Box Score DODGE CITY, Kan. - In a match for the ages, the Dodge City volleyball team found a way to fight off six match points to take a 3-2 (27-29, 25-20, 25-21, 22-25, 21-19) match win in the KJCCC conference opener for the Conquistadors at the DC3 Gymnasium on Wednesday, August 31st.
DC3 improves to 3-3 overall on the season and 1-0 in the KJCCC while Barton lost for the first time all season to fall to 6-1 and 1-1 in the KJCCC.
The first set was about as tight as they come with neither team being able to open up a large lead. The Cougars would eventually pull away to win the set 29-27 before DC3 would settle down and feed off the capacity crowd to take set two 25-20. Heading into the third set tied at one, the Conquistadors carried the momentum to take the set 25-21 and appeared to be heading to a second consecutive four-set victory before the Cougars denied them the opporunity by taking set four by a score of 25-22. An epic fifth set awaited both teams as Barton jumped out to an early lead and appeared to be heading towards their first KJCCC victory of the season, but DC3 refused to let the match get away from them, coming back from 13-9 and 14-10 to push it to extra points before finally finding a way to string together two in a row to give the home crowd what they had come to see.
Raquel Valdez led the Conqs with 13 kills and had three block assists while
Daisy Cheek had 27 assists and 11 kills on the night.
Briana Brown followed with 26 assists of her own while
Sada Smith had 12 kills and 10 digs.
Tenille Tholen and
Stephanie Garcia led the team with 14 digs apiece.
The Conqs will be back in action on Friday night when they travel to take on rival Garden City Community College in a 6:30 p.m. match. Despite losing both matches to the Broncbusters a season ago, DC3 can match last year's win total with a win on Friday.
