SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. -  North Platte Community College’s Khloee Wright pounded down 20 kills and the Knights won the fourth and fifth sets to defeat Western Nebraska Community College 25-22, 17-25, 23-25, 25-21, 15-10 to earn the South Conference contest at Cougar Palace on Tuesday.
Emma Hergenreder, who had a double-double in the contest with 10 digs, 13 points, and five aces, said her team started slow and couldn’t get the points when they needed.
“We started out a little rough and we would be down and have to work our way back, but I thought we fought really well,” Hergenreder said. “North Platte is a good team and even though the game should have ended differently, I think we rallied back in several sets.”
WNCC dropped the first set after leading 17-14 at one stage before North Platte earned the 25-22 win.
The second set was close as WNCC jumped to a 19-14 lead after two Alex Gonzalez-Orozco service points and then North Platte St. Pats’ Reece Fleck put the Cougars up 24-16 with two points. WNCC won the second 25-17.
The Cougars took a 2-1 set advantage after winning the third. North Platte led 6-1 early before the Cougars tied the set at 10-10 on two Natalia Nowak points. North Platte’s Kylie Rose came back with six straight service points to put the Knights up 17-10. NPCC later led 20-11 on two Wright points.
That was when WNCC started to make a comeback. WNCC trailed 21-14 and got the serve back on a block. Hergenreder then went to town from the service line with eight straight points including four aces to put WNCC up 23-21. The set was knotted at 23-23 when Maria Niedzwiecka had a kill and then Kyana Gabriel served the final point for the win.
“We were down like 17-10 and it was crazy of how we came back,” Hergenreder said. “Those service runs that we had are really important for us, so being able to go on those so well is the main thing.”
Hergenreder said that she was just trying to serve the ball over with nothing fancy and it worked.
“Honestly all I had was just adrenaline. I just wanted to get my serves over and in and that is all that was going on in my head,” the Scottsbluff High graduate said. “It was a really big moment for me and it meant a lot that I was able to come back for my team.”
As much as the Cougars came back in the third set with strong service runs, it almost happened again in the fourth set.
North Platte led 4-3 on two Wright points and led 13-9 at one stage. WNCC got a kill from Keira Zelada and then Dani Cruz served three points to tie the set at 13-13. North Platte went back in front 20-15 after four Kiley Kerney service points.
Gabriel stopped the run and then served two points to make it 20-18. NPCC went up 22-18. WNCC got the serve back and Gonzalez-Orozco served two points on blocks from Cruz and Niedzwiecka to make it 22-21. The Knights got a side out and then Noe Maher served the final two points to force a fifth set.
WNCC took an 8-4 lead in the fifth after Hergenreder had three straight points. North Platte came back to make it an 8-7 contest. Nadiyah Northern got a kill to stop the run, but it didn’t last long as the Knights got a sideout and then Makenna Stephenson had six straight points for a 14-9 lead and won the fifth 15-10.
North Platte hit .171 for the game while the Cougars hit .094. North Platte tallied 50 kills with just two players in double figures while WNCC had 47 kills with Gabriel leading the charge with 14 followed my Zelada with eight.
The other thing that was the difference was serving. The two teams combined for 24 service errors. WNCC had 13 errors to just 11 for the Knights. On the flip-side, The Cougars had 15 ace serves to just five for North Platte. Hergenreder had 13 points with five aces, while Gabriel had eight points and three aces. Gonzalez-Orozco had six points with three aces along with 15 digs.
Natalia Nowak tallied 35 set assists with five points while Niedzwiecka had three solo blocks and four assist blocks along with six kills, four points, and two aces.
Hergenreder said they just need to work to close out sets and finish each set.
“We need to work on closing our matches and just start out really well. We are winning by two and then we go back and forth each set,” she said. “We just need to work on closing because each set is pretty close. It is like 25-20 or something. We just need to work on closing it before the other team and finishing it sooner.”
WNCC will be back at home on Saturday when they host Southeast Community College at 2 p.m. After that, the Cougars have an important road trip to McCook Community College on Tuesday.
WNCC, McCook, Trinidad State, and North Platte are all fighting for second through fourth. WNCC is in second in the conference with a 6-2 record followed by McCook at 5-2, Trinidad State at 4-3, and North Platte at 3-4.
Hergenreder said the team just needs to play like they now how they can because this team has so much talent on it.
“I think we need to play our game. We know what we can do. We played Southeast before and we know how they play. I think we just need to start out strong and finish the game las soon as we can,” she said. “This team has a really good shot at winning it if we can get it all together. We have to play for each other. We just have to play for each other and work more collectively as a team.”