CONCORDIA, Kan. – Facing their toughest test to date, the Cloud County Community College volleyball team would have arguably their best match of the year to earn a 25-20, 25-20, 16-25, 25-18 statement victory in their Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference opening match over number 17 nationally ranked Butler Community College inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Wednesday, August 30th.
Continuing their hot start to the season, Cloud County improves to 9-1 overall while moving to 1-0 in the KJCCC while the Grizzlies suffer their first loss to an opponent that is not ranked or receiving votes in the latest NJCAA Division I Volleyball poll to fall to 5-4 overall and 0-1 in conference. The victory for the T-Birds also snaps a five-match losing streak to Butler with the last five matches dating back to October 12, 2018 with all five matches coming in the form of three-set Grizzly victories. Prior to tonight's contest, CCCC had last defeated BCCC with a neutral-site four-set victory over September 1, 2018.
Behind an electric home atmosphere and a chance to play at home for just the second time this season, Cloud County would utilize three early errors from Butler including a service error to start a 3-0 rally that would bring the opening set back within a point at 6-5 after an early 6-2 hole. The Grizzlies would respond with a pair of points before seeing CCCC go on a 7-2 run to take a 12-10 lead and force BCCC to use their first timeout of the match. Out of the break, Cloud County would extend their run with two more points including a block by
Emery May and
Madison Ronnebaum to go up 14-11. Pushing their lead out to five at 16-11, the T-Birds would maintain some breathing room by never letting the Grizzlies get any closer than three at 18-15 before going on a 4-0 run to take their largest lead of the set at 22-15. Three-straight points from Butler would see BCCC attempt to make things interesting down the stretch, but Cloud County would manage to use a Grizzly service error,
Jacey Schurle kill and another block by May and Ronnebaum to close out a 25-20 set win.
Avoiding a slow start and early hole in the second set, Cloud County would manage to keep things even with Butler throughout the opening 14 points of the set before seeing a 5-2 run allow the Grizzlies to go up 12-9 and quiet the home crowd momentarily. Back-to-back kills from
Katelynn Brogan and
Doga Eski brought CCCC back within one at 12-11 before seeing a 6-3 spurt from Butler go back up by a four-point margin at 18-14. After the spurt by BCCC, CCCC would have a run of their own by scoring the next five points to turn the deficit into a 19-18 lead and force a Butler timeout before seeing three more points out of the timeout put the T-Birds up 22-18. After trading the next four points to bring things to set point, Cloud County would manage to close out the set on their sixth block of the night coming courtesy of May and Ronnebaum.
A 3-0 run to start the third set by Cloud County would quickly be erased by a Butler team playing with a sense of urgency as the next four points would be scored by the Grizzlies as part of a 17-2 run that would give BCCC a massive 17-5 lead. Regaining serve after a service error by Butler, Cloud County would begin to trade points back and forth with butler which would be to the benefit of BCCC due to the large lead. The Butler lead would grow to as high as 22-8 before a 5-0 spurt from CCCC to try and start building momentum towards a fourth set as the large deficit would be too much for Cloud County to overcome in what would finish as a 25-16 set victory for Butler.
Wanting to close out the match without needing to go to a deciding fifth set, the T-Birds would manage to score four of the first six points in the fourth set to get the home crowd back into the match. The score would become tied at 5-5 after back-to-back points from Butler while seeing a larger 5-1 spurt from BCCC allow the Grizzlies to go up 8-6. BCCC would continue to control things in the set with the lead hovering between two and four points with a T-Bird attack error allowing Butler to go up 12-8. Cloud County would chip away at the BCCC lead and manage to pull back within one at 15-14 after a 6-3 rally from the T-Birds that would followed by a 5-2 CCCC run to take a 19-17 lead and force Butler into a timeout. The Grizzlies would get a much-needed kill from freshman Raven Boone in what would prove to be the last real opportunity to extend the match by BCCC as the final six points of the match would be scored by Cloud County including back-to-back service aces from
Brette Doile to close out the 25-18 set victory and 3-1 match win.
Overcoming 12 Grizzly service aces, Cloud County would use a 10-4 advantage in blocks and a .211 attack percentage while holding the Grizzlies to a season-low .109 attack percentage. Individually, Eski would finish with a match-high 13 kills and tie a season-best with 16 digs for her third double-double of the year. Another key contributor offensively would be
Bradie Medina with 12 kills along with 15 digs on the defensive end while seeing Brogan (20) and Doile (19) combine for 39 of CCCC's 45 set assists. May would have seven assisted blocks and one solo stuff to finish with eight blocks while Ronnebaum would provide five assisted blocks with five different T-Birds finishing with multiple blocks on the night.
What's Next?
Cloud County will play their ninth match away from home in the opening month of the season with a trip to Colby to take on the Trojans in a 2 PM KJCCC clash inside the Colby Events Center on Saturday, September 2nd. Colby dropped a five-set road decision to Seward County Community College on Wednesday evening after starting the year with six wins in their first eight matches. The T-Birds and Trojans split a home-and-home series last season with both teams earning 3-0 sweeps on their home courts.
