DECATUR – A slow start for Northwest Mississippi Community College (28-5, 12-3) was too much to overcome in the first and third sets on the way to a four set loss on Wednesday night to East Central Community College (12-11, 8-7), falling to the Warriors 14-25, 25-23, 19-25, 26-28 in the final road game of the regular season for the Rangers.

The opening set was controlled early by the Warriors who hit well at the net, picking up five kills on the way to a 7-4 advantage to open the match. Northwest reeled the Warriors back in, but at 13-10, ECCC went on an extended run fueled by miscues from Northwest and good blocking by the Warriors to close the set on a 12-4 burst to take the opening frame 25-14.

That carried into the second set as the Rangers came out and were down 6-2 but a pair of kills from Adalyn Callahan brought them back into the match and after a 6-2 run of their own, NWCC had tied the match at eight all.

Both teams went on runs in the middle of the set but after tying each other at 17, neither side could get away from the other by more than two points, bringing ties again at every point and lead changes at 19 and 22. The Rangers took the last break point and eventually closed the set 25-23 to even the match at 1-1.

Unfortunately, the momentum didn't carry over for Northwest into the third set where ECCC came out and roared their way to a 9-3 lead thanks to an offense that accounted for seven kills and a block in the opening 12 points.

The Rangers were able to close it to a four-point gap several times but never could go on an extended run of their own, with every rally back being answered by a rally by East Central as the Warriors closed the set with a 25-19 win.

Set four saw Northwest come out like their backs were against the wall, reeling off five straight points to force a timeout from the Warriors and pushing the lead to 8-3 thanks to three blocks that went with three kills from Aven Mathis. East Central was able to slowly close the gap back to 15-13, but the Rangers were able to forge ahead by as much as five with a 23-18 lead late.

It wouldn't hold up though. A six-point run from ECCC gave them a 24-23 lead, only to see Northwest take a 26-25 lead and put the match on the precipice of going five sets. East Central picked up points on the next three serves though to pick up the win on their sophomore night and hand the Rangers their first loss in nine matches.

Northwest was led on the night in kills by Woods who had 13 on 40 attacks and also led the team in points with 19.5, adding three block assists and five aces to the ledger. Callahan also picked up double digit kills on the way to a double-double, earning 12 kills to go with 10 digs. A season high eleven Rangers recorded a kill in the match. 

Dallas White added another 20 assists to her season while also picking up a double-double with 15 assists and Chloe Rodriguez also had 16 in the two setter rotation.

Defensively, the Rangers had five players reach double digit digs with Chloe Fesperman leading the charge with a career best 18. Jania Rose and Sailor Cole had 11 and 10 respectively and Hassie Clare Thurman was just shy of the mark with nine. As a team, Northwest had six blocks on the night at the net. 

Northwest will return home on Monday night for sophomore night to close out their season when they host Northeast Mississippi Community College (10-22, 3-11) at Howard Coliseum. Opening serve for the match is set for 6:00 pm with plans to honor the sophomore class before the match. It will also be streamed live on nwccrangers.com/watch.

More information on the Northwest schedule can be found at nwccrangers.com or by following along on Ranger social media accounts.