Oct. 27, 2005

STERLING - Is it mental, physical or a little bit of both? The Northeastern Junior College volleyball team was left asking itself that question Wednesday as they continued to struggle against Western Nebraska, getting swept 30-28, 30-27, 30-19 at Jackson Edwards Arena.

The No. 17 Plainswomen fall to 31-11, however, three of those losses have come to the Cougars.

Two weeks ago Northeastern traveled to Scottsbluff, only to be dominated by Western Nebraska. Last night was a different story with the same result.

The Plainswomen held sizeable leads in each of the first two games, but ultimately fell. They shot out to a 16-8 lead to open the match, but Western Nebraska went on a 15-3 run to make the score 21-19. The Plainswomen battled back to take a 27-26 lead, but then lost four of the final five points of the game to go down 1-0 in the match.

Each team jockeyed for position in the second game, but again the skill and speed of the Cougars was too much for Northeastern to handle.

The Plainswomen seemed to go through the motions in the third game and were dominated without any real fight.

"We were mentally freaked out," said Northeastern outside hitter Ashley Kauffman. "We know we match up with them physically, but we were just freaked out about something. I don't know what it is."

If Northeastern is to take anything away from Wednesday's match, it is that they played toe-to-toe with Western Nebraska, ranked No. 2 in the nation. In next month's Region IX tournament, Northeastern will have to beat the Cougars to advance to the national tournament.

"I am definitely disappointed," said Northeastern coach Marci Henry. "But I feel like we've accomplished a lot in the last two weeks. We didn't even come close in (Scottsbluff)."

Shelby Heggie led Northeastern with nine kills while Kauffman had eight and Ashley Murphey and Janie Elkins each had six. Heggie also added eight blocks and Lindsey Wilson had 21 digs.

The Plainswomen benefited from a Laramie County forfeit Monday, but will play again Friday at home against McCook in a warm up for the Region IX tournament.