Rangers fall in Region 23 volleyball final to Jones College
Jones College’s Hannah James (10) tries to slam a volley between a pair of Northwest blockers during Saturday’s 3-1 Bobcats Region 23 championship victory. (Bob Bakken/desotocountynews.com)
The Region 23 volleyball championship was on the line Saturday at Northwest Mississippi Community College with the Rangers taking on Jones College, which won the region crown with a 3-1 victory over Northwest. Set scores were 25-14, 20-25, 25-21, 25-12.
Northwest won the right to host the tournament as conference champion and advanced to the championship game with a straight-set victory over Pearl River on Friday. Jones improved to 28-7 on the season and won the region title in its first season of competitive volleyball. Northwest finishes their season with a record of 25-9.
“We just struggled to get on offense a lot,” said fifth-year Northwest coach Allison Burchyett. “They did a good job of keeping us out of our system, so we struggled to get in system with our ball control.”
The Bobcats won the first set by extending the lead throughout, turning a 2-1 lead into a 10-6 lead and eventually a 20-10 margin when Northwest took a timeout. However, it wasn’t enough to stem the tide as Jones would take the set 25-14.
Showing more aggression on the attack in the second set, the Rangers tied the match at 1-1 with a 25-20 set win. Northwest staked itself to a 3-0 lead immediately, but Jones recovered to a 6-6 tie after a kill shot. The Rangers retook the lead to 14-9 when the Bobcats asked for a timeout but a successful block at the net extended the margin to 18-12 on a kill from Jonesboro, Ark. freshman Maddie Smith. Former Northpoint Christian libero Sailor Cole added an ace for a 19-12 lead. A service error by Jones followed by a kill from Clinton freshman Claire Roberts finished the set 25-20.
“We were playing a little looser in the second set,” Burchyett said about her team’s second-set win. “Maybe the jitters got out of the way a little bit. When we’re on offense, we’re hard to stop, but when we’re out of system, we struggle.”
Jones took the third set 25-21, taking a 14-8 lead early on, but Northwest rallied to tie the set at 16-16 after a Smith kill. The Bobcats took the set back at that point, taking a 22-17 lead before ending the set 25-21.
After a 4-4 tie in the fourth set, Jones took control to finish the match off, again leading 20-10 and then extending it to the final set score of 25-12.
Despite the outcome, Burcyhett noted the Rangers accomplished a lot this season, including a conference championship that allowed Northwest to host the weekend region tournament.
“This is the first season we’ve had under 10 losses,” she said. “Twenty-five and nine is our ending record so very, very, very exciting to end with a record like that. Obviously we’d like to have one more win, but to be in single digits on losses, this is pretty good for a five-year program.”
Jones now advances to play the Alabama conference championship in a post-season district matchup.
