No. 4 Northeastern wins 3-1 over MCC volleyball

The McCook Community College volleyball team had set points in each of the first two matches against No. 4 Northeastern Junior College Friday but ended up losing 3-1.

The NJC Plainswomen maintain their run through the south division of Region IX Friday at the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center winning 26-24, 21-25, 25-13 and 25-14.

“I thought we competed really well in the first two sets and did exactly what we worked on to prepare for this match,” said MCC Coach Hayley Kobza.

MCC came out strong in the first set taking a 14-7 lead, but NJC went on an 11-3 run to lead 23-19. The Lady Indians went on a 5-0 run for a set point, but the Plainswomen closed out the set with the final three points.

In the second set NJC took a 12-8 lead but MCC fought back to tie the set at 19 before closing it out on a 6-2 run to tie the match at one set apiece.

“In the third and fourth sets we just mentally we not holding ourselves accountable and not playing together as a team,” said Kobza.

Freshman Charlee Russick (Berthoud, Colo.) led MCC with 10 kills along with two blocks and two digs. Caylin Barnett (sophomore Southwest High School) had eight kills, 14 digs, three blocks and one service ace.

Romina Martinez Castro (sophomore, Cochabamba, Bolivia) had eight kills, four digs, one block and one ace. Sophomore Emerie Rios (Sterling, Colo.) had seven kills and two blocks.

Cibeles Bothwell (sophomore, Spring, Texas) had 21 digs to pace the defense with three assists and a kill.

“I thought Cibles had a really good game,” said Kobza.

Sophomore Rowan Tribelhorn (Yuma, Colo.) had three kills, three assist blocks and two solo blocks while freshman Ella Verts (Marshall, Mo.) had three kills and three blocks.

Freshman Megan Walker (Haxtun, Colo.) had 16 assists and seven digs while freshman Abby Thompson (Bison, S.D.) had 14 assists, six digs and a service ace.

NJC improves to 25-4 and extend the winning streak to 17 games. Their only losses on the season came to Butler Community College of Kansas (a team MCC swept on Sept. 21) and No. 2 Florida Southwestern State in August; and against No. 1 Miami Dade College and No. 11 Salt Lake CC on Sept 6-7. The Plainswomen lead the south at 9-0. Their final game will be Wednesday at Scottsbluff against Western Nebraska.

“It leaves a mark,” said Kobza. “To compete with a team that’s nationally ranked is a plus but we need to start peaking and doing good things especially here at the end of the season.”

MCC goes to 20-9 and 3-4 in the south division of Region IX.

The Lady Indians are back in action Saturday at home against No. 17 Western Nebraska (25-7) at 2 p.m. This will be the final home match of the season. The Cougars are second in the south standings at 7-1, their only loss to NJC.

Up-to-date information about MCC volleyball including livestream links, schedule, statistics, rosters, photos and more can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com