Cloud County Volleyball Held in Check by #13 Hutchinson Friday Afternoon
Going back on the road to close out their week after a home-opening win on Wednesday, the Cloud County Community College volleyball team would be unable to find enough offense against the 13th-ranked Hutchinson Community College Blue Dragons to drop a 25-18, 25-16, and 25-18, three-set decision at the Hutchinson Sports Arena in Hutchinson, Kansas.
The defeat puts Cloud County at 4-3 overall and 1-2 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while the Blue Dragons bounce back from a four-set defeat on the road at Seward County on Wednesday night to improve to 11-3 overall and 2-1 in the KJCCC. CCCC was scheduled to face the Friends University JV team following their match with Hutchinson but saw the match canceled after having to delay the start of their match with the Blue Dragons by an hour.
Held to just a .121 attack percentage, Cloud County would see 17 attack errors prove costly in addition to giving up 10 service aces to Hutchinson. After recording a .207 attack percentage in the opening set, the T-Birds would see the second and third sets be difficult on the offensive end as 17 kills would be offset by 12 attack errors leading to a .036 attack percentage in the second set and .118 attack percentage in the third. The Blue Dragons would manage to hit at a .326 clip with 43 kills and 14 attack errors on 89 total attempts and would also record seven total blocks to edge out the six that were recorded by Cloud County.
Leading CCCC would be sophomore Kenzie Cooper who would be one of only two T-Birds to have an attack percentage above .200 on more than 10 attack attempts by recording nine kills and a .261 attack percentage on 23 attempts. Camryn Wessel would have the next-highest number of kills for Cloud County with six, with no other player being able to record more than three in the match. Finishing two set assists shy of a double-double, Katelynn Brogan would record a team-high 10 digs and have eight set assists alongside Brette Doile who had 15 assists and three digs. Defensively, Wessel and Freshman Jacey Schurle would account for one solo block each as part of the two solo blocks for CCCC in addition to three of Cloud County's eight assisted blocks (two for Schurle, one for Wessel).
What's Next?
The long holiday weekend will allow the T-Birds to regroup and prepare for their next home contest which will come on Wednesday, September 7th when CCCC plays host to Garden City Community College at 6:30 PM. The 9-2 Broncbusters are slated to play three matches this weekend in McCook, Nebraska at an invitational hosted by McCook Community College after winning their KJCCC opener in four sets on Wednesday night over Dodge City. Cloud County swept a pair of matches from GCCC last season in a span of three days and has won seven of the last nine meetings between the two squads. Garden City's lone two wins in that span came during the 2017 season as the Broncbusters would sweep a pair of matches from Cloud County.