ANDREW TOWNE

Sports editor

The Neosho County Community College volleyball team swept Brookhaven, Texas to improve to 2-0 in the opening round of the Greyhound Invitational in Fort Scott Friday afternoon.

The Panthers scored the first point of the game behind a kill from freshman outside hitter Kayla Maples, but the next eight points were dominated by Brookhaven.

"I proud of us for battling back in that first set," Coach Asya Herron said. 

"I would like to start out by not giving the other team six, seven points. That is part of finding consistency of serve/receive offense and getting more comfortable with the people around you."

Trailing 7-2, Herron called a quick time out, and that was enough to settle her team down.

"It's something we are working on," Herron said of the team's communication. "Again, it's just some growing pains. We would rather be doing it now than at the end of the season."

After trimming the deficit to four, Neosho County went on a 7-0 run to take a 13-10 advantage.

That proved to be the last time the Panthers trailed until early in the third set.

Neosho County took set one 25-17 and set two 25-19, but the team had its hands full in the third to complete the sweep.

Sophomore libero Madi Miller gave the Panthers an early 3-2 lead in the third, but Brookhaven scored the next three points. 

"Madi did a great job for us," Herron said. "She's the one that is feeling the most comfortable right now."

They held the lead until freshman Chandler Karr tied the set up at nine apiece.

The score came in the midst of a 7-2 spurt that gave the Panthers a 14-10 lead.

Neosho County never trailed again, but with the Panthers ahead 24-18, Brookhaven rattled off five straight scores to close the gap to one. Following a timeout, the Panthers promptly scored the game-winning point to remain unbeaten on the young season.

Imani Jones, Karlye Wagner and Jesse Hennis made their season debuts for the Panthers on Friday. 

"They all stepped in and did a nice job," Herron said.

The Panthers had one more game scheduled for Friday at 7 pm against conference foe Fort Scott, and Herron said it would be the team's first test of the season.

"It's always a good a test with Fort Scott. They play very similar to us. It's always fun to watch us matchup because we recruit similar players. This will be our first big test. They like to play an uptempo game, and we will have to limit our errors for sure."

The Panthers (2-0) will face Ottawa University JV at 11 am and Allen County Community College at 3 pm Saturday to wrap up the Fort Scott tournament.