NJC's season comes to an end at Region IX tournament

By Brennen Rupp, JA

The volleyball season came to an end for the Northeastern Junior College Plainswomen this past weekend at the Region IX tournament. NJC went 2-2, with both of their losses coming to Western Nebraska Community College.

NJC got the tournament started with a 3-2 victory over Otero Junior College. The match didn't get off to a great start for the Plainswomen, with OJC winning the opening set 25-13. NJC responded by winning the second set 25-16. OJC won the third set 25-21. The Plainswomen answered back by winning the final two sets by two points; 25-23 and 17-15 to pick up the 3-2 victory.

Reegan Shaffer led NJC's attack with 12 kills. Noelani Simpson recorded 11 kills. Emily McCurley recorded seven kills.

Jaedyn Lambrecht recorded 19 assists and 17 digs. Kylee Kuntz recorded 16 assists. Bailey Schumacher led the Plainswomen with 20 digs. Kayla Kagan finished with 18 digs.

The Plainswomen wrapped up the first day of the tournament with a 3-1 loss to Western Nebraska Community College. NJC dropped the opening set 25-19 and bounced back to win the second set 25-18. WNCC went onto win the third and fourth set, 25-16 and 25-15 to pick up the 3-1 match victory.

Shaffer led NJC with nine kills. Simpson recorded eight kills. Tori Macaluso recorded seven kills.

Lambrecht recorded a team-leading 13 digs. McCurley, Schumacher and Kuntz all recorded 10 digs. Kuntz recorded 28 assists.

NJC opened up the second day of the tournament the same way they opened up the first day, with a victory over Otero Junior College. The Plainswomen won in straight sets, 25-21, 25-22 and 25-16.

Shaffer recorded a team-leading 15 kills. Macaluso recorded nine kills. Kyra Mix and McCurley both finished with eight kills.

Schumacher recorded 20 digs to lead NJC. Kuntz recorded 30 assists and 15 digs. Kagan recorded 13 digs.

NJC's season came to an end with a 3-0 loss to Western Nebraska Community College. WNCC won; 25-16, 25-23 and 25-20.

McCurley led NJC's attack with eight kills. Mix finished with seven kills. Shaffer recorded six kills.

Schumacher led NJC with 13 digs. Kagan finished with 12 digs. McCurley recorded 10 digs.

The Plainswomen finished the season with an 18-19 record, with five of their losses coming to Western Nebraska Community College. The Plainswomen bounced back from a 3-9 start to the season to finish 15-10.

Macaluso finished the season with a team-leading 306 kills. Shaffer finished second on the team with 270 kills. Simpson finished with 201 kills. Mix wrapped up the season with 198 kills. Carly Orth finished with 122 kills.

Kuntz finished with a team-leading 506 assists. Lambrecht recorded 242 assists.

Schumacher recorded a team-leading 491 digs. McCurley finished second on the team with 356 digs.