Box Score SENATOBIA – The Northwest Mississippi Community College volleyball team (29-5, 13-3) wrapped up their regular season with a sophomore night win over Northeast Mississippi Community College (13-22, 4-12) with an exciting five-set thriller on Monday night, rallying from down 2-1 to defeat the Tigers 25-16, 21-25, 22-25, 26-24, 15-12 in front of one of their biggest crowds of the season at Howard Coliseum.
"It was exciting to win on sophomore night. A lot of times you can have some emotion involved in that with the care that you have for your sophomores and the work they have put into it for two years, so it was a big win to get that for them tonight," Head Coach Allison Burchyett said.
Northwest had impressive nights all around, seeing the pair of Ariana Woods and Adalyn Callahan both eclipse the 300-kill mark on the same night, becoming only the second duo to achieve the feat in program history, joining Maddie Smith and Rachel Stegall who accomplished the same feat last season. The win also saw the program reach a new height with their 29th win of the year eclipsing the mark of 28 set in 2023.
"It feels amazing," Woods said of the season she has been having. "I give it all to my team and my coach. We've worked really hard this season, especially with the setters always getting extra reps, and we just know as freshman, we owe it to the sophomores, always stepping up and having our backs. I know every time, stepping onto the court I can give it my all and not worry about anything else."
It seemed like things would be simple out of the gate after the Rangers jumped out in front 4-2 and never trailed in the opening set from there, holding off runs from the Tigers that closed the gap to 10-9 and 12-11, but a 9-1 run put the opening set out of reach on the way to the Rangers finishing the set with a 25-16 win.
The second set was closely contested early on with ties at two, five and six before seeing Northeast roll off four straight points to earn the first break of the match. Northwest answered back to close to 12-10 only to see the Tigers pull away with a 5-0 run that gave them a 17-0 lead and forced the Rangers to take a timeout.
Northwest didn't give in and would find their way back to within three points at 20-17, but errors, which had been an issue through the entire point, making 14 between serving and hitting, cost NWCC the chance to rally back and they dropped the set 25-21.
"We definitely missed a lot of serves and that hurt the momentum a lot but we came together and realized it was our mistakes overall, and we knew that would control the momentum," Woods said. "Saylor Bryant came in and did a great job and didn't miss a single serve and things like that are what we need to win games."
In the opening of the third set, things didn't start out much better when the Tigers jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but Northwest rallied with a vengeance, going on a 16-5 run to take control of the match.
As with many teeter-totter matches though, there was a swing back the other way and Northeast made theirs last. Thanks to a 4-0, a 3-0, and a 5-0 run, the Tigers reclaimed the lead at 20-19 and pushed it to 22-19 on the way to shocking the crowd and the Rangers, taking the set 25-22 and putting themselves on the verge of getting revenge for the sweep by the Rangers back on August 27th in Booneville.
The fourth set began the same as the third, with the Tigers rolling to a 5-1 lead and again the Rangers rallied back to take the lead at 6-5. Northeast took the lead back just two points later and until NWCC tied the match at 16 seemed to be holding them at bay.
That run to 16's was a part of a 10-2 run that put the Rangers on the brink of the set win, going up 24-21 but NECC didn't back down, running three straight points off on the way to a 24 all tie.
A clutch timeout by the Rangers led to them winning the next two points and tying the set at 2-2 to force only the second five-set match at Howard Coliseum this season and only the third all year long.
The fifth set was the most back and forth of the match, seeing ties at two, three, four, five, six, and nine. The Rangers were able to get the break they needed on a 3-0 run that provided them with separation to close the set out and finish the season sweep of the Tigers with a 15-12 victory.
Woods said it was easier to stay relaxed as a team knowing they all had each other's backs.
"We basically had to come together and push through. That's the most important part of a fifth set. We can get overwhelmed really easily because it goes by so fast, but we just told each other if we just come together and push through and do our best, we would be fine."
"It was a big win, to get a five-setter tonight. We haven't had one of those in a while and haven't had one at home since the very beginning of the season and that was not in our favor," Burchyett said. "We had to remember how to switch into that gear in the fifth set, but it was a good reminder that we play all the way to the end. No matter what the score is we can always dig out of the hole."
It was a team effort for the Rangers on the offensive side with three players hitting double digit kills, led by Woods with 18 and Callahan with 17. Aven Mathis also added 13 and Chloe Fesperman added nine. Four other players for Northwest also added a kill and the team hit .212 through the five sets.
The passing was just as balanced with Dallas White adding 27 to her tally and Chloe Rodriguez finishing with 26 to go with three kills. Eight Rangers also picked up an assist in the match on the way to 63 assists in the match.
The Rangers also had nine aces in the match and served well outside of the second set where they had seven of their eleven errors.
Defensively, Northwest had seven total blocks, and their back row was fantastic with four players picking up ten or more blocks, including double doubles from Callahan and White.
Woods said the team balance has been there all season long and is something they can trust to rely on.
"It's honestly just a relief, when it's intense, it's so nice to be able to count on someone else and turn around and know we all have each other's backs."
The match was a preview of the opening round of the Region 23 tournament on Wednesday night when the Rangers will host the Tigers in a winner take all match with a spot in Saturday's semifinal in Ellisville on the line.
You can find more information on the match including streaming information by visiting nwccrangers.com or by following Ranger social media accounts.
