Oct. 11, 2005

For a weekend, and the past 16 games, yes.

The Northeastern Junior College volleyball team went 5-0 at home in the Pizza Hut Invitational Friday and Saturday and improved its record to 25-9 and its winning streak to 16 matches.

The weekend was something special for the Plainswomen as they got consecutive wins against ranked teams Friday night.

Midland College, ranked No. 16 in NJCAA Division I, fell 30-28, 30-26, 30-28.

Directly after that win, the Plainswomen had to play Central Community College, ranked in the top 10 in NJCAA Division II. The Plainswomen fell behind 2-0 in the first two games, but stormed back to get the win 25-30, 27-30, 30-21, 30-27, 15-9 in an epic battle.

Saturday Northeastern got wins over Casper (20-16, 20-21, 30-17) Colby (30-23, 30-25, 30-23) and Garden City (20-28, 30-18, 23-30, 33-31).

"I think everything is just coming together," said Northeastern coach Marci Henry. "Initially we talked about how we only had three returning players and it would take us a while to play the way we wanted to. I think we've kind of found our way."

Indeed, after a 9-9 start to the season, the Plainswomen have found consistency and leadership in some new players.

Shelby Heggie once again starred for Northeastern. The sophomore transfer from the University of Wyoming had 19 kills against Central and 11 against Colby and Casper. Ashley Kauffman had 12 kills against Garden City while Ashley Murphey had 11 in that match and 17 against Central.

However the most impressive stats came out of the back row.

The length of the Central match allowed for some gaudy numbers. Freshman setter Stacy Manweiler set a new school record for assists with 60. The old record was 55, set by Casey Beardsley against Laramie County Community College on Sept. 25, 2004.

Lindsey Wilson also added 20 digs in that match and Erin Holbrook had 16. Heggie and Bela Lachowski, who was filling in at middle hitter for an ill Jimilia McNeal, each had seven blocks.

Against Garden City Wilson, the sophomore libero, had a season-high 25 digs.

However, the main accomplishment on the weekend was simply beating Midland and proving that this winning streak is no fluke.

"We blocked them a little bit more than they had anticipated," Henry said. "We've been in some tight games where we've been able to finish and that is exactly what happened in that Midland game. Since we had that experience earlier that enabled us to pull out a win in the end."

A better test will come Tuesday when the Plainswomen head to Scottsbluff, Neb. to take on Western Nebraska Community College, currently the No. 3 team in NJCAA Division I.