SENATOBIA – In one of their most important matches of the season to date, the Northwest Mississippi Community College volleyball team (19-0, 2-0) picked up their fifth consecutive sweep at home with a 25-15, 25-23, 25-15 victory over #23 Jones College (12-4, 1-1).

The win came through a full team effort, with the defense of the back line holding off the talented attack of the Bobcats, while the hitters for the Rangers finished the match with 36 kills as a team, 13 aces, and multiple blocks along the way.

Northwest opened the match in about as good a way as possible, rolling out to a 10-2 lead in the opening set thanks to an 8-0 service run from Reese McIntosh. The Bobcats would close the deficit to 18-15, but never were able to tie the set, falling after another long service run capped the set at 25-15 for a 1-0 lead.

Sophomore Adalyn Callahan said the whole team was in rhythm early, and they were able to push in front early because they were comfortable with each other.

"We had really good defensive ups, and Chloe was able to put the ball in the right spots for our hitters," she said. "Sofia and Val, they came in, and they were hitting every shot that they could have. Everyone all around played great."

The second set saw the Bobcats punch back. After the Rangers were able to get off to another early lead, Jones capitalized on service errors from the Rangers, taking their first lead of the match at 7-6 and eventually building that to a four-point lead late.

Callahan was the one to step back and serve after a sideout closed the gap to 22-15, and something magical happened after that. The former Hernando Tiger led a service run that lasted through two Bobcat timeouts and ended with Northwest in command up 24-22 before finally giving the ball back to the Bobcats. It was too late by then for Jones to reverse the tide, and Northwest finished the set off one serve later, 25-23, for a 2-0 lead.

"We weren't going to give up, because we knew there was still a chance in the set, but we knew that we needed to just get as many points as we could to get our momentum back," she said. "I think once we started getting on that run, we knew we had it. We wanted it more."

The Rangers didn't let the ride end there. After the long service run to close out the second, Callahan gave the crowd at Howard Coliseum an encore, leading the charge on a 10-0 run to open the set.

"After the second set, coach said we needed to get our serves back after missing five serves, and you could tell by our scores," Callahan said. "I knew I needed to put the service pressure on, so I put pressure on their weakest passer and just made sure I got it over and in."

From there it became a game of mathematics. Northwest would trade some points with the Bobcats, but there was never a serious push back from the visitors to get back in, and the lead never dropped below five on the way to a 25-15 set win to complete the sweep.

It was an important win emotionally for the Rangers, who have felt on the outside looking in despite being one of just two teams in the country entering the week that were undefeated, and still on the outside of the top 25.

"Jones definitely deserves to be ranked, and so does Pearl River, but we are 19-0 and deserve to be ranked, so coming in we wanted to put on a show and show we should be ranked as well," said Callahan.

The Rangers attack was led by another strong day from Sofia Gonzalez with 12 kills and 10 more from Valerie Hurdle. Ariana Woods added another eight kills to go with four aces and a pair of block assists for a 13-point night, leading the team in total points. Five other Rangers added kills along the way.

The assists were evenly spread along the way, with Chloe Rodriguez finishing with 14 and Dallas White picking up another 10.

It was the back line that really stood out for the Rangers, tallying 46 digs in the match, including 15 from Jania Rose, nine from Callahan, and eight from McIntosh.

"We all trust each other on the back row," Callahan said of the four sophomores and one freshman, including White and Gonzalez, who patrol the back rotations. "We don't worry about who's getting the ball up; we just play our positions. Whenever we get a ball up, the offense can trust us too, that they don't have to step in. We are ready for everything to come so they can just focus on transition and hitting, and they can do their job."

That has the Rangers off to a 2-0 start in conference play as they prepare for a trip to Booneville and a battle with Northeast Mississippi Community College (9-10, 2-0) coming up next. The Rangers beat the Tigers in straight sets last week on Monday, but are coming off wins over Meridian Community College and Itawamba Community College in their MACCC openers.

Callahan said the team knows they can't settle for what they have done, and there is a desire to keep pushing to the ultimate goal, which is a trip to the national tournament.

"We want it more. We are 19-0, and we just want to keep winning. We just want to keep proving ourselves."

Keep up with the Ranger volleyball team and all Northwest athletics by visiting nwccrangers.com or by following along on Northwest social media accounts.