Day One Split For Northeastern

In the first day of the Sam & Louie's Restaurant Invitational, the #16 ranked Northeastern Junior College (NJC) Plainswomen played two very different games. The first was a game where energy was high and battled to defeat the #11 ranked Iowa Western Community College (IWCC) Reivers, then followed it up with a less than ideal performance to fall to the #20 ranked Utah State Eastern (USE) Eagles. The invitational is loaded with top ranked teams, which meant anyone could climb or fall in rankings come Monday. 

In the first game against the Reivers, NJC came out strong and played strong through all five sets. The first set came down to the wire, but IWCC hung on to win 25-23. Set two however was different and NJC buckled down to roll off point at the end and win 25-18. Set three was the Reivers by a hair as they won 25-21. Sets four and five is where Northeastern earned their stripes and won 25-16 and 15-10, ultimately winning the match. 

After a few hours of rest, NJC squared up for their second match of the day against the Eagles. This game was much different than the first as the Plainswomen could not get the ball to go their way. The Eagles found holes in the NJC defense and were successful in their blocks to not allow Northeastern chances at kills. The Eagles went on to win set one 25-17. Set two was much like the first as NJC struggled to find their groove and lost 25-15. The third was better for the Plainswomen as there was a glimpse of how they played in the first game as they won 25-17. The fourth and final set was back and forth, but it was the Eagles who found success and won 25-16. 

The Plainswomen are back at it tomorrow as they play Snow College and Highland Community College.