9/22/15 • By Seth Ashby / sashby@columbustelegram.com

COLUMBUS -- The National Junior College Athletic Association, No. 9 Central Community College volleyball team faced deficits in all three sets, but came away with a sweep of No. 17 Northeast Community College Tuesday at the Raider Fieldhouse.

The Raiders won 25-23, 26-24, 25-16 to win their third straight match. The victory was also their third straight sweep, and eighth on the season.

"We talked the whole week about how Northeast will get their points, they'll make some plays and we need to weather the storm," Central head coach Mary Young said.

The Raiders effectively put that plan into action in the first set, putting together a comeback.

Trailing 23-17, after three straight points from the Eagles, the Raiders scored eight unanswered points to win the set. Keshia Ellwanger had a pair of kills, including the set winner, while Northeast struggled with errors.

Five kills from Morgan Nikkila helped keep the deficit from getting out of hand earlier in the set.

"In the last timeout of the first set, I told them we need to build momentum going into Set 2 and we need to get 25 first," Young said. "Luckily, we had some things go our way. We forced them into some errors and that obviously helped us, and walking away with the first set was pretty big for us."

In Set 2, the Raiders fell into an early hole, but climbed out with a 10-2 run. Five kills from Keely Woods and three kills each from Hillary Thege and Nikkila helped maintain the lead, but Northeast didn't go away.

Kills from Courtni Kunz and Kelsey Shoemaker tied the score at 24-24, but blocks from Thege and Payton Chohon ended the set.

"We struggled a little bit in Set 2 and Northeast was playing well," Young said. "Compared to the first set, we had 10 hitting errors and were aced twice. I felt, early especially, our errors were giving them the lead and I think we cleaned that up in the last part of the set."

Set 3 was more clear-cut in favor of the Raiders. Nikkila had five kills including the match clincher and Chohon added four more.

The coaching matchup had a personal side to it, as Northeast head coach Amanda Schultze was a setter for the Raiders under Young and received All-American honors during her time with Central.

"Amanda does a nice job and obviously she does a great job with her team," Young said. "They blocked well and that gave us fits at the net, especially without middles early. We felt fortunate that we were able to spread it out, get some big kills from Keely Woods and some great defensive plays from Morgan and Payton."

Central plays at the Johnson Community College Challenge in Overland Park, Kansas, Friday and Saturday. Among those on the slate include No. 3 Johnson County and No. 11 Kirkwood.

"This is what these girls signed up for," Young said. "They signed up for a tough schedule and they signed up to play college volleyball at a high level. "We wouldn't have it any other way. It's going to prepare for us for our best volleyball in the end of October and into November."

Tuesday at the Raider Fieldhouse

Northeast (9-7) 23 24 16

Central (13-6) 25 26 25

* KILLS: Northeast - Taryn Leudtje 8, Courtni Kunz 8; Central- Morgan Nikkila 15, Payton Chohon 11, Keely Woods 6, Keshia Ellwanger 4, Hillary Thege 4, Riley Dorn 1.

* BLOCKS: Northeast - Kelsey Shoemaker 2; Central - Keshia Ellwanger 2, Payton Chohon 1, Keely Woods 1, Riley Dorn 1.

* ACE SERVES: Northeast - Layne Mitchell 2; Central - Payton Chohon 2, Hillary Thege 1.

* ASSISTS: Northeast - NA; Central - Riley Dorn 38.

* DIGS: Northeast - NA; Central - Alyssa Thege 19, Sydney Yong 14, Riley Dorn.