SENATOBIA – The Northwest Mississippi Community College volleyball team matched their longest winning streak in program history on Monday night, continuing what is the best start in program history as they improved to 13-0 with a sweep of Northeast Mississippi Community College, taking down the Tigers 25-12, 25-16, 25-1, dropping the Tigers to 5-8 in the process at Howard Coliseum.
Northwest hit an impressive .280 in the match, building on a team hitting percentage that is over .250 this year, and Head Coach Allison Burchyett said it's one thing to be doing it with the same attackers all the time, but in this case, everyone is contributing.
"The team hitting .250 is amazing, especially with all the different players who contributed for us tonight on the front row, and we are swinging from the back row as well," she said. "One of our focuses tonight was our serving. We wanted to have more aces than errors, and we did. I'm very pleased with that, and I'm very proud of this group."
The opening set was tightly contested through the early points, but a long service run from Sofia Gonzalez helped to build separation, helping turn a 6-5 lead into a 12-5 lead in the blink of an eye, including two aces from the freshman outside hitter.
Northeast traded points on the next few serves, but ran into another long streak of Northwest points from Adalyn Callahan that pushed the lead to double figures at 18-7, and the Rangers never looked back, taking the set 25-12, picking up five aces and nine kills, including a perfect set from Talley Taylor, who matched Gonzalez for the team lead with three.
Set two was a different story from the start, as the Rangers shot out to a 7-1 lead on a strong service run from Ariana Woods. Northeast did rally back and kept the score from ballooning too much more, staying within five points through 13-8.
Last year, that was a moment that saw the Tigers rally back on the way to forcing extra sets against Northwest, and this year, Burchyett said that weathering those moments has been a big area of growth.
"We are able to bounce back quickly," she said. "They don't dwell on it; they don't lower their head and say woes me. They just come right back and say next ball and have that mindset to shift, make an adjustment, and say set me again; I'm ready."
That was when Callahan stepped up to earn some separation with a pair of aces, and the tone was set again, with Northwest steadily building the lead to a 25-16 set win that was capped off by an emphatic block from Woods and Payton Davis.
The Tigers rallied back in the third set, trading points through to a tie at three-all, but the Rangers again broke the set first, edging to a 5-3 lead on the serve of Dallas White, and really put the hammer down on a four-point run from Callahan before closing the match out with a nine-point rally led by Woods who at one point had three consecutive aces on the way to a team-high six.
Northwest closed out the set 25-11, which included a pair of big kills down the stretch from Amaure'i Jones off the bench, and earned their 13th sweep to open the season, improving to 39-0 in sets played to kick off the season as they head into conference play on Wednesday.
Jones said the roll the team has been on isn't one they are shy to say they are proud of.
"We take a lot of pride in it," the freshman from Lake said, adding that it has been fun to learn and grow with a new team. "We have good chemistry, and we keep good energy on the court, and it's fun.
The attack was very balanced for the Rangers, who hit .280 as a team, led by eight kills from Gonzalez and Woods. Valerie Hurdle added seven kills, and Taylor finished the night with an impeccable six kills on eight attacks for a .750 hitting percentage. Eight total Rangers finished with a kill in the match.
Chloe Rodriguez led the team in assists with 18, followed by White with 13 of her own.
It was the serving game that really was the difference, as the Rangers picked up 14 aces in the match with only seven service errors, compared to two aces from the Tigers who had seven errors as well.
Defensively, Northwest had 38 digs as a team, led by seven from Callahan and the duo of Reese McIntosh and Laney Wier picking up six. At the net, Woods had another strong blocking night with four block-assists, and Rodriguez finished with three.
The Rangers are back on the road on Wednesday as a long week awaits them, with a trip to Perkinston against Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (7-2) with the opening serve at 6 p.m. Northwest then heads to Cullman, Alabama for tournament action with matches against Lawson State Community College and Northwest Shoals Community College on Friday, before closing the weekend out with matches against Roane State Community College and Wallace State-Hanceville Community College on Saturday.
One thing is for sure, despite the tough week ahead, and that is the Rangers won't be changing their approach.
"We are going to go in with the same mindset and the same energy," Jones said. "We have the same goal: going in, thinking to win."
Keep up with the Northwest schedule at nwccrangers.com and follow along with updates and more on Ranger social media accounts.
