Hawks volleyball drops a pair at Southeast Community College Tournament

BEATRICE, Neb. - The Northeast Community College volleyball team encountered trouble in the final day of the Southeast Tournament Saturday in Beatrice, Neb. The Hawks fell to Highland Community College in four sets, winning the first 25-23 and dropping the rest (25-23, 25-14, 25-19). In the second game, Northeast fell to McCook Community College in three sets (25-20, 25-17, 25-19).

"Today was a tough day for the team," said Amanda Schultze, Northeast coach. "Highland was a very scrappy team and picked up a lot of balls defensively. They did a nice job of keeping us out of system. We played them tough but fell short."

Kalli Brester led Northeast in kills against Highland with 15, while Hannah Heppner had 11 kills and a team-high four blocks. Savannah Nelson and Gabi Barbosa each recorded an ace serve. Barbosa led digs with 25, while Elley Beaver totaled 17; Brester, 13; Nelson, 13; and Delaney Belt, 12. Nelson had 42 assists and Beaver had three.

Schultze said McCook, a National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I team, also played tough against Northeast.

"They were pretty big and had some strong hitters that we couldn't stop. We did a good job keeping the ball in play but just could not put it away offensively."

Against McCook, Beaver, Brester, Heppner and Caitlin Orton totaled four kills each. Orton had three blocks, while Heppner and Beaver each had two. Nelson dished out three ace serves, 12 digs and 12 assists.

Northeast (1-3) will travel to West Burlington, Iowa, Wednesday to face Southeastern Community College at 7 p.m.