CULLMAN, AL – The Northwest Mississippi Community College volleyball team improved their start to the season to 18-0 with four more sweeps during the Wallace State Community College Invitational on Friday and Saturday, picking up sweeps of Lawson State Community College (3-7) and Northwest Shoals Community College (10-11) on Friday before completing the weekend with three-set wins over Roane State Community College(2-11) and the host Lions (16-3) on Saturday afternoon.
"I'm just proud of each and every young lady in our program," Head Coach Allison Burchyett said. "This was for each and every player that has paved the way in the past. I know we are enjoying this moment, but it was a program win for us today. We are just trying to take it one game at a time, enjoying the moment, and being ready for the next ball."
The win over the Lions was the first in program history and was the statement win of the weekend as the Rangers continue to search for a spot in the NJCAA Division II rankings, finishing the week by extending their set record to 54-1.
"I think we definitely took care of business this weekend, especially after the tough week that we had," sophomore setter Chloe Rodriguez said. "We wanted to focus on our side; even if we were down by a little bit, we stayed up and kept digging."
NWCC 3 – Lawson State 0, 25-13, 25-15, 25-13
The Rangers made quick work of Lawson State in the opening match of the tournament, finishing the match with a .387 hitting percentage while getting every player in the lineup into the match.
Northwest was paced by a pair of nine-kill matches from Sofia Gonzalez and Ariana Woods, with Gonzalez hitting a blistering .750 with no errors on 12 attacks. Valerie Hurdle continued her strong start to the year, adding eight more kills to her season as the trio continues to show their consistency.
Ten total Rangers were able to record a kill, with Amaure'i Jones, Talley Taylor, and Jersi Wilson all picking up three, with all of them playing in two of the three sets.
Chloe Rodriguez was the top assister in the match, tallying 23 and doing it efficiently on just 37 assist attempts.
The serving game was another big piece for Northwest, keeping Lawson State off balance with 13 aces, including five from Dallas White and three from Taylor. Rose added another two, as did Reese McIntosh.
Northwest's defense was not tested too much in the match, so the dig numbers were slightly lower than normal, with Hurdle taking the team lead with six of the 26 total the Rangers got up in the victory.
NWCC 3 – Northwest Shoals 0, 25-16, 25-21, 25-7
The good times kept rolling on day one as Northwest once again went deep into their bench on the way to a second consecutive sweep over the Patriots, getting a trio of ten-kill performances from the usual crowd, with Hurdle, Gonzalez, and Woods leading the charge, only making six errors between the three.
As a team, Northwest only had 11 total errors in the match, although the kills were less evenly spread, with six other Rangers picking up at least one kill, and Taylor joining White with two each.
The serving game was a big reason why Northwest didn't need a lot of kills, with another eleven aces, led by one of the best performances of the season by Adalyn Callahan, who picked up four, followed closely by Gonzalez and White with two each.
Rodriguez again led the team with 21 assists, joined by White dishing out eight, and five other Rangers adding an assist in a full team effort passing the ball.
They were more tested on the back line in the match, and Gonzalez was joined by Jania Rose with eight digs each, and White added in another six herself. The defense was also helped by a strong blocking game led by Ariana Woods, who had five blocks in a match for the third time this year, garnering one solo and four assists on the way to a 14-point match to lead the team.
NWCC 3 – Roane State 0, 25-13, 25-15, 25-10
In an early start to the day, the Rangers, but they didn't let that slow them down, hitting over .350 again on the way to a sweep of Roane State that included several mind-blowing performances from the Rangers.
The top of those were perfect hitting games from Hurdle, who had nine kills with no errors on 11 attacks, and a nine-kill match from Gonzalez on 19 attacks with no errors. Every Ranger got into the game, and 13 recorded at least one kill in one of the deeper performances from the roster that only saw six total errors from the team on the way to their 17th win of the season.
For the third time on the weekend, Rodriguez finished with a team-high 21 assists as she continued to have one of her most consistent stretches of passing this season, and she was paired with White on the court, who added nine assists in her three rotations.
The serving game was on point again, and Woods led the way with five aces, pairing that with seven kills for an all-around performance that also included a pair of block assists, contributing to the only two blocks of the match for Northwest.
Roane State had a strong attack, but they weren't able to get past the back row of Northwest, which tallied 49 digs in the sweep. Rose picked up nine of those digs to lead the way, with Gonzalez just one behind with eight, and Hurdle stacked up six of her own.
NWCC 3 – Wallace State 0, 25-15, 25-21, 25-22
In the match Northwest had their eye on all tournament, the Rangers didn't disappoint, controlling the Lions from start to finish on the way to a win over Wallace State for the first time in program history, and their fourth sweep in a row.
The first set was a bit of a runaway, but the Rangers had to dig deep and rally back in the second and third, and Rodriguez said the energy from the bench was huge in those moments.
"Energy is a big thing in volleyball, and our bench has the most energy of any team we have faced," Rodriguez said. "You can tell that we were doing so well based on that energy, and the Wallace team had no energy coming from theirs. Volleyball is a momentum sport, and once you have it all going, you are rocking and rolling."
Hurdle had her highest kill total of the weekend and was the only Ranger to reach double figures with ten, hitting .304 along the way. Gonzalez and Woods both added seven each, and Kylee Garcia had another errorless match, her second of the week, tallying six kills on 15 attacks.
A 17-assist match from Rodriguez snapped her run of matches with 20 assists or more, but she still led the team, and White added another 10. The duo was aided by Rose picking up another five.
Northwest was able to keep the Lions off balance most of the match, and finished with eight aces, led by three from Gonzalez and a pair from Rose. It was the first match of the tournament the Rangers had more errors than aces, though, with 10 total by the end of the match.
Garcia also picked up the only solo block of the match, adding two assists, with Woods earning three block assists to go with it.
Behind them, the Rangers were led by nine digs from Gonzalez, eight from Rose, and six by both White and Callahan.
Up next for the Rangers, they head back home to Howard Coliseum for a return to MACCC play, preparing for a huge conference match with Jones College (11-4, 1-0), who had the weekend off and entered the weekend as the #24 team in the country. The Bobcats are 1-2 away from home, though, and are coming off a loss to Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in four sets. The Rangers defeated the Bulldogs 3-1 in their conference opener on Wednesday night.
Rodriguez said making sure they continue to take every opponent and match as an important one is the key for the rest of the season.
"We are staying humble," she said. "I think that as long as we stay humble and focus on doing our job, not going out and thinking that because we are 18-0, this is going to be easy. We need to keep our composure and keep playing the game we know we can play."
Attendance for the match is free, with the opening serve scheduled for 5 p.m. Pregame for the match is scheduled for 4:55 on Ranger TV. You can find more information online at nwccrangers.com or by following along on Northwest social media accounts.
