By: Mike Smith
Dodge City volleyball continued its strong play, picking up a three-set home win over Cloud County, 25-16, 25-23, 25-23, and extending its win streak to 10, the longest since the 2010 season.
The Conquistadors' victory moved them to 25-5 on the season and 14-1 in conference play. Conqs have won six in a row in the series against Cloud County, while their 10-match win streak this season has seen the Conqs win nine of the ten in three sets.
After falling behind 5-3 early to start the night, the Conqs went on a 4-0 run to take a 7-6 lead and then, midway through the set, started to pull away. The Conqs went up 20-13, leading Cloud County to use their second timeout, and
Kayla Cantrill stamped the set in the Conqs' favor with a kill for the final point, 25-16. Back-and-forth early in the second set, the Conqs finally took some control, going up 14-11, but Cloud County pushed back to tie the set at 19-19 and even took the lead at 20-19; the Conqs countered, scoring six of the next nine points to win the second set 25-23. Cloud County led 3-1 in the third set, but the Conqs had a 7-0 run, and the lead grew to nine. The Conqs went on to lead 24-18, but Cloud County rattled off five straight to make it interesting in the third set before the Conqs won it 25-23 to take the match.
Cantrill finished with 15 kills, adding six digs and an ace, while
Dora Csanyi added an 11-kill night, hitting .550.
Anete Celnova had a solid performance with 11 digs, seven kills, and two aces, while
Sunni Skipps tallied seven kills and six digs.
Chelsea Durbridge recorded 35 assists in the Conqs ' three-set win.
The Conqs will wrap up the regular season on Wednesday, October 28
th, against #8 Colby at 6:30 pm as the two teams face off for the conference title.