Plainswomen return home after 2-1 road trip
By Brennen Rupp, JA
It was a successful weekend for the Northeastern Junior College Plainswomen. They went 2-1 on their weekend road trip and played three five-set matches.
The Plainswomen started the season off 2-8, and endured a five-game losing streak. Since that rough start the Plainswomen have gone 8-6, and are now 10-14 overall.
"Ultimately these past three matches were about being coachable and making in match adjustments," NJC head coach Jessica Squier said. "The players finally started to buy into our coaching and trusted us when it came to adjustments."
NJC started the road trip with a 3-2 loss to Lamar Community College. LCC won the first set in convincing fashion 25-11. The Plainswomen bounced back with a 25-22 victory in the second set, and a 25-16 victory in the third set. LCC won the fourth set 25-17 to force the decisive fifth set. LCC won the thrilling fifth set 16-14 to pick up the five-set victory.
Tori Macaluso led NJC with 15 kills. Noelani Simpson, Emily McCurley and Noel Phillips all recorded nine kills.
Kylee Kuntz and Jaedyn Lambrecht both recorded 11 assists. Phillips added 10 assists.
Bailey Schumacher recorded 19 digs. McCurley recorded 10 digs. Kayla Kagan finished the match with nine digs.
The following night NJC defeated Trinidad State Junior College 3-2. NJC lost the first set 25-23. The Plainswomen won the next two sets in convincing fashion; 25-15, 25-13. TSJC forced a fifth set with a 25-22 victory in the fourth set. NJC won the match with a 15-12 victory in the fifth set.
NJC had four players recorded 10 or more kills in the match. Squier said that balanced attack is one of the team's strengths.
"I think from day one our strength has been the fact anyone could have a great match for us," she said. "Pushing the middles as much as we did sure did help open up the offense for the pin hitters."
Simpson led the balanced attack with 16 kills. Macaluso and Kyra Mix both recorded 13 kills. McCurley finished the match with 10 kills.
Kuntz recorded 49 assists. McCurely led the team with 21 digs. Schumacher recorded 19 digs. Kagan and Kuntz both recorded 18 digs. Lambrecht recorded 10 digs.
NJC pulled off the comeback in their final match of the road trip. The Plainswomen were staring defeat right in the face when they lost the first two sets against Otero Junior College. NJC showed their resiliency and poise by winning the final three sets to pick up the 3-2 victory.
Squier said a number of factors led to her team's thrilling comeback.
"We were floating really bad on our block so we really tried to make that adjustment," Squier said. "Secondly we switched to a Steinbrenner 5-1 with Kuntz. She's been most consistent with our hitters. We set the middle more than we set our pin hitters, which is unusual but it worked. Lastly we had competitive perseverance when it came to defense."
Macaluso recorded a team-leading 17 kills. Mix recorded 13 kills. Simpson finished with 11 kills.
Kuntz recorded 37 assists and 12 digs. McCurley led the team with 29 digs. Schumacher and Kagan both recorded 25 digs. Lambrecht finished with 13 digs.
NJC will go for their third straight win tonight against Western Nebraska Community College at the Bank of Colorado Event Center. With a win it will be NJC's first three-game winning streak of the season. The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
"Serving will be key as well as blocking," Squier said. "We need to be aggressive with our serving and limit our unforced errors. Not floating on our block is highly important as well. We'll need our defense to be very aggressive."