CHEYENNE, WY – The Region IX Volleyball Championships got under way on Wednesday at the Blue FCU RAC and the host Laramie County Community College took the spotlight in the 4:30 match against #4 Northeastern Junior College and shocked those in attendance by pulling off a comeback from down 2-0 to reverse sweep the Plainswomen 15-25, 18-25, 25-20, 25-22, 15-13 to advance to the semifinals of the double elimination tournament.
The win didn't start off well for the Golden Eagles.
The opening set saw the two sides trade points until at 11-10 in favor of LCCC, the Plainwomen figured out a seam in the defense and proceeded to close the set out on a 15-4 run to take it 25-15 and go up early.
NJC entered as the top seed from the Region IX South Conference and continued to play like it in the second set, surging out to a 17-8 lead. A Maria Rawlek service run helped to steady the set for LCCC and brought them back to within five at 18-13.
The Plainswomen did rebuild the lead back to seven and won the set 25-18, but the resilient stand by the Golden Eagles did slow down the bleeding into the third.
A rollercoaster of a set was up next.
Both teams traded 4-0 runs for the first 16 points of the set, leading to a 8-8 draw. NJC seemed like they were the ones to win the first real break when they pulled ahead 11-9 only to watch the Golden Eagles look to their defense and blocking to turn the tide.
LCCC picked up five of their nine team blocks in the back half of the third set and NJC struggled to find another way around it after the Golden Eagles had churned out a 10-1 run.
As expected, Northeastern didn't fold over and closed the gap back to two at 19-17, but the Golden Eagles never led the Plainswomen take the lead and took the set to force it to four 25-20, finishing with three straight points.
Set three was just the warmup, as set four was neck and neck for most of the way, other than a small burst at the beginning from LCCC that forced an NJC timeout with the Golden Eagles up 6-2. LCCC slowly built the lead from there to as much as five at 15-10 and once more, nearly surrendered the lead on a long run by NJC that cut it back to 17-16.
The Plainswomen got to within one point four times down the stretch but couldn't get the tie to push them over the hump and again the Golden Eagles held on for the 25-22 set win.
Going to a fifth set, LCCC was looking for their first five set win since September 27th, and it started out looking bleak.
Northeaster built a steady lead in the race to 15 with a 6-1 run in the middle of the set to gain a 9-4 lead. The Golden Eagles would end up turning it around though and closed the set on a 10-3 run of their own despite a pair of timeouts by NJC.
The attack for LCCC was led by Lea Susoy and Adriana Deming who combined for five of the eight kills for LCCC in the set as they pulled of the 15-13 win to take down the defending Region IX Champions and move into the semifinals on Thursday at 4:30 pm.
LCCC was paced by Susoy on the day with 16 kills and a team high 19 digs. She also added a block and an ace. Nina Jaseicka and Elysiana Fonseca both added another eight kills each and both Deming and McKenna Kehl had seven each. Overall, seven Golden Eagles recorded a kill on the way to hitting .168 as a team.
Addison Schreurs shared setting duties with Nayomi Toilolo and Schreurs finished with 25 and Toilolo added another 16. Schreurs also added four aces in the match and a kill.
Savannah Cummings also had six assists, but really shined on defense with 18 digs, with herself and Susoy helping pace the team to 71 in the five-set match.
The LCCC Golden Eagles keep their hopes of a Region IX Title alive and will take on Western Wyoming Community College Thursday at 4:30 pm in the first semifinal. The other features Eastern Wyoming College and Central Wyoming College.
The Lower Bracket for the District B Championship will feature elimination matches between Northeastern and Trinidad State College at 11 AM as well as Western Nebraska Community College taking on McCook Community College at 1:30 PM.
More information on the Region IX Championship can be found at www.golccc.com.