite being held to just five kills with three of the five sets featuring multiple blocks by the Clay Center, Kansas native.
What's Next?
Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference play officially kicks off on Wednesday, August 30th with Cloud County returning home for just the second time this season to host the number 17 nationally ranked Butler Community College at 6:30 PM. The Grizzlies held a 3-3 overall record heading into a pair of matches on Saturday out in Trinidad, Colorado with three of their first six matches coming against nationally ranked foes which includes a three-set win over fourth-ranked Indian Hills Community College last weekend.
