Cloud County volleyball wins twice in Monday home triangular

CONCORDIA - Two home matches would lead to a pair of wins on Monday as the Cloud County Community College volleyball team would sweep Hesston College before downing Southeast Community College in four sets to win the Cloud County Triangular inside of Arley Bryant Gymnasium.

Winners of five of their past six matches, Cloud County is now 16-13 overall on the year while Hesston would drop both of their Monday matches to fall to 1-27 overall. Southeast split their two matches to move to 10-21 overall.

Against Hesston
Jumping out to a 10-0 lead in the opening set, the T-Birds would have little trouble taking an opening set victory over the Larks as CCCC would fire on all cylinders on their way to a 25-8 set one win. Things would take a similar route in the second set as Cloud County would turn a 2-2 tie into a 10-3 lead that would reach double-digits at 16-6 and fall to single-digits just once in the rest of the set. Leading 20-8, CCCCC would finish the set on a 5-1 run as a 25-9 set two victory would put the T-Birds up 2-0 and in full control of their opening match while looking to end things quickly and stay rested for their second match of the day.

Another quick start by CCCC to open the third set would see the T-Birds score 10 of the first 13 points of the set and grow to 13-3 just three points later to force Hesston into their first timeout of the set. Two quick points from the Larks would allow Hesston to get back within single-digits, but it would be of little use as Cloud County would go on another run to push their lead back out to as many as 14 before ending things with a 25-12 victory to finish the match.

Kenzie Cooper would lead all players in the match with 11 kills and finished with a .500 attack percentage while committing just one attack error on 20 attempts. As a team, Cloud County would finish with a .462 attack percentage with Geraldyn Palacios recording seven kills on nine attempts and also adding an assisted block defensively. Other statistical leaders for CCCC included 13 set assists from Kylie Fuller and eight digs from Michaela Bowers.

Against Southeast
The T-Birds would again look strong in the opening moments of the first set against the Storm to jump out to a 12-7 lead that would grow to eight at 16-8 following a kill from Fuller. CCCC would then score five of the next six points to go up 21-9 as the 12-point margin would be more than enough for Cloud County to pull away and earn a 25-13 opening set victory and jump out to a 1-0 lead in the match.

Southeast would manage to keep things a little bit closer in the opening stages of the second set as CCCC would find themselves holding on to just a one-point lead at 10-9 following a 3-0 run from the Storm. A 5-1 response from Cloud County would allow the T-Birds to gain some breathing room at 15-10 and build some momentum as SCC would get no closer than three points the rest of the set with CCCC managing to pull away late to earn a 25-17 set victory to start the day with five straight set victories.

An extremely competitive and closely contested third set would see 13 ties and six lead changes throughout as the set would eventually be settled in extra points. After seeing Cloud County grab the lead at 3-2, the T-Birds would not trail again a service error would give Southeast a 15-14 lead and set up a stretch of ties at 15-15 all the way through 19-19. The Storm would then manage to string together back-to-back points to go up 21-19 and eventually 23-19 after capping off a 4-0 run as CCCC would be forced to use a timeout to try and avoid having to play a fourth set. The T-Birds would be forced to fend off three set points after trailing 24-21 to tie things up at 24-24 before seeing things tied one final time at 25-25. SCC would manage to come up with a kill and take advantage of a CCCC attack error as the set would conclude at 27-25 in favor of the Storm to avoid being swept and send things to a fourth set.

Things wouldn't be any easier for the T-Birds in the fourth as a 5-0 lead to open the set would be erased by Southeast with the Storm battling back to tie things up at 11-11. Using their first timeout of the set, Cloud County would weather the rally by SCC to avoid trailing despite three ties in the set. Holding on to a 16-15 lead, CCCC would score five of the next six points to gain some breathing room and force a Southeast timeout while holding a 21-16 lead. The five-point margin would prove to be just enough space to allow Cloud County to hang on for a 25-21 set victory and pull out a four-set match victory.

Big matches from both Cooper (18 kills) and Natasha Dooley (15 kills) would pace the T-Birds as no other player for Cloud County would finish the match with more than eight kills. Fuller would record a double-double with 26 set assists and 16 digs along with Dooley who added 26 digs to her kill total and a match-high five service aces.  

-cloudtbirds.com-