Women's Volleyball | 8/27/2024 10:51:00 AM

The Cloud County Community College volleyball team is set to take on the Central Community College Raiders in a midweek showdown at 6 pm Wednesday, August 28 at the Raider Fieldhouse in Columbus, Nebraska. The match will be streamed live by Central Community College and can be found by clicking here.

The T-Birds opened the 2024 season last weekend by going 0-3 at the Dallas College Eastfield Invitational in Mesquite, Texas. Cloud County dropped a highly contested four-set battle to Ranger College (25-23, 19-25, 21-25, 25-27) in its opening match of the invite on August 23, before falling in a pair of matches to the Independence Pirates (24-26, 18-25, 19-25) and host and NJCAA Division III No. 1 ranked Dallas College Eastfield (9-25, 13-25, 20-25) the following day.

Sophomore Bradie Medina and freshman Grace Rowland led the attack for the T-Birds. Medina, a 5-foot-8 outside hitter from Holdrege, Nebraska, appeared in all ten sets and had a team-high 29 kills, an average of 2.9 kills per set. Medina also led the team with 50 digs and was second on the team with five service aces. Rowland, a 5-foot-8 outside hitter from Andale, Kansas, recorded 13 kills, including a match-high seven kills in the loss to Independence. Rowland also had ten digs and one block.

Sophomore returner Ashley Suter was dynamic all over the court in Texas, tallying 58 total assists throughout the weekend as well as adding 42 digs (4.2 digs per set) and adding eight kills to her stat line.

Defensively, freshman libero Berkleigh Curtis of Port Neches, Texas collected 31 digs for 6.2 digs per set. Curtis also provided four assists and three service aces.

Central Community College is currently 2-0 on the year. The Raiders won both of their matches at a home triangular on Saturday, August 24, topping Southwestern Community College in straight sets, 25-7, 25-7, 25-19, before besting Western Iowa Tech Community College in four sets, 25-19, 21-25, 25-16, 25-20.

Central Community College, last year's Region 9 champions, are led by sophomore returners Libbie Ball, Josie Bentz and Lauryn Scott. Ball, a 5-foot-6 setter from Palmyra, Nebraska, amassed 68 assists, an average of 11.33 assists, in the team's first two matches. Bentz, a 5-foot-9 outside hitter from Columbus, Nebraska, led the team with ten kills in their win over Southwestern. Scott, also a 5-foot-9 outside hitter from Hastings, Nebraska, totaled 19 kills and seven total blocks throughout the triangular. Top defender Ali Miller is also back for her sophomore season. Miller, a 5-foot-5 libero from Ord, Nebraska, had 18 digs last weekend.

The Raiders posted a 22-12 record in 2023, ending the year No. 18 nationally in the final NJCAA Division II rankings. The Raiders topped the T-Birds twice last season, both in four sets, including a 21-25, 25-18, 22-25, 20-25 loss in Columbus.

On top of the livestream, various in-match updates will be provided on the Cloud County Athletic Department's official X (Twitter) page, @CCCCSports.