DECATUR – The Northwest Mississippi Community College volleyball team (9-0) kept up their impressive start to the year as they rolled to a sweep over East Central Community College. (0-4) on Monday night, downing the Warriors 25-11, 25-19, 25-13 to improve to 27-0 in sets played this season.
The win washed away a loss the Rangers took on the same floor last season that ended an eight-match winning streak for the Rangers, which was the same streak they entered Monday night's contest with.
"Last year was our first year to go there," Head Coach Allison Burchyett said. "It was their sophomore night, and they played really well, and we weren't able to match their intensity last year. It was really good to come back and take care of business on the court against them."
The Rangers didn't wait long to establish themselves in the opening set, going on a 15-1 run after the Warriors tied the first set at three, rolling to an 18-4 lead on a pair of service runs from Dallas White and Sofia Gonzalez.
That would lead to an easy cruise to a 25-11 win and a 1-0 lead in the opening set.
The Warriors came out swinging in the second set, taking an early lead at 5-3 on an ace, and holding that lead until they were up 9-7. The Rangers took control on a 4-0 run of their own, aided by a pair of Amaure'i Jones kills, one from Adalyn Callahan, and a solo block by Ariana Woods.
That stole momentum for Northwest, and a 4-0 run turned into a 13-2 run and a 20-11 lead. East Central did fight back for six straight points to close the gap back to 20-17 on four miscues by the Rangers, but Northwest rallied to close the set on a 5-2 push and took it 25-19.
There was no messing around in the third set with Valerie Hurdle setting the tone with three kills in the opening four points as NWCC charged out to a 4-0 lead. That would balloon to double digits at 18-8 as Northwest piled up the kills, garnering 14 of them as a team in the final set, which was more than the Warriors had in the entire match.
The set closed out with a 25-13 win for Northwest, and they added another sweep to their blistering start to the season.
No Ranger finished with double-digit kills despite the high attacking rate, with Gonzalez leading the way with nine, followed closely by Hurdle with eight. Eleven total Rangers tallied a kill as they showed off their depth of attack once again, and as a team they hit .209, led by Hurdle's astounding .727 percentage, with all eight kills coming on eleven attacks and no errors.
"I like that we are balanced," Burchyett said, praising her team. "We have some strong hitters, but we have lots of people that can contribute offensively, so that makes us tough to play when the defense doesn't know where the shot is coming from, and our setters are really distributing the ball well."
Chloe Rodriguez led the team in assists with 12, while adding three kills and three block assists, and was just ahead of White, who finished with ten assists and a pair of aces.
As a team, the Rangers served up ten aces, with Ariana Woods and Gonzalez both adding three.
The play at the net was just as good when it came to blocking, with four solo blocks being shared by the roster and 11 blocks being stacked up in the match.
Northwest will return home to face off against a very hot Itawamba Community College team that is entering the match at 5-1 and fresh off of a sweep of Coahoma Community College on Monday. The serve time is scheduled for 6:00 pm at Howard Coliseum, and the match will be streamed at nwccrangers.com/watch.
"It's fun to play at home, and obviously you have family and friends," Burchyett said. "Our fans are amazing, and we love seeing our fans in the crowd and getting them excited, so it really is a thrill for us to play in front of them."
Follow along with Northwest athletics by visiting nwccrangers.com or by checking out Ranger social media accounts.
