Hawks open season at Southeast Community College Tournament

BEATRICE, Neb. - The Northeast Community College volleyball team opened its 2018 season at the Southeast Community College Tournament in Beatrice, Neb. The Hawks started strong, sweeping Williston State College in the first match (25-14, 25-12, 25-14). In the second match, Northeast fell to North Platte Community College in five sets (23-25, 25-19, 25-21, 23-25, 13-15).

"Overall, it was a good start to our season," said Amanda Schultze, Hawks coach. "We drove Williston out of system, which helped us execute better on our side. The girls played very well and made minimal errors. North Platte was a tough team who did a great job at keeping us on our toes and throwing us out of system. We made too many unforced errors, which, unfortunately, hurt us in the end."

In the Williston win, Kalli Brester and Elley Beaver led the Hawks in kills with seven each; Logan Wemhoff had six. Brester, Wemhoff, Savannah Nelson and Megan Wehrbein each had two ace serves. Delaney Belt totaled 11 digs, while Nelson had 10. Nelson led assists with 27; Brester had three.

Against North Platte, Brester and Hannah Heppner recorded 11 kills each, while Wemhoff had 10. Beaver and Heppner finished with four and three blocks, respectively. Beaver also recorded three ace serves and led the Hawks in digs with 16. Nelson had 14 digs and 40 assists.

The Southeast Tournament resumes in Beatrice tomorrow, with Northeast (1-1) set to face Highland Community College at 3 p.m. and McCook Community College at 5 p.m.