Cloud County Volleyball Earns Pair of Wins at Triangular in Pratt

Closing out the month of September with a road triangular, the Cloud County Community College volleyball team would manage to outlast Pratt Community College in five sets before taking down Independence Community College in straight sets to earn a pair of wins inside the Dennis Lesh Sports Arena in Pratt, Kansas on Wednesday, September 27th.

With the victories, Cloud County continues their recent stretch of strong play to improve to 16-6 overall and 4-4 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College while having won seven of their past eight matches. Pratt drops their 13th match of the year to fall to 3-13 overall and 0-8 in the KJCCC while the Pirates are now 4-12 overall ahead of the final match of the triangular that will feature ICC take on host PCC.

Against Pratt:
A slow start for the T-Birds would see the opening set with the Beavers be controlled in the early going by host Pratt as CCCC would be unable to claim their first lead of the match until a service ace from Bradie Medina to put Cloud County up 12-11. Two kills from Doga Eski over the next three points of action would allow CCCC to grab a 14-12 lead momentarily before seeing PCC battle back with two straight points to tie things up as the opening set would feature a total of 10 ties. Holding a 16-14 lead, Cloud County would look to grab momentum in the set off two Pratt errors before taking their largest lead of the set at 20-17 on a Brette Doile service ace. Following the service ace, PCC would respond by scoring each of the next four points to reclaim the lead at 21-20 and force Cloud County to use their first timeout with the opening set still up for grabs. Ties at 21-21, 22-22, and 23-23 would ensue before seeing back-to-back kills from Pratt end the set with the Beavers grabbing a 1-0 lead on their home court.

The opening set loss would prove to be a wake-up call for the T-Birds as CCCC would jump out to a 14-8 lead over the Beavers in the second set and never look back as the advantage for Cloud County would reach as many as eight in the set on their way to a 25-18 set win to tie the match at 1-1. In the third set, CCCC would again take control early on by scoring six of the first seven points before extending the lead to double digits at 15-5 to force PCC to use their first timeout. The run by Cloud County would continue out of the timeout with four more points being scored by the T-Birds to cap off a 13-0 run that would give CCCC their largest lead of the day at 19-5. Trading the next four points with the Beavers, Cloud County wouldn't take any chances in allowing PCC to get back into the set to try and make things interesting down the stretch as the T-Birds would take a 25-14 set win to sit one set win away from a match victory.

Unfortunately for CCCC, Pratt would come back in the fourth with a determined effort to extend the match as the first 10 points of the set would be split and be followed by ties at 7-7, 8-8, and 10-10. Continuing with two more ties coming at 11-11 and 12-12, Pratt would use three kills in a four-point span to grab a 15-13 lead over Cloud County before going on to add to their lead and go up 21-16 to force the T-Birds to use a timeout to try and stop momentum. Needing to try and find a way to close the gap, CCCC would use a kill from Medina followed by a Kloë Waymel kill to get within four at 22-18, but the deficit would not close any further as the Beavers would force the decisive fifth set with a 25-19 win.

Following the trend from their set victories in the second and third, Cloud County would waste little time jumping out to a lead by scoring five of the first six points on their way to an 8-3 lead to get a quick changeover in the set. Having forced Pratt to have already used one of their two timeouts, CCCC would continue to pour things on by getting a kill from Madison Ronnebaum followed by back-to-back attack errors by PCC to go up 11-3 and force the final timeout of the match by the Beavers. The eight-point advantage would prove to be more than enough cushion for CCCC as Pratt would get no closer than five over the final 10 points of the match with Cloud County finishing off their third five-set win of the year.

Against Independence:
The effect of a five-set match would clearly show in the opening action of the second match of the day for Cloud County against a fresh Independence squad taking part in their first action of the afternoon as the Pirates would grab an early lead and run up a 9-4 advantage on the T-Birds. The ICC lead would grow to six at 11-5 to force a CCCC timeout before being extended to seven at 15-8 and eventually 20-12 off an Independence service ace. With things starting to leak like an opening set loss for the second-straight match, Cloud County would turn the corner thanks in part to a Pirate service ace to spark an 8-1 run that would bring things back within a point at 21-20 to force ICC to use a timeout. Suddenly having new life and the chance to pull out a come-from-behind victory down the stretch, Cloud County would tie things up at 22-22 before getting to set point off an Eski kill that would force Independence to call their final timeout to try and stall momentum one last time for the T-Birds. The timeout would work in favor of ICC as the Pirates would fend off set point before getting set point on their end as things would become a trading of the next seven points. Having already played four extra points and still seeing things all square at 27-27, Independence would get one final set point opportunity off a kill before giving up the final three points of the set with two Pirate errors proving crucial in deciding a 30-28 T-Bird set win.

Independence would clearly be affected by the late stumble that would lead to the CCCC rally as Cloud County would score seven of the first eight points of the second set on their way to building a 12-4 lead that would force ICC to call a quick timeout to try and avoid letting the set get away from them completely. With momentum completely in favor of the T-Birds, Cloud County would continue to pour things with the lead never dropping below seven throughout the set as CCCC would never allow ICC to score more than two consecutive points in the set to run away with a 25-15 set win.

Despite a renewed effort from the Pirates to try and extend the match in the third set, Cloud County would manage to keep things tied up through the first 10 points of the set before grabbing the lead with three consecutive points to go up 8-6. With the lead still sitting at two with a 10-8 score, CCCC would use back-to-back service aces from Doile to grow their lead to four at 12-8 en route to pushing things out to a 15-9 advantage thanks in part to a block by Medina and Waymel. Continuing what started as a 3-0 run before an Independence timeout, the T-Birds would score another five straight to make an 8-0 rally begin to put things out of reach at 20-9 as the Pirates would be left with little left to work with. Fending off back-to-back Pirate points by getting a double block from Ronnebaum and Waymel, CCCC would close out the match by splitting the final eight points with ICC as a 25-14 set win would finish off a win in the first matchup with Independence in 14 years.

What's Next?
Cloud County will conclude a six-match road trip this coming Monday to kick off the final month of the regular season with a pair of matches at the Southeast Community College triangular. The T-Birds will take part in the final two matches of the day on October 2nd, facing off with Ottawa University JV at 4 PM before a 6 PM tilt with the host Bobcats in Beatrice, Nebraska.