RIVERTON, WY – The #19 Laramie County Community College volleyball team survived in a tough road environment to move to 4-0 in conference play with an intense five set win over Central Wyoming College, 25-19, 13-25, 26-24, 17-25, 15-13 for their first win over the Rustlers since the March 12, 2021.

"I think it showed our mental toughness and our fortitude," Head Coach Zach Shaver said. "We knew they were way better than their record and they probably played the toughest schedule in the country. They definitely are going to be there at the end."

The opening set started out with the Rustlers picking up a long run early with five points before LCCC could get on the board. The lead remained in CWC's hands as Shaver was forced into a timeout down 10-6 to try and swing momentum back and Ana Haubner gave the team the point directly after.

The Golden Eagles went on a run of their own to tie the set at 12 on a Famke Zomer service run and it was the Rustlers taking a timeout directly after in a back-and-forth match with the Golden Eagles looking to dethrone the regular season champions from Region IX North last season.

The Golden Eagles began to take advantage of miscues by the Rustlers and after taking a 19-15 lead they forced a second time out from CWC. It didn't slow down the run from the Golden Eagles who closed out the set with three kills from Zomer helping to close it 25-19.

"After not coming out and playing well, giving them the early lead, if we don't win that first set, I don't think we win that match," Shaver said. "They trusted our gameplan and our style of volleyball and once we stuck with it we started scoring points and forcing them to make some errors."

The second set was very similar to the first with CWC jumping out to a 7-3 lead through the first ten points and the lead grew to 12-4 when the Rustlers found a rotation they could have success in.

 The Golden Eagles were able to cool things down and closed the gap to 15-10 as the Rustlers were forced into their first time out and that put momentum squarely back on their side and CWC closed the set on a 10-3 run to take it 25-13.

LCCC changed the routine of the match in the third by picking up the 4-3 lead and were able to grow it to a 6-3 lead. The lead would stay in that range through the middle of the set in a tense match that the Golden Eagles saw it trimmed to a 20-19 lead but after a timeout by Shaver were able to go up 23-19.

CWC rallied back to even the match at 24 all but it would be the Golden Eagles who closed the run with their play at the net and Lauren Fagerberg shut down the final attack for a 26-24 win to put LCCC up 2-1 in the match.

With a chance to close out the match, the Golden Eagles fell behind 7-5 in another back-and-forth set. The Rustlers pushed the lead to 12-8. While the Golden Eagles trimmed it out of a timeout by Shaver, the Rustlers never flinched and forced a fifth set with a 25-17 win.

It was the first time the Golden Eagles had gone to five sets, but Shaver said he wasn't worried after preparing his team for it all season.

"We play a game five in practice at least twice a week. We have a plan and I think we executed that to a tee," he said.

The fifth opened with three straight points going to the Rustlers but the Golden Eagles rallied to win the next four points to take a 4-3 lead and force a CWC time out.

The two sides traded leads at four and five when the break came in the way of back-to-back CWC points to take a 7-5 lead and when the side change came the Golden Eagles were down 8-6.

LCCC reclaimed the lead at 11-10 and after a tie at eleven, the Golden Eagles picked up the lead again at 12-11 to force the final timeout from Central Wyoming. The lead changed hands again with the Rustlers going up 13-12 and the Golden Eagles took their final time out and picked up another tie after a service error after the break made it 13-13.

"In the timeouts, I just said lets make some plays, we know what to do, lets go with this game," Shaver added.

And Addyson McArthur kill gave match point to LCCC, and it was Elysiana Fonseca closing it out with an emphatic kill to close the set 15-13 and take the match 3-2.

Three players finished with double digit kills led by McArthur's 12. Stauffenberg added 11 and Fonseca finished with 10. Zomer was just shy with nine kills in the match as well as four of the team's five aces.

Kate Ohlsen had a career high 42 assists in the match and had four blocks, which she was joined in as the team high with Zomer and Fonseca.

On defense, LCCC had four with double digits including a career high 22 from Zomer and another 20 from Stauffenberg. Sadie Christiansen also had 16 digs to go with 34 serve receives which led the team.

The Golden Eagles have very little time to celebrate the win as they return home for a Tuesday match with Western Nebraska Community College at Storey Gym. Opening serve is set for 7:00 pm and members of the Boys and Girls Club have free admission to the match.

The weekend will bring Western Wyoming to town on Friday night before the annual Pink Out game on Saturday against Casper College. For more information, visit www.golccc.com.