The shorthanded Lady Beavers suffered the season’s first conference defeat Monday night at Dennis Lesh Sports Arena to visiting Cloud County.

The shorthanded Lady Beavers suffered the season’s first conference defeat Monday night at Dennis Lesh Sports Arena to visiting Cloud County. Working around the absences of starters Amber Culwell and Kelsey Hitch was made even more difficult when OH Whitney Gibson came down badly after a spike and sustained an injury during set two.

The Beavers made it interesting, but in the end, the Clouds prevailed 20-25; 25-21; 20-25; 18-25.

The tone was set early on, as the Beavers committed 15 errors in the first game— several of those being service errors. Meanwhile, the CCCC offense took advantage of their opportunities to get into the lead. The T-Bird offense was run by Pratt High product Jaci Kolm (setter). In addition to setting, Kolm also combined on a block that was a critical turning point in set one— which had been nip and tuck until then.

Set two saw points being traded evenly until Gibson’s injury at the 20-20 mark. From there, PCC rallied to take the set 25-21. That would be Pratt’s high water mark, however, as after intermission, the Clouds’ defense and net domination allowed them to post 20-25; 18-25 wins for the 3-1 match victory.

Pratt falls to 4-1 in the conference (13-4 overall) and will host Jayhawk leading Hutchinson Wednesday at the Beaver Dome.