HIGHLAND, Kan. – Two weekends of the 2019 volleyball season are in the books for the Cloud County Community College volleyball team as the T-Birds remained undefeated following wins over Northeastern Oklahoma A&M and Southwestern Community College in the Highland College Tournament in Highland, Kansas on Saturday.
The wins push the overall record for CCCC to 8-0 on the year as Cloud County has now gone 4-0 on back-to-back weekends to open the year.
Against Northeastern Oklahoma A&M
In their Saturday morning opener against the Lady Norse, it would be the T-Birds who would jump out to a quick two set lead following set victories of 25-15 and 25-22. NEO would force Cloud County to drop their first and what would become their only set of the weekend in the third set by a score of 25-17 but would see CCCC close out the match with a 25-15 set four victory to a .295 attack percentage in the match.
Offensively, the T-Birds would be led by a team-best 17 kills from Dayana Chara to go along with 13 digs for a double-double while Emelys Martinez recorded 13 kills and finished with a .367 attack percentage on 30 total attack attempts. 11 of Chara’s 17 kills would come in the final two sets of the match, overcoming a slow start to the match that would see Martinez and Haven Hamilton help pick up the offense in the opening two sets. Other top performances for the T-Birds against the Lady Norse would include a team-best 15 digs for Martinez while Riley Bontrager recorded 43 of Cloud County’s 46 set assists.
Against Southwestern CC
Playing their second match against the Spartans in as many weeks, CCCC would close out the weekend and a season-opening eight-match road swing with a 2would 5-19, 25-18, 25-12 sweep of Southwestern Community College while keeping up a potent offensive attack. Despite just recording three total blocks, Cloud County commit just 13 attack errors on 99 attempts to finish the match with a .263 attack percentage.
Chara continued her potent offensive attack with 14 kills and a .407 attack percentage and added 10 digs to pick up her second double-double of the day while Geraldyn Palacios added 11 kills and one service ace. Grace Messenger recorded three service aces and six digs while Madi Spencer had a team best 12 digs.
What’s Next?
Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference East Division action begins on Wednesday with a 6:30 p.m. matchup with the Blue Devils of Kansas City Kansas Community College. KCKCC went 3-1 over the weekend at the Jimmy John’s Invitational in West Burlington, Iowa this weekend and will carry a 6-3 overall record into Wednesday night. Cloud County and Kansas City Kansas also met last year to open conference play with the Blue Devils taking a four-set victory over the T-Birds in their only matchup a year ago.