10/31/14 • By Kyle Cummings / kcummings@columbustelegram.com
COLUMBUS -- For the fourth consecutive year, the Raiders are Division II, Region IX champions.
"It never gets old," Central Community College head coach Mary Young said. "There's no other way to describe it."
The National Junior College Athletic Association Division II, No. 2 Central Community College volleyball team defeated North Platte Community College 25-22, 25-11, 25-12 for the second time in as many days Saturday at the Raider Fieldhouse to win the Region IX championship.
Though Central swept the Knights a day before, the Raiders didn't expect North Platte to roll over easily.
"We knew they were going to come back," Central outside hitter Skyler Erickson said. "We said, 'We have to play our game because we know we can beat them.' We've beat them every time this year, so we just have to focus in and do our job."
North Platte made Central's job much tougher, breaking out to a 10-8 lead to start the match.
That's when Central found a much-needed spark from Erickson. That spark -- three kills and a block within six points -- helped Central turn the tables and take a 13-11 lead.
"It helps having an awesome back row or when I'm in the back row having an awesome front row," Erickson said. "I really don't have to do much. I just do my job and they help me out. I have great teammates."
The momentum swing only temporarily silenced the Knights, however, as North Platte whipped back to take a 19-17 lead late in the first set, forcing Young to call a timeout.
"We weren't getting Megan (Anderson) the ball," Young said. "When we started giving Megan the ball, Megan started getting kills right away. We got a block right away and just like that it opened up our outsides again. That was very crucial."
Anderson tallied two kills and a block, while Shayla Trotter recorded an ace out of the timeout, helping Central grab a 21-19 lead and eventually take the set 25-22.
Central won eight of the final 11 points in the first-set win.
"We thought that was real important to get that first set," Young said. "We did ride that momentum, which was huge. "
The Raiders picked up in the second set where they left off, as Anderson notched five more kills and a block to lead Central to a 25-11 second-set win.
Still, that didn't keep the Knights from making a run.
North Platte again made the Raiders uneasy with a 9-4 lead in the third set.
"We were saying, 'It's OK. Let the mistakes go,'" Erickson said. "We always say we want to be two points better, so that's all we care about. We don't care if we kill them, we don't care about anything. We just want to be two points better."
Down the stretch, Central was much more than two points better, taking the third set 25-12 to win the match.
"At one point it was 4-9 and the next time I looked up it was 11-24," Young said. "I attribute that to our team and their will. I can't say enough about our fortitude and our will. I kept talking to the girls about willing ourselves to win and we really did will ourselves to win out of some really tough spots."
Erickson, Anderson, Cassidy Yong and Payton Chohon were named to the All-Region IX Team, while Erickson, Anderson, Yong and Morgan Nikkila were named to the All-Region IX Tournament Team.
"We had some players get some honors, but really our team is the ultimate honor for winning that Region IX trophy," Young said. "We get some pretty worthy honors because we have such great shared responsibility as a team."
The Raiders move on to play in the Division II, District G Championship against North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton, North Dakota, Friday.
"This is a special group," Young said. "They've worked hard from start to finish. It was such a great overall group. I can't put into words how special they are."
Saturday at the Raider Fieldhouse
Central (32-6) 25 25 25
North Platte (19-18) 22 11 12
* KILLS: North Platte - Valerie Most 10, Samantha Byrn 4, Samantha Kennedy 4, Abby Kurtzer 2, Samantha Morgan 2, Erika Goodwin 1, Joli Hopping 1, Kylie Wroot 1; Central - Skyler Erickson 11, Megan Anderson 10, Payton Chohon 7, Makaleigh Yantzie 5, Morgan Nikkila 5, Cassidy Yong 1
* BLOCKS: North Platte - Kennedy 4, Wroot 2, Morgan 1, Hopping 1, Most 1; Central - Erickson 5, Anderson 3, Yong 2
* ACE SERVES: North Platte - Byrn 1; Central - Shayla Trotter 1, Brooke Robertson 1, Chohon 1
* ASSISTS: North Platte - Hopping 18; Goodwin - 1; Central - Yong 34, Yantzie 1
Friday's Results
COLUMBUS -- Once the Raiders got rolling, they couldn't be stopped.
