Playing all in Allen County Community College’s Red Devils made NJCAA Division I top-ranked Cowley County Community College work for the match win here Wednesday night.
“We went out with nothing to lose to play these match and played at a level Cowley was not expected from us,” said Jessica Peters, ACCC head coach.
The Red Devils came from behind to stun the Tigers a bit in the opening set. Allen County tied the set up at 13-all then it was point-for-point.
At 23-23 and Cowley County serving, Allen County’s Allison Jenicke got a kill, a point and the ball back for ACCC. She then went back to serve the winning point.
The Tigers are ranked No. 1 for a reason. Not much rattles them. They came back to win the next three sets, taking the match 23-25, 25-10, 25-16, 25-19.
But the Red Devils didn’t go quietly into the night either. They could have folded after the 25-10 second set.
“I was happy with the overall effect the match had on the team,” Peters said. “They didn’t lose confidence.
“The (Red Devil) voice faded but with a little motivation they found the teamwork we needed to play until the end.”
In the third set, the teams played another back-and-forth game until it was 8-7. Cowley County’s Elen Berroteran served five straight points putting her team on top.
Kaitlin Stearns would serve up four consecutive to push the Tiger lead to 18-10.
Allen County sophomores Nicole Rockhold and Andrea Miller had kills to keep the Red Devils in the set. Even down 23-14, the Red Devils got the serve and scored two more points before losing it.
Peters said Allen County’s serve receive slowly shut down. That allowed the Tigers to make several big service runs.
The Red Devils critical mistakes at the net also, Peters said.
In set four, Cowley had a 24-15 lead and was serving. Not so fast.
The Red Devils got a solo block at the net by Casey Droddy. Droddy went back to the service line and serve three straight points.
One point came on a block by Leesha Plagens but a long serve gave the Tigers the winning point.
Allen County dropped to 3-6 in Jayhawk Conference play and 13-18 overall. Cowley County improved to 7-0 in conference and 26-2.
At the service line, Karlee Bobbitt, Droddy and Rockhold each had four points. Nicole Reed, who served for two points, and Rockhold each had a service ace.
Scott and Erika Mack each had two service points. Miller had three points and Jenicke served one point.
Leading the net attack was Rockhold with 16 kills. Miller had six kills, two solo blocks and a block assist. Jenicke had six kills.
Giardina put down four kills and Mack had three kills. Droddy and Plagens each had one kill. Mack had a block assist.
Reed was credited with 21 digs and Rockhold had 20 digs. Jenicke came up with seven and Bobbitt put up six digs.
Mack made five digs while Scott, Giardina and Miller each had three digs. Droddy and Plagens had two digs each.
Allen County travels to Miami, Okla., Monday to play Northeastern Oklahoma.
The Red Devils’ final home match is next Wednesday against Cottey College. Match begins at 6:30 p.m.
Red Devils push top-ranked Tigers
