SENATOBIA – Just two days after going five sets against Northeast Mississippi Community College, the Northwest Mississippi Community College volleyball team took down the Tigers in straight sets, battling back from down as much as four in all three sets to win 25-21, 26-24, 25-15 and punch a ticket to the Region 23 semifinal in Ellisville this Saturday.
"We really wanted to come out and win in three tonight," Head Coach Allison Burchyett said. "It was great to pull out a gritty win on Monday in five, but we really wanted to set the tone in the playoffs and start strong. I loved our balanced offense, and I loved our girls stepping up on defense too. The blocks for us tonight were out of this world."
The Rangers looked shaky early on the opening set, falling behind 5-1 but answered back with a 4-0 run of their own to tie the set at five all. Ties followed at six, seven, eight, and nine until Northwest was able to stretch a 4-1 run into a 13-10 lead.
Even that didn't last in a very back and forth opening set as the Tigers rallied to tie the match at 13, but again the Rangers were able to answer, this time with a 5-1 run that force NECC to take their first timeout of the set.
Northwest didn't look back after the pause despite Northeast closing it back to 18-16 out of the huddle, running the lead up to 21-16 on the way to closing the set 25-21 to get the early edge.
With the match being win or go home, and it being a final chance to play in front of the home fans, freshman outside hitter Adalyn Callahan said they wanted to make sure they showed up for both the crowd and getting the sophomores one more opportunity to suit up, so losing wasn't an option.
"We started off slow, but we all knew this was the last time the sophomores might play and our last time at home, so I think all of us just wanted to do it for the sophomores."
In what turned out to be a critical second set, the Rangers and Tigers returned to their back-and-forth swings with ten ties on the way to a 13-13 score at the midway point with neither team leading by more than two points and four lead changes.
Northeast broke away in the set with a 4-0 run to go up 17-13 and built the edge to as much as 19-14 but the Rangers rallied from the hole, winning six of the next eight points to close to 21-20. A few minor miscues by the Rangers on their next two serves cost them opportunities to tie and forced their backs against the wall.
Northwest took a timeout late in the set and Callahan said the message was simple, stay focused but also play relaxed.
"Coach said to have fun, but stay focused before fun and just to lock in. We know how to play, we played them on Monday so we knew what to do and to stay calm."
The Rangers stood tall going on a 3-0 run and took their first lead since 11-10 at 24-23. The Tigers tied the set again at 24 all, but Northwest closed with confidence on the next two points to take a 2-0 lead in the match thanks to the 26-24 win.
With nothing to lose, Northeast came out swinging in the third set and came out firing, running away to a 5-1 lead forcing Burchyett to take a timeout to settle the nerves. That did the trick and NWCC went on a 6-1 run to take the lead at 7-6.
Just as expected with the way the match had gone to that point, Northeast didn't back down. Tying the set at seven, eleven, twelve, thirteen, and fourteen, even taking a lead at 13-12, but the steam ran out of their push back.
The Rangers went ahead 16-14 and eventually ran off nine straight points to close out the set 25-15 and take the match in their first sweep since taking down Southwest Mississippi 3-0 on October 8th.
That last run was a blur to Northwest, and part of an incredible 24-10 stretch to end the set overall, and Callahan said it didn't even register how well they were playing.
"I didn't even realize we had nine straight points," the Hernando native said. "Just the fact we were so close to winning and we were so ready to go to Jones and play, we were just working together well."
Northwest saw an incredibly balance match with nine Rangers recording a kill but not one player reaching double digit kills. Ariana Woods led the way with nine, followed by Chloe Fesperman who had seven in just two sets, and six from Callahan. Aven Mathis also added five on the way to the Rangers picking up 37 as a team.
"The fact we can have such a balance offense, and you can trust everyone on the court, it's something I haven't seen before in a lot of teams," Callahan said. "We can trust everyone to put the ball down. It's not like we need to go to one person. We can trust everyone to get the point."
Thirty-four of those were assisted with 16 from Dallas White and 13 from Chloe Rodriguez. Five other assists came out of system.
They also served well in the match with nine aces, led by Hassie Clare Thurman's four, but the blocking was the biggest advantage the Rangers would get.
Northeast wouldn't record a single block in the match while Northwest picked up eight blocks as a team with an astounding six from Woods, who had one solo and five assists in the match.
Northwest also had 60 team digs in the match with Thurman having a big night with 13 and Jania Rose picking up another double-digit performance with ten of her own.
The Rangers will head to Ellisville where Jones College will host the semi-finals of the Region 23 tournament on Saturday. Northwest will face Pearl River Community College in the 5:00 pm match after top seeded Jones faces East Central Community College at 2:00 pm.
It will be a match between a pair of teams that know each other well and Burchyett said they need to avoid falling behind early against a dangerous Pearl River roster.
"Sometimes we can come out a bit too relaxed and that's evidenced with digging a hole in the beginning, so we do need to stay calm and composed but need to have a little more initiative and a little more foot on the gas to win points at the beginning of the set."
Callahan echoed that, adding that communication and passing will also be big.
"We need to stay calm and stay in the game, and we need to start out fast," she said. "We can't get into a hole early on, so we need to come out swinging. All our passes need to be consistent, and we all need to be focused and ready to play because they are a tough team and we need to be ready."
The Rangers split the season series with Pearl River, dropping their first match with the Wildcats at home in three sets before returning the favor and sweeping them at on the road.
Ticket and streaming information for the match can be found at nwccrangers.com, and you can keep up with more from the Ranger volleyball team by following along on Ranger social media accounts.
