STERLING, Colo. – The 17th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team suffered their first South conference setback Wednesday evening as the No. 4 Northeastern Junior College Plainswomen topped the Cougars 25-17, 25-12, 25-16.
                The Cougars drop to 20-7 on the season and go to 4-1 in the South conference, while NJC moves to 20-4 overall and 5-0 in the conference.
                WNCC will next be in action Tuesday, October 15 when they travel to Casper College and then a conference showdown with Otero College on October 18.
                Wednesday’s contest started well for the Cougars as both teams were trading blows back and forth. WNCC trailed 9-8 in the first when NJC’s Kaitlyn Barnes served three straight for a 13-9 lead and then Anna Ruter had two points for a 16-9 lead.
                WNCC came back as Lilly Zwart served up three points to make it 16-13. WNCC trailed 21-16 on a Tamika Eastman kill, but the Plainswomen took the first set 25-17.
                NJC started the second set at 3-0 before WNCC cut the lead deficit to one, 6-5, on a Finah Schul kill. WNCC trailed 11-8 on an Eastman block. That was when the NJC service took over as Barnes served four points for a 16-8 lead and the Plainswomen captured the second set 25-12.
                The third set was close at the start with WNCC trailing 2-1. That was when Barnes took over with nine straight points to put NJC up 12-1. WNCC tried coming back, with two straight services points from Taylor Tyser and Zwart to trail 18-9, but it was a little too late as NJC won the third 25-16.
                WNCC finished the match with just 22 kills and 44 digs. Tyser, who was named the NJCAA Defensive Player of the Week Wednesday morning, finished with 11 digs and two service points. Eastman, who was the Region IX South Offensive Player of the Week this week, had 10 digs with five kills.
                WNCC was led on the offensive side by Schul and Zwart each with seven kills while Chloe Grady had two kills. Schul and Zwart each had four digs, while Ahleejah Tovo-Sunia had eight digs. Nora Marginean had 22 set assists with four digs.
                Zwart led the way at the service line with six points with Tovo-Sunia and Eastman each getting two points.
                NJC was led on the offensive side by 6-foot-6 Samantha Mosley with 10 kills.