Northeast volleyball battles at Central Community College tournament

COLUMBUS, Neb. – The Northeast Community College volleyball team took part in the Central Community College tournament on Friday, dropping a five-set match to Cowley County Community College (25-20, 25-19, 24-26, 17-25 and 6-15) in Columbus, Neb.

On Saturday the Hawks (13-9, 5-1 ICCAC) went 1-1, falling to Kansas City Kansas Community College (19-25, 27-25, 23-25 and 16-25), before picking up a five-set victory over Fort Scott Community College (20-25, 25-21, 25-18, 26-28 and 15-5).

Against Cowley, Hannah Heppner (Stanton, Neb.) had a career-high 20 kill-performance and four blocks. Kalli Brester (Howells, Neb.) added 16 kills and 19 digs, good for a double-double. Savannah Nelson (Wakefield, Neb.) also had a double-double with a season-high 54 assists and 14 digs.

"Cowley was a good team and ran a very quick ball to the outside that we really struggled to defend," head coach Amanda Schultze said. "It was a tough loss for us, but I think it showed our girls how good they can be if they would just stay focused the entire match and not let up."

In the loss to KCKCC, Brester tallied 16 kills and 16 digs. Gabriela Barbosa (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) chipped in 31 digs, while Nelson had 40 assists.

"This tournament is always a tough one for us," Schultze added. "We see some really good Kansas teams. KCKCC played a great game and really pushed us out of system and we struggled to get anything going."

In the finale, it was Brester leading the offensive attack with 17 kills and 24 digs. Elley Beaver (Columbus, Neb.) pitched in 12 kills and Megan Wehrbein (Lewiston, Neb.) had 10. Delaney Belt (Shelby, Neb.) had a career-high 35 digs, while Nelson recorded 51 assists.

"In the second set of the Fort Scott game, we were able to finally settle down and relax and did a good job at playing our game again," Schultze said. "We switched up our lineup a bit and really got after it. It was a good way to end the tournament."

The Hawks return home to take on North Platte Community College at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Cox Activities Center in Norfolk. Live stream will be available at: https://team1sports.com/northeastcc/

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.