POPLARVILLE – The Northwest Mississippi Community College volleyball team (18-3) picked up a measure of revenge on Monday night against Pearl River Community College (13-7, 7-2), taking down the Wildcats in straight sets, 26-24, 25-17, 25-22 on the way their 18^th win of the season.

The Rangers used a strong serving attack to keep the Wildcats off balance and spreading 36 kills around seven attackers on the way to the conference sweep, moving NWCC to a tie with Jones College for the top of the MACCC standings at 8-1 in conference play.

"It was such a great team win for us," Head Coach Allison Burchyett said. "I was so proud of our consistent energy, composure through adversity and pushing for points when we had the opportunities. We served extremely well tonight. Even when we didn't land the serve, we were able to get them out of system and force errors."

The match began with a big run by Pearl River got the Wildcats off to a 9-5 lead, but Northwest didn't waver. Down 11-9, a service run from Adalyn Callahan produced back-to-back aces and an 8-2 run was the result, switching momentum and giving NWCC a 17-13 lead.

Northwest was on the verge of closing the set up 24-21 but the Wildcats rallied for three straight points, tying the match at 24 and forcing it to extra's. A timeout by the Rangers calmed the nerves and Pearl River served the ball to, long to give Northwest another set point and they closed the set 26-24.

That momentum carried into the second set where the Rangers rolled off a 13-5 run to establish an early lead. Pearl River rallied back to trim it to 13-10 but Northwest held the lead at three until they pulled away with a 5-0 run, going from an 18-15 lead to a 23-15 advantage before closing the set 25-17 to go up 2-0.

Set three was a seesaw affair. Ten ties and three lead changes made for one of the more entertaining sets of the night. Northwest took the lead at 4-2 but after Pearl River went on a 3-0 run, the Rangers wouldn't lead again until going up 17-16. The Wildcats tied the match at 18 and 19 but never reclaimed the lead and the Rangers closed the set on a 6-3 run to take it 25-22.

The sweep was the 12^th of the season for the Rangers ,and it was their 15^th win in their last 16 matches. It kicked off a busy week where they have another seven matches remaining, including a big MACCC match with fellow conference leader Jones College on Wednesday night at Howard Coliseum.

Callahan led the team with nine kills and three service aces. She was followed closely by Chloe Fesperman who had eight kills in just two sets. Aven Mathis added seven and Ariana Woods finished with six kills.

Dallas White led the team in assists with 16 and Chloe Rodriguez added 13 while also playing strong at the net, leading the team in blocks with three.

Northwest heads to Fayette, Alabama on Tuesday to take part in a tri-match with Bevill State Community College and Wallace-Selma Community College. Matches will be played at 2:00 and 4:00 pm. More information can be found at nwccrangers.com or you can keep up with volleyball information by following Ranger social media accounts.