The National Junior College Athletic Association Division II, No. 2 Central Community College volleyball team swept Southeast Community College and North Platte Community College Friday, earning a spot in the NJCAA Region IX Division II volleyball tournament championship today at the Raider Fieldhouse.
Central couldn't have asked for a better start to the Region tournament.
Opening their first match against Southeast, the Raiders strung together seven straight points, helping Central defeat the Storm 25-12, 25-17, 25-17 in the first round of the tournament.
"We really needed that to start out the whole weekend with a nice, good win," head coach Mary Young said.
Central's Payton Chohon recorded two kills in that spree, adding to her six kills in the first set.
Raider setter Cassidy Yong continually turned to Chohon, who led the team with 16 kills, and Skyler Erickson, who tallied 13 kills, throughout the match.
Particularly early, the Chohon-Erickson duo was too much for the Storm to handle.
"Payton really had a nice match and Skyler, as well," Young said. "Those two were neck and neck just both hitting the ball and taking care of the ball."
There was far from a drop off in production behind Chohon and Erickson.
Megan Anderson notched seven kills in the match and a pair of blocks, while Makaleigh Yantzie added six kills and two blocks and Morgan Nikkila recorded six kills.
"I thought we really controlled the ball offensively," Young said. "We passed well, we hit well. Southeast is a nice team. We know that they're going to get some good swings, they're going to get some good kills, but I felt we really hit well today. We hit exceptionally well and attribute that to our passing. Cassidy set a great ball today."
Still, Southeast wasn't going down without a fight.
The Storm pushed into the match late in each of the final two sets, keeping the Raiders on edge.
"We knew we'd see that from Southeast," Young said. "They have some nice hitters and some nice players. Their middles attack the ball pretty well. They played well, so they were bound to hang with us some."
Thanks in part to a late spark from Yantzie, who tallied three kills in the third set, the Raiders pulled away from Southeast.
"Makaleigh got into the action late, which I felt was something we needed to do to balance our attack," Young said.
After surviving the first set 25-23 over North Platte Community College in Central's second match Friday, the Raiders were able to take care of business against the Knights 25-13, 25-18 to clinch a spot in the Region championship match today.
Erickson had a team-high 14 kills, while also adding an ace and a block.
"We always know it's going to be a battle with either one of them (Southeast or North Platte)," Young said. "I feel like our girls are in a good spot and we're ready to push forward."
Friday at the Raider Fieldhouse
Match 1
Southeast (16-19) 12 17 17
Central (30-6) 25 25 25
* KILLS: Southeast - Michaela Viloria 6, Amara Meeks 6, Darby Hinrichs 5, Sydni Lee 5, Devynn Patochka 2, Kourtney Kempkes 2, Briana Pulliam 1; Central - Payton Chohon 16, Skyler Erickson 13, Megan Anderson 7, Makaleigh Yantzie 6, Morgan Nikkila 6, Cassidy Yong 1.
* BLOCKS: Southeast - Patochka 1, Lee 1; Central - Yantzie 2, Anderson 2, Yong 2, Erickson 1, Chohon 1.
* ACE SERVES: Southeast - Lee 1; Central - Shayla Trotter 1, Brooke Robertson 1, Erickson 1, Yong 1.
* ASSISTS: Southeast - Patochka 18, Hinrichs 1; Central - Yong 47
Match 2
North Platte 23 13 18
Central 25 25 25
* KILLS: Central - Erickson 14, Nikkila 9, Yantzie 7, Anderson 7, Yong 6, Chohon 6, Molly Gotschall 2
* BLOCKS: Central - Anderson 3, Yantzie 2, Erickson 1
* ACE SERVES: Central - Chohon 3, Trotter 2, Erickson 1, Yong 1
* ASSISTS: Central - Yong 45