CONCORDIA – Fending off late rallies and numerous set points throughout the night, the number 16 ranked Cloud County Community College volleyball team would will their way to a four-set home victory over the Nebraska-Kearney JV team inside of Arley Bryant Gymnasium in non-conference action on Wednesday.
With one game remaining in the regular-season, Cloud County now sits at 23-7 overall as the T-Birds have now avenged two of their seven losses this season.
A wild opening set would find things about as close as they possibly come with the Nebraska-Kearney JV team taking a one-point lead to open the set before seeing Cloud County take the lead for what would become most of the set. With things tied at 5-5, CCCC would score three straight points to go up 8-5 before seeing the Lopers tie things at 8-8. The score would remain tied at 12-12 as Cloud County would then open a 5-2 run to go up 17-14 and get some breathing room. Nebraska-Kearney would not be done however as the Lopers would manage to tie the set at 18-18 and again at 19-19. Back-to-back points by Cloud County forced the first timeout of the match by Nebraska-Kearney as the timeout would prove to be much needed for the Lopers as UNK responded with four of the next five points. Following a T-Bird timeout, Cloud County would manage to fight off three set points as the set would be decided in extra points with Nebraska-Kearney committing two service errors on set point. Mary Broxterman and Geraldyn Palacios would make to sure to end things once given the chance as Cloud County would escape with a 28-26 set victory.
Set two would take on a similar feel with the teams being in swapped positions as it would be the first six points of the set that would be split before the Lopers would take the lead at 6-5. After Cloud County would battle back to tie things at 9-9 and again at 11-11, Nebraska-Kearney would reclaim the lead and maintain their lead between one and three points. One final push from the T-Birds would close the gap to a single point at 19-18 and force a Loper timeout, but UNK would double up the T-Birds down the stretch by taking six of the final nine points to tie things at 1-1 with a 25-21 set victory.
In the third set, Cloud County would be forced to dig themselves out of an early 3-0 hole by scoring three straight points as five ties would be seen in the set. With the final tie coming at 7-7, the T-Birds would manage to score four straight points to force a Loper timeout as part of what would eventually become a 12-1 run. The run would allow CCCC to take a commanding 19-8 lead as the Lpoers would be unable to mount any sort of comeback with the T-Birds taking the set 25-16 to go up 2-1 in the match. Nebraska-Kearney would not go down without a fight in the fourth set, scoring the first two points before seeing Cloud County reel off four straight as things would once again take a tight turn with the set being knotted up throughout the first 16 points. The T-Birds would then use a 4-0 rally to go up 12-8 before taking a 14-9 lead over the Lopers to force a timeout as it would seem that Cloud County would be prepared to pull away and end things for good. Nebraska-Kearney would manage to battle back to within two at 20-18 after trailing 18-13 before facing another big hole at 24-21. Three straight points by Nebraska-Kearney with Cloud County on match point would send the set into extra points as neither team would be able to close things out. with the set tied at 26-26, CCCC would finally put the Lopers away for good to take the match in four sets following a 28-26 set victory.
Blocks would be a key part of the win for the T-Birds as CCCC would finish with seven solo blocks as part of an 11-block output on the evening despite committing nine block errors. Service points would also prove to be big as Cloud County limited their service errors to just two compared to six service aces while the Lopers would give away numerous free points from the service line. Reaching the double-digit kill mark would be Dayana Chara (15), Broxterman (14) and Haven Hamilton (10) as the T-Birds would finish with 56 total kills on the night. In additon to 15 digs, freshman Riley Bontrager would add 44 set assists while Madi Spencer collected 23 total digs.
What’s Next?
Six sophomores will play in their final home game of their careers as the T-Birds will host McCook Community College on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Indians are 21-10 overall ahead of a Region matchup with Western Nebraska Community College tomorrow night to close out their conference schedule.