HIGHLAND, Kan. - In a battle of two teams venturing into the early season national rankings, (RV) Highland (13-3, 1-1 KJCCC) put up a tough four-set battle against #17 Neosho County (8-5, 1-1 KJCCC) but could not complete the comeback, falling 3-1 (25-16, 22-25, 15-25, 22-25) on Wednesday.
Cali Honeyman led the Scottie offense with 18 kills, with
Gracie Klecan again dominating from the service line with five aces in the match.
Highland pounced on Neosho early in the first set, breaking out to an 8-2 lead with Honeyman putting down back-to-back kills to start the rally and
Jaala Stewart picking up one of her three service aces.
The Scotties extended to a 20-11 lead and kept rolling through a Neosho timeout to finish the set with a nine-point margin.
Highland jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the second set, but the Panthers managed to claw back with a four-point surge for a 5-3 lead. The Scotties managed to keep the margin within one until three straight points gave Neosho an 18-14 lead.
HCC took advantage of a pair of Neosho errors following a
Tailyn Kadavy kill to close the gap to 20-18 and later a block by
Cierra Poldberg and
Harlee Blackwell to nip back to a 22-21 deficit, but the Panthers were able to hold on and tie the match at 1-1.
Neosho opened the third set with a 6-3 run before Highland was able to answer with eight straight points to take a 11-6 lead. The Panthers responded with an 11-1 run and closed out the third set with a 10-point margin.
With an 8-3 run to start the fourth set punctuated by three straight service aces from Klecan, Highland seemed poised to force a deciding set in the match before another 11-1 run put the Panthers in front 18-13.
The Scotties dug in and pulled back to a 20-20 tie, with a Honeyman kill following another Klecan ace to level the score. The teams traded points back and forth, but Neosho was finally able to string three rallies together and dash Highland's comeback.
Next up for the Scotties is a short road trip, taking on Southeast Community College and Western Iowa Tech on Saturday. First serve against the Bobcats is set for noon, with the match against the Comets to follow at 2 p.m.
