Aug. 29, 2006

The Northeastern Volleyball team went into the South Sub Tournament in La Junta, Colorado, with some confindence and excitement and came out with the same. The team received news that are Ranked number nine in the NJCAA National Poll.

"Being ranked 9th is a nice compliment to our program, but you can't get too wrapped up in rankings. We of course appreciate it, but we have other goals for this year and really need to focus on those goals. I think the players are happy with it, and they have goals of proving we are one of the top teams in the nation", said Head Coach Marci Henry.

The Plainswomen started the season with a 4-1 record with it's only blemish coming from WNCC. "Overall we were happy with the way we played as a team. As with any early season tournament you are going to have some things you do well, and there are going to be some things you need to work on. This tournament is a great chance for our freshmen to see what the Region has to offer and also introduce them to a long day of volleyball", stated Henry.

NJC competed against the five teams in the South Sub Region including Lamar Community College, Western Nebraska Community College, Trinidad State Junior College, McCook Community College and Otero Junior College.

NJC's first match was against a feisty Lamar team. The Plainswomen dropped Lamar 30-16, 30-22, 15-10. The win was a good start to the season, but the team did lose starting outside hitter Ashley Kauffman for the day with a severe ankle sprain. "Lamar is a well coached team that plays very good defense and you know they are going to compete every time they step on the court. It was a good match for us to open with. Losing Ashley so early in the match definately affected our play for the rest of the match and the tournament", assesed Assistant Coach Rob Haley.

Next up was Western Nebraska. After jumping out to an early lead in game one, NJC fell 26-30 to the cougars. "Our serve receive was sketchy at times and you can't have those inconsistancies against a good team", said Haley. In game two the Plainswomen took care of business jumping out to a big lead and finished the game with a win by the score of 30-23. In game three it was close most of the way until WNCC pulled away the last four points winning 15-11. "We kind of lost our focus towards the end of the match and allowed them to take advantage. We really didn't play the best we could play the whole match, but there were times we did some good things. Western is a good team, and we feel like we match up well with them", stated Haley.

After a one match break NJC then took on Trinidad State and again, got back on track winning the match 30-17, 30-19, 15-4. Next up was McCook and the Plainswomen dominated from the start winning the match 30-14, 30-15, 15-6. The final match of the day was against tourney host, Otero Junior College. Again, in fine fashion the Plainswomen won 30-25, 30-19, 15-8 to wrap up the Tourney. "It was a very long day for our players. Playing two in a row with one match off and then three straight matches to end is definately draining, physically and emotionally. We learned a lot about our team and what we need to focus on to get better. We didn't necessarily play to our full potential, but that is ok for now. We expect to grow and get better as we go. We have a very good team, with time, we will only improve".