CONCORDIA, Kan. – A sluggish start would lead to the number 15 ranked Cloud County Community College volleyball team falling in the first set before bouncing back in a big way to pull an upset of number three nationally-ranked Johnson County Community College in four sets at Arley Bryant Gymnasium in Concordia, Kan., on Wednesday.
Cloud County picks up win number 13 on the year to improve to 13-2 overall and climbs back into the thick of the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference race with a 2-2 conference record while Johnson County suffers their first conference defeat in the loss and drops to 12-3 overall and 4-1 in the KJCCC.
I told the girls that we saw glimpses of what we are capable of in the first set, but we need to ready to play from the first serve and come to play” said head coach Deb Monzon in a post-match interview. “We can’t play scared and we have to take some risks and get after things and you could tell that it made a difference later on in the match.” “Our crowd was incredible tonight and we are starting to get a following which really helps with volleyball being a sport that relies on the ups and downs that come with it.” “We still need to improve on the road, but have some opportunities coming up in the next two weeks to show that we are capable of playing just as well away from home as we do with our home crowd.”
It would be obvious in the early going that the T-Birds were playing in their first match following a week off as the Cavaliers would jump out to a 4-0 lead before growing to 6-1 to take the crowd out of the set. Things would continue to go in favor of Johnson County, growing to a 9-3 lead to force a Cloud County timeout as the T-Birds could not find any rhythm on the offensive end.
The lead for JCCC would grow to eight at 14-6 before seeing CCCC start to battle back as five straight points would fall in favor of the T-Birds before a ball handling error ended the rally. Cloud County would pull within two at 15-13, but wouldn’t be able to get any closer until pulling back within two at 22-20. The slim margin would be all the closer that the T-Birds would get in the set as the final three points of the set would be scored by Johnson County to give the Cavaliers a 25-22 set victory.
Cloud County would respond in the second set by grabbing the first three points of the set and building their lead out to five at 7-2 and again at 12-7 as the T-Birds wouldn’t let a slow start take place two sets in a row. With the once five point lead down to just two at 15-13, CCCC would get back-to-back points to force a Johnson County timeout as things would continue to be back and forth down the stretch. The set would close to within one at 22-21 in favor of Cloud County as an attack error and Haven Hamilton kill down the line would send things to set point. Dayana Chara would then end the set with a monster kill to send the T-Bird student section into an uproar as the match would be tied at 1-1 following a 25-22 set win for CCCC.
It would be a back and forth third set as neither team could manage to find a big lead with the first 19 points of the set being traded to put things at 10-9 in favor of JCCC. The Cavaliers would then push their lead to 15-11, but Cloud County would refuse to go away and eventually tie things up at 17-17 and force a Johnson County timeout. After seeing JCCC reclaim the lead once more at 21-19, the T-Birds would force another tie at 22-22 and grab the lead at 23-22 before a Chara ace put Cloud County just a point away from taking the set. Things would end on the very next point as CCCC would take the set 25-23 and a 2-1 lead in the match with momentum completely shifted to the T-Birds.
No time would be wasted by Cloud County to open the fourth set as four of the first five points would be scored by the CCCC to open up a 4-1 lead. Johnson County would respond with a 5-0 run to grab their first lead of the set before seeing Cloud County score the next three points to take an 8-6 lead. Things would become tied at 15-15 before seeing the T-Birds force a Cavalier timeout after scoring three of the next four points to go up 18-16 as the run would continue with three more points out of the timeout to put CCCC up 21-16.
Johnson County would close things up with one final push to pull within three at 21-18, but Chara would be there to slam the door with a kill and give the T-Birds serve once more. A block error on Cloud County would give back serve to Johnson County as Mary Broxterman would send things to match point with a booming kill down the middle of the court. Ending things in style, it would be Broxterman once more as the freshman would stuff an attack attempt by the Cavaliers to end the set and the match with a 25-20 set victory to complete the upset.
Leading the offense would be Chara with a team-high 15 kills as the sophomore had at least three kills in all four sets while adding eight digs and one assisted block. Geraldyn Palacios put up a total of five blocks (two solo) on the night along with two service aces while Emelys Martinez put in a complete effort with 16 digs, 11 kills, and two service aces. Burghart would record a career-high 36 assists to go along with 13 digs and one assisted block.
What’s Next?
The T-Birds will finish off their week with two matches in two days following a day off beginning on Friday afternoon by traveling to Kearney, Nebraska to take on the University of Nebraska-Kearney JV team. First serve is scheduled for 2 p.m.