North Platte – The North Platte Community College Lady Knights volleyball team will travel to McCook to participate in the McCook Community College Invitational September 8 and 9.

On Friday, September 8 they will face the Highland Community College Scotties at noon, and then face the Butler County Community College Lady Grizzlies at 4 PM.

The Scotties defeated the Lady Knights at the Southeast Community College tournament on August 25 in three sets. They are 8-2 on the season. Leslie Polanco leads the Scotties in kills with 122, followed by Zealia Kleitz with 119 kills. Katie Pearson has 320 set assists and Polanco has 162 defensive digs.

The Lady Grizzlies are 4-2 on the season. One of their losses was to Colby Community College in three sets, who also defeated the Lady Knights in three sets. Brooke Fender has 45 kills and 42 defensive digs. Abby Goodrum leads the Lady Grizzlies in defensive digs with 66. Andie Nibarger has 89 set assists.

On Saturday, the Lady Knights will face the 16th rated Cowley County Community College Lady Tigers at 9 AM and then face the Neosho County Community College Lady Panthers at 1 PM.

The Lady Tigers are 6-3 on the season. Their three losses came at the hands of Lincoln Land Community College, Central Community College, and Coffeyville Community College. All three teams were ranked in the preseason Top 10 in Division II. They have not lost a set in their last four matches. Milica Kusmuk leads the Lady Tigers with 104 kills. JoLee Richhart has 168 defensive digs. Sydney Meget has 342 set assists.

The Lady Panthers are 8-3 on the season. Maryssa Recio has 105 kills, Madison Miller has 251 defensive digs and Breann Becker has 209 set assists to lead the Lady Panthers.

The Lady Knights are 4-7 on the season. Luisa Hernandez has 90 kills for the Lady Knights, Antonya Schaffert has 123 defensive digs, Shaylee Johnson has 42 total blocks and Carlie Wytulka has 330 set assists to lead the Lady Knights.

“I am excited to see how we do this weekend. I think we have some good chances and we need to make some steps forward mentally.” Lady Knight Head Coach Alexa McCall said, “We have worked hard on serving and passing and cleaning up play. We will continue to do that and hopefully be successful.”

All the matches will be livestreamed courtesy of McCook Community College at www.mccindians.com.

North Platte – The North Platte Community College Lady Knights volleyball team defeated the Hastings College Junior Varsity Lady Broncos in four sets 25-14, 25-13, 20-25, and 26-24.

Lady Knight Head Coach Alexa McCall said, “I thought we did a really good job in sets 1 and 2 and then we let off a bit and got out worked. I was proud of them for battling to win the fourth but we can’t have any let downs like that and expect to win. We served better tonight and that definitely helped us.”

The Lady Knights as a team had a 93.5 percent serving percentage in the match with four service aces. Louisa Hernandez had two service aces.

Hernandez led the Lady Knights in kills with 11 kills and had a .300 kill efficiency. Neci Sundquist finished with seven kills and a kill efficiency of .158. Carlie Wytulka had 19 set assists and Taylin McNair added 16 set assists. McNair also had six kills.

Antonya Schaffert had 17 defensive digs.

In the fourth set, the Lady Knights were trailing the Lady Broncos 16-19, Carly Moss stepped to the service line and served five points to give the Lady Knights a 21-19 lead. The Lady Broncos rallied back to put the score at 24 each. After a side out to the Lady Knights, Hernandez served match point.

The Lady Knights travel to McCook, this weekend to participate in the McCook Community College Invite. The tournament will be live streamed at www.mccindians.com

North Platte – The North Platte Community College Lady Knights were defeated by the Northeastern Junior College Plainswomen on Wednesday night, three sets to one, 25-19, 25-14, 24-26, 25-20.

In the first set the set was tied at 10, when the Plainswomen’s Kacey Jaeger was able to keep her serve for three points to put the Plainswomen up 13-10. The Lady Knights only were able to manage six service points compared to 12 by the Plainsmen in the first set.

The second set began with the Plainswomen’s Lauren White serving four points to take a 4-0 lead. After a couple of side outs, the Plainswomen’s Jaeger reeled off six service points to open up the set at 13-2. Carly Moss had two service points and Carlie Wytulka had three service points for the Lady Knights in set two.

In the third set, the Lady Knights jumped out to a 7-2 lead behind the serving of Antonya Schaffert, who had four service points. The Plainsmen rallied back to tie the score at 23-23. After a couple of side outs, Amanda Kroeger served the set winner after a kill attempt by the Plainswomen was just wide.

In the fourth set, the set was tight throughout. The Plainswomen outscored the Lady Knights in service points 10-3.

Lady Knight assistant coach Sally Thalken said, “We must do a better job with serve and serve-receive to compete. I know the girls expect more from themselves and they are willing to pay the price to improve. We have a nice young group and we will go through “growing pains” as we mature as a team.”

The Lady Knights, now 2-4, take to the road over the weekend to compete in the Highland Community College Invitational in Highland, Kans… They will face Allen County Community College and Northeastern Oklahoma A & M on Friday. On Saturday, they will face a pair of pre-season rated teams in six rated Coffeyville Community College and then #18 rated Metro Community College – Longview.

They return to the home court on Tuesday September 5 to host Hastings College Junior Varsity at 7 pm.

The Hastings match will be livestreamed at www.npccknights.com.