10-14-15 • By Seth Ashby / sashby@columbustelegram.com

COLUMBUS — The celebration could be heard from outside the visitor's locker room Wednesday at the Raider Fieldhouse after North Platte Community College's four-set upset of the Central Community College volleyball team.

The Knights topped the National Junior College Athletic Association No. 9 Raiders 22-25, 26-24, 31-29, 25-23. It was just the third home loss of the season for Central, and it came against a team the Raiders swept earlier in the year.

"It was by far the worst defensive effort we've had all year," Central head coach Mary Young said. "You can't win a match and have 29 hitting errors. Especially, at this point in the season, it was incredibly disappointing. I didn't think North Platte did anything special. They kept the ball in play and we let them do whatever they wanted to do and they were successful at it."

After taking the first set, the Raiders let lead after lead slip away, while North Platte road streaks of momentum to three straight set wins.

In Set 2, the Raiders led 24-23, but couldn't stop the Knight effort that resulted in a 3-0 run to snag the set.

After letting a 20-14 lead fall away, the Raiders still had a chance with a set-point late in Set 3. They couldn't capitalize as North Platte won the marathon set 31-29 on a kill from Valerie Most.

Young said the communication lines were down for the Raiders most of the match.

"I think North Platte was playing with a little more confidence than they were earlier on and we knew that," Young said. "We had poor behavior on the court. The lack of trust we showed in our play tonight was really disheartening. We had players not calling the ball, we had players looking at each other and the ball falling to the ground and it was disappointing because, again, it was the worst defensive effort we've had all year."

The fourth set played out in a similar fashion as the previous two with North Platte getting the better of Central late.

Three straight kills from Payton Chohon put the Raiders up 21-15 before the Knights went on a 4-0 run. Another Chohon kill and North Platte error put the Raiders up 23-19.

With a possible fifth set looming, North Platte rattled off a 6-0 run to take the set and match.

"I personally think we mentally checked out, and again, it was disappointing," Young said.

The Knights are now 4-6 against ranked opponents after starting the year 0-5 against the NJCAA top 20. It was the first loss of the year to an unranked opponent for the Raiders.

Chohon led the Raiders with 18 kills and six blocks. Keely Woods had 11 kills and Morgan Nikkila had nine after starting with seven in Set 1.

The Raiders have their longest layoff of the season before playing Oct. 22 at Southeast Community College.

"We're going to come back hard tomorrow and we have to learn to play with a little more heart and play with a little more trust," Young said. "We have to play with a lot better effort. We lacked strong effort tonight and those aren't the teams we put out on the court. We're always in the mix."

Wednesday at the Raider Fieldhouse

North Platte (13-18) 22 26 31 25

Central (24-11) 25 24 29 23

* KILLS: North Platte - Valarie Most 19; Central - Payton Chohon 18, Keely Woods 11, Morgan Nikkila 9.

* BLOCKS: North Platte- Samantha Morgan 2; Central - Payton Chohon 6.

* ACE SERVES: North Platte -Megan Chintala 2; Central - Alyssa Thege 1, Morgan Nikkila 1.

* ASSISTS: North Platte - NA; Central - Riley Dorn 25.