SENATOBIA – The #20 Northwest Mississippi Community College volleyball team (32-0, 8-0) kept their record perfect on Monday night when they hosted Meridian Community College (13-15, 0-8), sweeping the Eagles in a commanding 25-15, 25-12, 25-18 victory that was paced by strong serving and blocking by the Rangers and an offensive attack that saw them hit .302 as a team with eight total blocks.
The match had some other weight on it, as the Rangers are in a position where they can clinch the conference regular season with a win and some help.
"We came in knowing this was a big game for us," sophomore Adalyn Callahan said. "The coaches told us if we won, there was a high percentage that we would be first in the conference, so we knew we wanted to win, and I think we came in and showed what we wanted to prove."
The opening set was a bit of a back-and-forth, with the Eagles answering every Ranger run with a counter to stay tied at five all. Dallas White stepped back and took Northwest on a 4-0 run to gain separation. They wouldn't trail again, spreading out service runs from Reese McIntosh and Jania Rose on the way to the 25-15 win.
Set two had a similar vibe to it, with the Rangers taking the early lead and slowly building it on the way to a 10-4 edge on a Valerie Hurdle kill to force a Meridian timeout.
Hurdle had four of her ten kills in the second set, including the final two to finish off the set with Northwest in front 25-12, and most of the points in the set for Meridian came from the Rangers rather than the Eagles.
It felt like more of the same in the third set, despite the Rangers spreading the ball around and getting a few reserves into the match. Kylee Garcia led the opening run for the Rangers, which once again put them in front, showing the team's willingness to try something new when the opportunity presents itself.
"It shows how much depth we have," Callahan added. "If we are able to practice on these things in actual matches, when we get into the really big games, it gives us the ability to know we can change something up and we will still be really good."
The Eagles made a charge after trailing 12-7, closing the gap to 12-10, but Northwest went on a steady run of their own to extend the lead back to five, growing to as much as seven by the end on the way to a 25-18 victory.
With the win, the Rangers remain undefeated at 7-0 and have clinched the conference title after Pearl River Community College and Jones College have already suffered two losses in conference play.
Hurdle's 10 kills led the attack, with eight more coming from Sofia Gonzalez and Ariana Woods. Taylor added four on a night when not a whole lot of attacking was required, and the team as a whole only made five attacking errors in the match.
"Everyone on the team can hit, even the back row people," Callahan said. "And for us to be hitting that well over the season, it's just really cool to see, and I enjoy seeing all of my teammates succeeding like that."
The passing game was paced by White, who finished with 15 assists. Chloe Rodriguez added 13 of her own.
It was in the serving and blocking game that the Rangers really shone. McIntosh moved to just one ace away from 100 in her career with three against the Eagles, and three other Rangers added at least a pair of aces. They also finished the night with eight total blocks, four of which were assists from Taylor and Rodriguez.
Northwest has the week to rest and work on some fine-tuning before they head into their final week of matches. It kicks off with a road match on Monday at Southwest before returning home for sophomore day on the 21st.
"A lot of us are excited for the week off because we are going to rest," Callahan said. "I know a lot of us only have class on Wednesday and Thursday, so we are going to go home this weekend, come back in for practice on Sunday, and just lock in. We know we want to go undefeated."
Keep up with the full Northwest schedule at nwccrangers.com, or you can follow along on Ranger social media accounts.
