The North Platte Community College Lady Knights (11-4) volleyball team defeated the Eastern Wyoming College Lady Lancers on Tuesday night in four sets (25-11, 25-17, 17-25, 25-18).

In the opening set of the match, the Lady Knights came out strong and raced out to a 10-4 lead to force the Lady Lancers to take a timeout. The Lady Knights continued their strong play and increased their lead to 17-7 to force a second Lady Lancers timeout. The timeout didn’t have much effect as the Lady Knights scored the next five points before capturing a 25-11 first set win.

The second set was more of the same as the Lady Knights held on to the momentum as they cruised to a 25-17 victory. The third set saw the Lady Lancers battle back and not go quietly as they won the set 25-17 to wrest momentum from the Lady Knights.

The fourth set was back and forth as neither team could gain a commanding lead until late in the set as the Lady Knights finished the set and the match with a 25-18 set victory.

“I thought we played well,” said freshman Samantha Kennedy. “I thought we recovered well after the third set to win the fourth.”

The Lady Knights were lead in the match by Kennedy who recorded 14 kills. Joli Hopping paced the Knights with 18 assists and four “ace” serves. Laura Beckman chipped in 14 assists. Shannon Liewer led the Lady Knights with 13 digs with Samantha Byrn not far behind with 10 digs and 4 “ace” serves. Sandrina Hallahan led the Lady Knights with four blocks.

“We played very aggressive in the first and second set,” said head coach Sally Thalken. “Eastern Wyoming plays with a lot of pride and caught us on our heels in the third set. They blocked some balls and gave themselves some momentum which we struggled to recover from in the fourth.”

The Lady Knights host the No. 7 Central Community College Lady Raiders at McDonald-Belton Gymnasium at 6 p.m on Thursday. The Lady Raiders are a Region IX Division II opponent as well as a fellow Nebraska Community College Athletic Association (NCCAC) member. Last year the Lady Raiders defeated the Lady Knights in five sets to win the Region IX Division II Tournament. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN Radio 1410 and can also be listened to online by clicking here.

The Lady Knights take the weekend off before hosting Hastings College JV next Tuesday, Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. The Lady Knights then travel to Region IX Division II and NCCAC foe Southeast Community College on Thursday, Sept. 26. for a game at 4 p.m.