Cloud County Volleyball Drops Road Conference Match to Garden City
Following a come-from-behind 25-23 opening set victory, the Cloud County Community College volleyball team would be unable to match their success from the opening set the rest of the way as host Garden City Community College would win the following three sets as part of a four-set defeat for the T-Birds on the road inside Conestoga Arena in Garden City, Kansas on Friday, September 8th.
A third straight defeat drops Cloud County to 9-4 overall and 1-3 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while Broncbusters pick up their first conference victory of the season to improve to 10-6 overall and 1-2 in the KJCCC.
Featuring over six ties throughout the opening 16 points of the first set, neither CCCC nor GCCC would be able to grab a lead of more than two until back-to-back Broncbuster service aces would start a run for Garden City to open a 15-10 lead. The five-point advantage would be maintained over the next six points to force Cloud County to use a timeout trailing 18-13 before managing to start working their way back with a Bradie Medina kill followed by a Katelynn Brogan and Jacey Schurle block to jump start a 5-0 rally that would tie the set at 18-18. Five more ties would ensue with the score getting knotted up at 19-19, 20-20, 21-21, 22-22, and 23-23 before the T-Birds would get a Doga Eski kill to get to set point with a Brogan kill ending things with CCCC grabbing a 1-0 lead in the match.
Four quick points out of the gates for Garden City would force Cloud County to call an early second set timeout as the T-Birds would find themselves in a 5-0 hole before finally catching a break on a GCCC service error. After back-to-back points from CCCC, Garden City would get back on the offensive push by scoring the next three points to extend their lead with things growing to nine at 13-4 off another Garden City service ace with very little going right for Cloud County. Unforced errors by the T-Birds would then see the deficit grow to 10, which would lead to their final timeout of the set being used to try and find anything that they could to stop the momentum that the Broncbusters had. Down the stretch things would get no closer than nine as GCCC would cruise to a 25-15 set victory.
Knowing that both momentum and the match lead was once again up for grabs in the third set, Cloud County would score the first three points of the set as part of a 7-3 run that would force the Broncbusters to call an early timeout to try and regroup. Trying to maintain their lead, CCCC would see the Broncbusters slowly chip away at things to pull back within two at 10-8 before three straight to push their lead back out to five at 13-8 with the lead bouncing back and forth between two and four points for much of the set. Following a GCCC attack error to go back up five at 22-17 and force Garden City to use their final timeout, Cloud County would trade each of the next six points with the Broncbusters to get to set point at 24-20 before seeing back-to-back kills lead to a T-Bird timeout. With a timeout still in their pocket and a chance to close out the set, CCCC would see a resilient Broncbuster squad rattle off two more consecutive points on service aces to tie things at 24-24 and force extra points to decide the set. Reclaiming the lead with an Eski kill to once again get to set point, Cloud County would be unable to finish off the set yet again as Garden City would continue to battle with the T-Birds and eventually score the final three points of the set with a CCCC service error followed by back-to-back kills to take a 29-27 set win.
Having seen all momentum completely erased by the late Broncbuster rally in the third, Cloud County would find themselves in a 5-0 hole to start the fourth set as a mixture of GCCC kills, service aces, and CCCC errors would lead to the early deficit. The lead for the Broncbusters would remain at five following the next six rallies with an 8-3 T-Bird deficit finally starting to be cut into by Cloud County with a pair of Garden City attack errors. Pulling back within a point at 8-7, CCCC would quickly see Garden City extend their lead back out to five with a 4-0 spurt that would force a Cloud County timeout as the last thing the T-Birds could allow is for the Broncbusters to run away with the set. Another four points for Garden City would see the run grow to eight straight points to put Cloud County in a 16-7 hole with things starting to look grim for CCCC. Refusing to go down without a fight, a 5-1 T-Bird run would force the Broncbusters to use their first timeout as the score would be cut down to 17-12 following a Madison Ronnebaum kill with momentum starting to build on the T-Bird sideline. Scoring three of the next four including back-to-back Ashley Suter service aces, CCCC would pull within three at 18-15 before trading the next four points and eventually allowing three straight Broncbuster points put things at 23-17. One last chance for Cloud County would see Eski get a kill and Suter extend the set after a service error by recording a kill, but the Broncbuster offense would prove to be too much as a kill would end the match.
What's Next?
The middle portion of a three-match swing comes on Wednesday, September 13th for Cloud County when the T-Birds travel to Great Bend, Kansas to take on Barton Community College at 6:30 PM. The Cougars are currently 11-3 overall and 1-1 in the KJCCC but have dropped two of their past three matches ahead of a Monday evening home match against Seward County Community College prior to hosting CCCC.