Aug. 26, 2019, Sterling, Colo. — The defending Region IX champions, the Northeastern Junior College (NJC), traveled to Casper, Wyo. to open their 2019 season. The #14 nationally ranked Plainswomen were eager to get the season started, but had to open against a tough Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) Bruin team.
In their first of four games on the weekend, their game against SLCC was by far the hardest they had as it was sent to five sets. Northeastern fell behind 1-0, but came back to take the 2-1 advantage in sets. The eventually fell 3-2, but was not without a fight. Julia Gutierrez Mas led offensively with 18 hills while MacKenzie Wells led defensively with 24 digs.
The second game of the day came against Northwest College, which the Plainswomen defeated in three sets. MacKenzie Wells once again led in digs with 13, while Taylor Burns led in kills with eight.
The first game of the second game was against the host team, the Casper College T-Birds. In the first set, the T-Birds battled NJC, but the Plainswomen came out victorious 25-20. The final two sets, Northeastern showed their dominance and won 25-15 and 25-15. Gutierrez Mas led again in kills with nine while Devin Ruble, Sydney Crites, and T. Burns each had five. Defensively, Wells led with 11 digs and Andjelija Draskovic had 10.
Their final game of the weekend was against the Sheridan College Generals. Although winning in three sets, the Plainswomen had to buckle down in the first and third set in order to get the win. Gutierrez Mas led again with 10 kills while Crites and T. Burns each had seven. Wells had 11 digs in the game while Draskovic had nine.
Northeastern will be on the road again Aug. 27 as they travel to Cheyenne, Wyo. to play Laramie County Community College, then follow it up on Aug. 28 to play North Platte Community College.
