Sept. 26, 2006

The NJC volleyball team dropped its first match at the Wyoming/Nebraska Tournament to end its streak of 15 consecutive game victories.

The Plainswomen (20-4) bounced back to win six straight matches, losing just one game the rest of the tournament.

"It was a strong tournament with good competition," Head Coach Marci Henry said.

Western Wyoming defeated NJC, three games to two, to open the tournament. The Plainswomen dropped the first two games of the match, 30-24 and 30-20. NJC then posted wins of 30-28 and 32-30 to force a match-deciding, fifth game. Western Wyoming took the match with a 15-7 win in Game Five.

"They were a good team," Henry said. "But we didn't provide them with our best competition."

After losing the second game, 30-26, to Eastern Wyoming in its second match, NJC cruised through the tournament. Henry's squad put Eastern Wyoming away, 3-1. The Plainswomen went on to win its final 17 games to finish 6-1 for the tournament.

Northwest, Casper, Sheridan, Laramie County and Seward County all fell victim to the Plainswomen, three games to none.

Thais Hollerbach led NJC's offensive attack with 96 kills while Addi Radke added 83. Hollerbach and Tamy Leipelt had 17 aces each while Leipelt chipped in 73 kills.

Brittany Palmer set up the scoring for most of the weekend with 178 assists.

On the defensive side, Jenny Andresen led the way with 105 digs while Hollerbach contributed 89.

Kendra Buckmaster and Isabela Lachowski were solid at the net with 28 and 26 blocks, respectively.