The Neosho County Community College volleyball team accomplished what it wanted to do Wednesday evening against rival Allen County.

Coming in, the Panthers wanted to control the tempo, limit their mistakes and get some of the less experienced players some floor time.

It resulted in a 3-0 (25-9, 25-18, 27-25) win over the Lady Red Devils.

"We ran our game plan," Coach Asya Herron said. "We were aggressive, and I was excited to get a lot of kids in to get more experience and game-time minutes."

In the first set, it was all Neosho County, racing out to a quick 7-1 advantage.

"The first set, we started with our lineup that we finished with in Texas. They felt a little more comfortable," Herron said. "Volleyball is a sport that is about being comfortable with the person next to you. The more we can put them in situations where they are communicating and figure each other out, the better."

The Panthers quickly got to work on their communication skills with the rowdy student body.

"The crowd was awesome," Herron explained. "It was a fun atmosphere. It was a good opportunity for us to work on our communication skills because you literately couldn't hear anything."

Neosho County cruised to a first set victory, but the other two sets, Allen County made the Panthers work for it.

After jumping out to a 5-1 lead and forcing Allen County to use an early timeout, the match was tight the remainder of the evening.

The Lady Red Devils chipped away at the deficit, but never managed to to take the lead until the early in the third set.

"The second and third sets we moved some people around and gave some people some opportunities to get some experience," Herron said.

Allen looked to take control of the third set early, but the teams ended up trading the lead on several occasions, but the Panthers managed to scored the final two points for the win.

Down 23-22, sophomore Maryssa Recio,who led the Panthers with eight kills, tied the game with a kill, and the Panthers took the lead for good courtesy of an Allen County attack error.

"It was a good conference win," Herron said. "We just had to make sure we weren't making the errors on our side, and let them handle that."

Herron also praised a pair of freshmen following the victory.

"Imani Jones started several games in Texas, and she's really coming along quickly in the middle," she said. "I think she will be the player to watch by the end of the season. She's fun. She's explosive. She's high energy, and I think she did a great job last night."

Jones tallied three kills, while Jesse Heniss added a kill and a block.

"Jesse Hennis brought some intensity, too," Herron said.

The Panthers will make the long drive to McCook, Neb. this weekend for McCook Community College Invite.

Neosho County will play Southeast (Neb.) Community College and Cloud County Community College on Friday and McCook and North Platte (Neb.) Community College on Saturday.

"(McCook) came to us last year, and I promised them a home-and-away," Herron said. "It'll be a good tournament."

Bare Foot for Bare Feet

On Monday, Sept. 25, Neosho County Community College will host Fort Scott Community College, and the Panthers will be collecting shoes that will go overseas to Nigeria for the country's youth volleyball program.