The North Platte Community College Lady Knights volleyball team (22-15) ended their season on Saturday afternoon with a loss to the No. 14 Central Community College Lady Raiders (29-10) in three sets (17-25, 20-25, 22-25).
The Lady Knights again started out slow as they would lose the first set to the Lady Raiders 17-25. The Knights would play better in the second but still fell 20-25. In the third set the Lady Knights held an early lead but couldn’t capitalize to extend the match and fell 22-25.
Samantha Kennedy led the Lady Knights with 13 kills. Laura Beckman paced the Lady Knights with 15 assists and four ace serves. Joli Hopping had 13 assists. Shannon Liewer had 16 digs to lead the Lady Knights.
“We knew we had to play hard and make some breaks for ourselves to beat a very good Central team,” said head coach Sally Thalken. “We played better in the third but just couldn’t take the set to make things interesting. We played a tough schedule to prepare us for post-season play. We beat some very good teams throughout the year and lost to some nationally ranked teams. Regardless of the loss, I’m really proud of these girls. They fought to the last point.”
The Lady Knights finish the season with a winning record for the second straight season at 22-15. The year saw head coach Sally Thalken earn her 900th career win and finish the season with 901 wins to remain the winning active coach in Division II. The Lady Knights will lose sophomores Laura Beckman of Julesburg, Colo., Sabrina and Sandrina Hallahan of Brush, Colo., Jacee Kershaw of Culbertson and Shannon Liewer of Imperial.