Cloud County Volleyball Unable to Keep Pace in Three-Set Loss to Dodge City

Katelynn Brogan Led Cloud County with 9 Kills and 11 Set Assists in their Three-Set Defeat to Dodge City
Katelynn Brogan Led Cloud County with 9 Kills and 11 Set Assists in their Three-Set Defeat to Dodge City

Despite hitting .228 as a team and recording no more than four attack errors in any set, the Cloud County Community College volleyball team would be dealt a three-set defeat at the hands of visiting Dodge City Community College by scores of 25-20, 25-18, and 25-17 inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Wednesday, September 14th.

The loss puts Cloud County at 5-5 overall and 2-4 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while Dodge City picks up their ninth win of the year to improve to 9-3 overall and 1-2 in the KJCCC.

There would be no shortage of offense from either team in the early going as both squads would be able to take advantage of the opportunities presented in what would become a back-and-forth start that saw the first 12 points of the match split evenly. After a Dodge City service error would give serve back to the T-Birds, CCCC would take advantage with two more points to briefly take a 9-6 lead before seeing the Conquistadors battle back to tie things at 10-10. Two quick points in favor of Cloud County would be overshadowed by a 3-0 spurt from DCCC as the Conquistadors would go up 13-12 and again at 14-13 as points would once again be traded, but it would be the T-Birds who would be able to put together a small rally and score five of the next six points after trailing 15-13 to take an 18-16 lead and force a Conquistador timeout. Following the timeout, it would be all DCCCC as the next five points would be scored by Dodge City as part of a 9-2 run to end the set to allow the Conquistadors an early lead in the match.

The second set would once again see back-and-forth action early on with neither team able to jump out to a lead of more than three as three ties would be had throughout the opening 20 points of the set. With Dodge City leading Cloud County by a score of 10-9, it would be the Conquistadors who would use a 7-1 run to break the set open and get out to a 17-11 lead before pushing it to a set-high eight points at 19-11 as CCCC would have no answer for a potent DCCC offensive attack. Responding with a 6-3 run to get back within four at 22-18, Cloud County would appear to be building some late momentum to try and get back into the set that would ultimately end up going in the favor of Dodge City as the Conquistadors would take the final three points of the set to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.

With momentum swung in the favor of Dodge City, the Conquistadors would take full advantage by jumping out to an 8-1 lead on CCCC and putting the T-Birds in a hole that would prove hard to recover from. Unable to string together more than two points at a time, Cloud County would see the deficit grow to eight at 11-3 before getting back within six at 12-6 on a Katelynn Brogan kill. Three of the next four points would be scored in favor of DCCC however as the Conquistadors offense would ultimately have too much firepower in what would become a 25-17 set defeat to end the match.

Allowing a season-best .341 attack percentage to their opponents, Cloud County would force Dodge City into just 11 total attack errors on the night. DCCC would also take advantage of the service line, producing 14 service aces to CCCC's three and finishing with two blocks compared to the four blocks produced by Cloud County.

A team-best nine kills from Brogan would be paired with 11 set assists as the Topeka, Kansas native would finish one kill shy of a double-double while also contributing to two of CCCC's four blocks on the night. No other T-Bird would record more than five kills, with the nine recorded by Brogan accounting for nearly a third of Cloud County's total. Defensively, Zoe Bechard led the T-Birds with 12 digs while Jacey Schurle would have a hand in all four of CCCC's blocks on the night. Dodge City was led by a match-best 14 kills from Ozge Tan who hit .321 on the night and had seven digs defensively.

What's Next?
For the first time in over two weeks, Cloud County will take on a nationally-ranked opponent when they make the long trek to Liberal, Kansas to take on 12th-ranked Seward County Community College with a 4:30 PM first serve inside the Greenhouse. Off to a 14-4 overall record and 3-0 start in the KJCCC, Seward County won in three sets on Wednesday night at home against Otero College. Of SCCC's four losses, three have come to nationally-ranked opponents in neutral-site contests.