Cloud County Volleyball Suffers Three-Set Setback to #20 Hutchinson

Early deficits throughout the match would prove to be the difference for the Cloud County Community College volleyball team Wednesday night as part of a 3-0 home loss to Hutchinson Community College inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on October 5th.

With the loss, Cloud County falls to 6-14 overall and 3-8 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while the number 20 nationally-ranked Blue Dragons improve to 22-8 overall and 9-1 in the KJCCC to remain in a tie for first place in the conference.

Trading the opening six points of the match, CCCC would see the first big run of the evening for HCC come as part of a 6-1 run that would put the Blue Dragons out in front by a score of 9-4 to force an early T-Bird timeout. Battling back to within two by using a 4-1 run to cut the score to 10-8, points would be traded back and forth over the six points to keep things at a two-point deficit. Following a Hutchinson kill to put the score at 14-11, the Blue Dragons would use the momentum to create a 6-2 run and open up a six-point lead at 19-13 before once again seeing another CCCC rally. Sparked by a Camryn Wessel kill, Cloud County would score each of the next three points to cut the lead in half but see HCC prove to be too much down the stretch as six of the final 10 points would be scored by Hutchinson to take a 25-20 opening set win.

Set two would be all Blue Dragons from the start as a quick 8-3 lead for HCC would force a CCCC timeout to try and stop momentum, but it would be of little use as the Blue Dragons would go on to extend their lead to seven by doubling up Cloud County at 14-7. Following a service error from Hutchinson and Kenzie Cooper kill to try and start a T-Bird rally, Hutchinson would have a response by scoring five of the next six points to take a 19-10 lead and be in position to finish out a set win. Despite outscoring the Blue Dragons down the stretch, CCCC would see the early deficit be too large to overcome as a 25-18 set victory would go in favor of Hutchinson and put CCCC in a 2-0 hole heading to the third.

A similar start to the third set would see Hutchinson once again jump out to an early lead by going up 9-5 to force a Cloud County timeout as the T-Birds once again could not find an answer for a potent Blue Dragon offense. Responding with a 4-2 rally to get back within two at 11-9, Cloud County would refuse to go away as the lead would eventually be erased completely on a Marcella Garcia kill to tie things at 13-13 and give CCCC a chance to grab momentum. Unfortunately for the T-Birds, HCC would respond with a 4-1 run to reclaim an 18-15 lead that would eventually grow to 21-17 to force a Cloud County timeout as CCCC would have one final chance to try and regain momentum late in the set. It would appear as though the timeout would work to the advantage of Cloud County as three straight points for the T-Birds would bring the score back within one at 21-20, but Hutchinson would have the answers down the stretch four of the final five points to pull away and take a 25-21 set victory to close out the match.

Offense on both sides would highlight the night as Cloud County would record a .255 attack percentage with 37 kills on 102 total attacks while Hutchinson would hit an efficient .351 by recording 45 kills on 97 total attacks. The Blue Dragons would also hold an advantage in service aces by a 6-4 margin, but see the T-Birds get the best of them in the block category with CCCC holding a 6-5 advantage in team blocks.

A 10-kill performance from freshman Doga Eski would lead the offense for Cloud County in the match, with Maddison Ronnebaum recording eight kills as the two would combine for a .486 attack percentage and just one attack error. Running a 6-2 system, set assists would be split nearly evenly between Katelynn Brogan (20) and Brette Doile (14), with Brogan adding four digs while Doile would record three. Of Cloud County's six total blocks, Wessel would record three which included one solo block while Jacey Schurle (three) and Ronnebaum (two) would also record multiple blocks in the contest.

What's Next?
A previously scheduled road triangular for Cloud County against the University of Nebraska-Kearney JV team and McCook Community College for Monday, October 10th has been canceled, leaving the T-Birds next in action a week from tonight when they travel to Great Bend, Kansas to take on Barton Community College. The Cougars dropped a four-set decision to Dodge City Community College on the road Wednesday evening to fall to 14-6 overall and 3-6 in the KJCCC heading into a Saturday evening home match against number-15 ranked Seward County Community College.