NPCC Knights Split, Advance to Championship Round as No. 2 Seed

The North Platte Community College Lady Knights volleyball team (22-14) won one and lost one Friday in the Region IX Division II Tournament to advance to the championship round on Saturday against the #1 seed Central Community College. The Lady Knights opened the day by falling at the hands to the No. 14 Central Community College Lady Raiders in three sets (11-25, 14-25, 20-25) before bouncing back to defeat the Dawson Community College Lady Buccaneers in straight sets (25-12, 25-19, 25-16).

The round robin portion of the tournament ended with Central at 3-0, North Platte at 2-1, Southeast Community College at 1-2 and Dawson Community College at 0-3.

The Lady Knights compete for the Region IX Division Championship tomorrow at 1 p.m. against No. 14 Central Community College. By virtue of being the No. 1 seed, the Lady Raiders will have to be beaten by the Lady Knights twice tomorrow for the Lady Knights to emerge as champions. The winner will advance to the District G Playoff to compete for a berth in the National Division II Tournament.

In the night cap the Lady Knights started out strong and finished strong as they won the first set 25-12, the second set 25-19 and third set 25-16.

The Lady Knights were led by Sandrina Hallahan who finished with 13 kills while Sabrina Hallahan and Samantha Kennedy each finished with 10. Laura Beckman led the Lady Knights with both 21 assists and 13 digs.

“We needed to win in three!” said coach Thalken. “We needed to be confident and play aggressive. We needed to control the ball and not have the ball control us. We needed to control the net. We did. A big game tomorrow against Central!”

In the opening game of the day at 11 a.m. the Lady Knights started off slowly and dropped the first set to the Lady Raiders 11-25. Central capitalized on their momentum to take the second set as well 14-25. The Lady Knights led most of the third set before falling in the set and game to the Lady Raiders 20-25.

The Lady Knights were led by Sandrina Hallahan and Samantha Byrn who each finished with five kills. Shannon Liewer led the way in digs with 17 and Laura Beckman led the way in assists with 12. Joli Hopping finished with 11 digs and nine assists.

The Region IX Division II Championship game can be heard on ESPN Radio 1410 with the pregame show starting at 12:45.