Volleyball Competes at Salt Lake Community College Tournament

Salt Lake City, Utah...

The Plainswomen volleyball team traveled to Salt Lake City this past week on Friday, September 3rd and Saturday, September 4th.  Going into the tournament the volleyball team was riding a two game win streak and an overall record of 3-3.  Although the season has started a little rough for the Plainswomen, good things have been materializing and players are gaining more confidence.  Coming off back-to-back seasons of making the National NJCAA Tournament, Coach Chrisman is confident that the sophmores can take that experience and help lead the freshman to a strong season.

During the Salt Lake tournament, the Plainswomen played a total of 4 games in two days.  Game 1 on Friday had the volleyball team competing against the College of Southern Idaho.  What was expected to be was a tough match against the Golden Eagles.  Northeastern held their own, but struggled to get the momentum going towards the ends of their sets.  The Golden Eagles did win the match, sweeping the Plainswomen in 3.  Set 1 had a score of 25-19, set 2 had a score of 25-21 and set 3 had a score of 25-22.  Unfortunately, the ladies just fell short of forcing a fourth set.  Sophomore Mayson Fago led the Plainswomen attack with 13 kills and sophomore Jade Feather stayed strong on the defensive front with 14 digs.  The Golden Eagles attack was lead by sophmore Savannah Taosoga who ended the game with 14 kills.

Game 2 on Friday for the Plainswomen seen competition against the host school of Salt Lake Community College.  After a tough loss in the first game of the tournament, the Plainswomen were looking to rebound and have a better result for their second match.  In what was another tough matchup for the ladies ended in a similar result as the first match.  The Grizzlies swept the Plainswomen in 3 sets, but all sets were very competitive and very close.  Set 1 had a score of 25-21, set 2 had a score of 25-20 and set 3 had a score of 25-20.  Again the Plainswomen couldn't muster up enough momentum at the end of the sets to force a fourth set.  Sophomore Mayson Fago again led the attack for the Plainswomen with a total of 12 kills while also doing a fair share of defense with 12 digs.  Freshman Lacy Hunt also had a strong game with 8 kills and 5 digs.  The Grizzlies had a double attack going with freshman Sandora Sasaki tallying 15 kills and freshman Jasmyne Love tallying 13 kills.

Game 3 took place on Saturday for the Plainswomen and was a bright spot on the tournament as they took the win against New Mexico Military Institute.  This matchup was stretched to four sets, two of them being very competitive.  Northeastern got the momentum going early in the majority of the sets which allowed them to roll through the match.  Plainswomen won set 1 with a score of 25-21, lost set 2 with a score of 25-16, won set 3 with a score of 25-23 and won set 4 with a score of 25-19 to finish off the match.  Freshman Lacy Hunt led the attack for the Plainswomen with 13 kills while sophomore Jade Feather and freshman Faith Trenkle led the defensive display with a combined 34 digs.

Game 4 also took place on Saturday with the Plainswomen battling the Central Wyoming Rustlers for their last competition of the tournament.  Northeastern came out hot in this match taking the first set 25-15, their biggest set win of the tournament.  The Rustlers then recovered to take the next three straight sets from Northeastern.  The second set ended up in a struggle for the Plainswomen as they lost 25-17.  Excitment returned for the third set as it went to extra points with the Rustlers topping the ladies 26-24.  After a hard fought third set, the momentum shifted again to Central Wyoming as they beat Northeastern 25-18.  Mayson Fago shined with 23 kills, however that was not enough for the Plainswomen to finish with a win.  Sophomore's Jade Feather and Andie Anderson stayed strong defensively with a combined 34 digs.

The Plainswomen volleyball team's next competition takes them back home for the 38th Annual Sheila Worley Invitational Volleyball Tournament presented by the Eastern Plains Sports Network.  This tournament will feature 2 games for the Plainswomen.  Friday, September 9th the Plainswomen will play Utah State Eastern at 5:30pm and on Saturday, the Plainswomen will play Iowa Western Community College at 4pm.  Western Nebraska Community College will also be at the tournament competing.  All games will be played at the Bank of Colorado Event Center in the Jackson-Edwards Arena.

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