GULF SHORES, AL – It was a day that tested the #23 Northwest Mississippi Community College volleyball team on Saturday at the Alabama Gulf Shores Invitational, and the Rangers passed with flying colors, improving to 28-0 on the season with wins over Gadsden State Community College (21-7) and Enterprise State Community College (18-7) to remain perfect on the year going into the final three weeks of the regular season.
"You have to stay mentally engaged when you are playing tough teams, playing back-to-back with only a little rest in between against really tough competition, and Alabama threw everything they had at us this weekend," Head Coach Allison Burchyett said. "I was very happy to come out 4-0 this weekend, and it was because of that balanced attack and us learning from mistakes and not making them over and over again. That's the sign of a good team."
NWCC 3, Gadsden State 0 – 25-23, 25-20, 25-18
The early match of the day kicked off at 9 a.m. for the Rangers against a Cardinals team that was ready for the challenge, but it would be Northwest that got the early break, going up 7-3 thanks to strong opening attacks from Ariana Woods and Sofia Gonzalez.
While they would never trail from there, the Rangers were never allowed to feel comfortable in the opening set, holding off a charge that closed the gap to one at 19-18 and eventually getting the breathing room they needed on a Valerie Hurdle kill followed by an error from Gadsden on the heels of a long rally. They would win the set 25-23 to take the opening momentum.
That momentum didn't fade in the opening of the second set as Northwest rolled out to a 10-3 lead early. Gadsden would punch back, using a pair of three-point runs to trim the set back to a 14-11 score. Eventually the Rangers wore them down again, using a burst from a Gonzalez service run to extend the lead back to six, eventually winning it 25-20.
The Cardinals punched back in the third set, taking the opening three points and putting themselves in the driver's seat. Northwest didn't let that bother them, rallying back to take the lead at 7-6 and again at 9-8. From there, they wouldn't give the lead back again.
A six-point run and a four-point run eventually put the set out of reach on the way to a 25-18 victory and a sweep to open the morning.
"I thought we came out and were ready to go," Burchyett said. "I was very pleased with the way that we played. Gadsden played us very tough and gave us all that we wanted this morning, and we were fortunate to come out with a win. We had a very balanced attack; the defense stepped up, our serving was strong, so again, I'm very proud of that win."
Gonzalez led the team in kills with 13 and she was closely followed by Hurdle, who had a career best hitting percentage with 12 kills and no errors on just 13 attacks for a .923 percentage. Woods added seven and five from Kylee Garcia.
Dallas White led the team in assists with 21, and Rodriguez finished with 16.
The Rangers had a tough match serving but still had a three-ace match from Woods. As a team, they had six but had 15 errors which helped to keep Gadsden in the match.
On the back line, the Rangers were paced by Jania Rose with 16 digs, and Gonzalez came just shy of a double-double with nine. Reese McIntosh finished with seven, and the team tallied 44 as a whole.
The blocking game was also big for Northwest, with 12 of their total points coming from the defense at the net, including a six-block match from Woods with two solo blocks. Rodriguez also had six blocks with one solo, and Talley Taylor finished with one solo and three assists.
NWCC 3, Snead State 0 – 25-14, 25-21, 22-25, 25-23
In what was their toughest opponent of the tournament in the NJCAA rankings, the Rangers took on an Enterprise State team that was receiving votes in the most recent polls and sported an impressive 18 wins on the season.
Northwest showed they were taking the challenge seriously in the first set, jumping out early on the Boll Weevils thanks to four aces in the opening 14 points, taking a 10-4 lead into an early timeout from Enterprise.
In fact, the Rangers were able to earn almost all of their points in a trend that continued through the set, with five aces, 12 kills, and two blocks. Meanwhile, they kept Enterprise off balance, and only six of the 14 points from them were earned on the way to a 25-14 win in the opening set.
As is to be expected from good teams, the Boll Weevils came out swinging in the second set, running off four straight points to go up early. It didn't take long for the Rangers to respond, though, and they flipped the script with a 12-4 run to take a 12-8 lead and force Enterprise into a timeout.
Both teams hit the ball well in the set, but the Rangers only had five hitting errors to 16 kills to outduel the Boll Weevils, who had three blocks, three aces, and 12 kills of their own. It really came down to the big runs early for Northwest, and those would give them the separation on the way to a 25-21 win and a 2-0 lead.
"They were a very tough team that played hard, and it was tough to get any runs on them. We were siding out well ourselves, and I was happy with how we limited their service runs," Buchyett said.
Set three was a different story, even if the start of it felt the same. By the middle of the set, Northwest had established a 14-11 edge, but a five-point run from Enterprise State gave them the lead, and despite tying it at 18, the Rangers would never take the advantage again after a four-point run pushed the edge too far away for them to climb back from.
The Boll Weevils finished the set with a 25-22 win to stay alive and force a fourth set.
It definitely wasn't the dream start to that fourth set for Northwest as they fell behind by one of their biggest deficits of the season, trailing 9-2 with no earned points in the first 11 serves. A timeout was the ticket to settle the nerves, and the Rangers were able to close the gap back to 10-8.
They eventually fought back to tie the set at 16 as part of a four-point run and took the lead for the first time at 18-17 on another run that ended with them up 21-17. That took the wind out of the sails for Enterprise, and the Rangers finished off the come-from-behind win to take the set 25-23 and the match 3-1.
"Defensively, we were playing well, getting up lots of balls," Burchyett said. "They had their moments when they terminated them, but we did the same. Their big players were really strong, and we didn't really have a whole lot of answers for them, but we kept our composure and just kept grinding it out."
Gonzalez and Woods both combined for 30 kills, with 16 from Gonzalez and 14 from Woods, and both hit above .240. Hurdle came one kill shy of double digits with nine, and Garcia had one of her best matches of the year with eight on just 15 attacks, hitting .400.
White led the team in assists with 22 for a season best, and Rodriguez tallied 19. The team had 53 assists on their 54 kills and saw another four from both Rose and Woods.
The serving game was massive for the Rangers, picking up 12 aces, led by a four-ace match from Woods and three from White and Adalyn Callahan.
Blocking was also key, with the Rangers getting nine, including a rare triple block. Woods had the most with one solo and four assists, and both Gonzalez and Taylor finished with four block assists each.
Rose continued her consistent weekend on the back line, earning another 16 digs as the team picked up 43 through the four sets. Gonzalez added seven, and White had six.
Northwest returns to MACCC action on Monday when they travel to Copiah-Lincoln Community College (7-11, 2-2), with action beginning at 5 p.m. from Wesson. The Wolves enter the match coming off of back-to-back wins in conference play over Meridian Community College and Southwest Mississippi Community College.
More information on the game can be found online at nwccrangers.com or by following along on Ranger social media accounts.
