Down two sets to one, and trailing 10-3, head coach Whitney Shaw decided to call a timeout to regroup her Red Devils. Shaw and assistant coach Sarah Baker fueled fire into the veins of the Devils to not only win the set, but to upset nationally ranked Cloud County Community College.
The resilience displayed Wednesday night has been the story of the season for Allen Community College.
We were in a very similar situation against Hesston, Shaw said. In that game we called a timeout to regroup, and came back and won the set. Usually we motivate the girls, but rarely do we get on them. I know that if we can give them energy, if we push them until they get energy, hey will respond.
Heading into the match, ACC was sitting at seventh in the Jayhawk East. The top six advance to the conference playoffs, so a loss more than likely would have diminished any hope of a postseason. Playing the 13th ranked team in the nation only made the task more tough to achieve.
ACC competed in the first set, but Cloud ultimately overpowered the Red Devils for the 25-16 set victory. The Red Devils responded in the second set to even the match 1-1, after winning the set 25-21. In the third set, ACC got complacent to fall behind in the match 2-1.
We have done that occasionally, and it is a little hard to watch, Shaw said in reference to ACC letting its foot off the gas in the third set loss. We cant do that when we play Fort Scott, they wont let us come back.
ACC trailed 10-3 in the fourth set, leading to a timeout by Shaw. Two motivational speeches later, the Red Devils were even on the scoreboard, and earned the 25-19 set victory. The Red Devils continued to ride the momentum into the fifth and final set to win 15-11.
Libero Celymar Cabranes provided the on-court leadership to keep the Red Devils focused throughout the match, even when dominoes didnt fall in ACCs direction. Even though her serving error was the final point to clinch the set-three loss for ACC, she stayed active on the back row by providing a team high 30 digs.
Also contributing on the stat sheet were Laia Jaca with 41 assists, Alexander Samie earning 16 kills, and Adriana Santiago with 13 kills.
At the moment, ACC remains at seventh in the Jayhawk East. The Red Devils record is now 4-5 in the conference. They are tied with Cloud for the final conference playoff position, but would miss out due to a tiebreaker.
ACCs final conference game is Wednesday away against third-ranked Fort Scott.
This win was a big momentum builder, Shaw said. I think when people look at the scores, and see we beat Cloud, they are going to be shocked.
