CONCORDIA – Following a week off due to two postponements this past week, the Cloud County Community College volleyball team would drop a 25-22, 25-22, 25-22 three-set decision to number-12 ranked Neosho Community College in Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference action on Saturday.
The defeat drops Cloud County to 2-4 overall and 2-4 in the KJCCC while the Panthers remain the lone unbeaten team in conference play to improve to 6-1 overall while sporting a 6-0 conference mark.
A slow start by CCCC would see the Panthers jump out to a 6-1 lead in the opening set to force an early T-Bird timeout as the lead would grow to as many as six before a Neosho service error finally broke the rally. Cloud County would then battle to cut into the deficit, clawing their way back to 11-9 before back-to-back Natasha Dooley kills would tie things at 11-all and force a Neosho timeout. The two teams would then trade the next four points of the set before a pair of Cloud County points would give the T-Birds their first lead since the opening point of the match. Neosho would have a response however going on a 4-1 run to jump back out in front, but CCCC would not go away as things would be tied 20-20 heading into the final stage of the set. The Panthers would then score the next two points as part of another 4-1 run to go up 24-21 in the set as CCCC would be unable to battle their way back and fall 25-22 in the set.
In the second set, Cloud County would get out to a 6-4 lead as Dooley and freshman Hollie Stewart would provide four of the T-Birds first six points. Neosho would battle back to tie the set up at 7-7 but the T-Birds would turn away any further rally by the Panthers as CCCC would score four of the next six points to go up 11-9. A 5-1 Neosho run would allow NCCC to take their first lead of the set at 14-13 as the Panthers would go on to take an 18-16 lead. Cloud County would pull within a point at 18-17, but Neosho would manage to hold their lead and get the score back to 21-18 as CCCC would be forced to take a timeout and try to get momentum back on their side. Out of the timeout, Cloud County would score three of the next four points to make one last push at closing the gap, but another strong close by Neosho would allow the Panthers to pull out a 25-22 victory.
Things would remain even tighter in the third set as neither team would gain a lead of larger than two throughout the opening 20 points of the set. With Cloud County trailing 10-8, the T-Birds would get four straight points capped off by a Dooley service ace to go up 12-10 and force a Panther timeout. The Cloud County lead would grow to three at 13-10 out of the timeout with a Geraldyn Palacios kill before seeing Neosho respond with a 4-1 run to tie things up at 14-14. The next six points would be traded by the two teams to keep the set tied up at 17-17 before seeing CCCC respond with a Delaney Herold service ace and Panther attack error to get NCCC to burn their second and final timeout. Neosho would have a response with a 5-1 run to reclaim the lead at 22-20 and get the T-Birds to use their final timeout of the set as things would wind up finishing the same way as the first two sets with Neosho taking a 25-22 victory to close out the match.
Herold would lead the T-Birds with 12 kills while adding 11 digs for a double-double while Dooley had 10 kills and 10 digs. Both Geraldyn Palacios and Stewart would record one solo block and four assisted blocks to finish with five each as Jaycee Burghart led the T-Birds in set assists with 25.
What's next?
Cloud County is slated for three matches next week beginning Monday with a road trip to nationally-ranked Fort Scott Community College. The match, which is set for a 6:30 p.m. start inside Arnold Arena in Fort Scott, will be the first meeting between the Greyhounds and T-Birds since last year's NJCAA Plains Region District B Tournament match.
--cloudtbirds.com--