Northeast fends off North Platte on the road

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. – After a back-and-forth affair through the first four sets, it was the Northeast Community College women's volleyball team that came out on top Thursday night in North Platte.

The Hawks (7-3, 2-0 ICCAC) took care of North Platte Community College (25-19, 22-25, 25-22, 21-25 and 15-13) in non-conference play after previously dropping a five-set thriller to the Knights on Aug. 24.

Kalli Brester (Howells, Neb.) led the offensive charge for Northeast, recording 17 kills and 22 digs, her sixth double-double this season. Hannah Heppner (Stanton, Neb.) added 13 kills and four blocks, while MaKayla Davidson (Alliance, Neb.) and Caitlin Orton (Mills, Neb.) had 12 and 11 kills, respectively.

"Tonight we started off great," Northeast Head Coach Amanda Schultze said. "We passed the ball well and really seemed to stay in system. Once the second set started, we made multiple errors in a row and really struggled to get going again."

Savannah Nelson (Wakefield, Neb.) tallied 48 assists and five ace-serves. Gabriela Barbosa (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) pitched in 18 digs, while Delaney Belt (Shelby, Neb.) had 17 digs.

"We went back and forth all game and really made some mental errors in the fourth set which North Platte capitalized on which pushed us to the fifth set," Schultze added. "We were down 10-5 in the fifth set at one time and Hannah Heppner got a kill that lit a fire on our side and we ran with it. I am very proud of how the girls finished the game tonight."

The Hawks have a five-day break before hosting Des Moines Area Community College in conference action at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Cox Activities Center in Norfolk.

For all news related to Northeast Community College athletics, visit northeasthawks.com for complete coverage. Fans can also follow the Hawks on Twitter @NortheastHawks for game-day coverage.