CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team's run for a national tournament berth came to an end Saturday after falling to Northeastern Junior College 25-18, 25-12, 27-25.

                The Cougars end the season at 28-10. NJC went on to earn the second Region IX championship trophy and berth to the national tournament after they swept past Laramie County Community College 25-17, 25-15, 25-23.

                NJC joins EWC, the two Region IX champions, will compete in the NJCAA national tournament in a couple weeks at Austin Paey University in Tennessee.

                The Cougars had several post-tourney awards. WNCC placed two on the all-tournament team with Tamika Eastman and Taylor Tyser.

                The other members of the all-tourney team included Una Stepic, Siale Unufe, Amarie Huntsman, and Boden Liljedaho from Eastern Wyoming; Neree Alvarez-Jorge, Natalie Moore, and Samantha Mosley from NJC; Lea Susoy and Savannah Cummings from Laramie County; Darleen Petersen and Shayna Quenga from Western Wyoming; and Khloe Hobson and Hallie Reeder from Central Wyoming.

                The tournament MVP went to EWC's Liljedahl.

                WNCC also had four members of the team selected South All-Region. First team members included Lilly Zwart and Nora Marginean, while Second Team honors were bestowed upon Finja Schul and Taylor Tyser.

                Zwart, a sophomore, was named the Region IX South Player of the Year. Other South Player of the Year's included McCook's Cibeles Bothwell at Libero of the Year; NJC's Nerea Alvarez Jorge as Setter of the Year; and Trinidad's Jaedyn Fuqua as Freshman of the Year. The South Coach of the Year was NJC's Mackenzie Chrisman.

                As for the WNCC and NJC game itself, WNCC finished off the season with a good showing against NJC, especially in the third set as they almost force a fourth set.

                WNCC hit just .138 for the contest while NJC hit .292. NJC had two players with double figure kills, led by Samantha Mosley with 14 and Rosa Brencic with 11. WNCC was led by Chloe Grady with seven kills followed by six each from Lilly Zwart and Tamika Eastman.

                Nora Marginean had a triple-double in the contest, tallying 31 set assists, 11 digs, 10 service points, along with three kills and two aces.

                Taylor Tyser finished with 13 digs while Alex Gonzalez-Orosco had six digs.

                Also for the Cougars, Ahleejah Tovo-Sunia had six digs; Zwart had four points and two digs; Grady had three blocks; Eastman had an ace serve with seven digs and two solo blocks; and Finja Schul had three kills and two points.

                WNCC came ready to play as the two teams were knotted at 7-7 early in the first set. After that, NJC went on an 8-1 service run to lead 15-8. WNCC got to within four points at 21-17 on a Eastman ace serve, but it wasn't enough as NJC won the first set 25-18.

                WNCC held a 2-1 lead in the second set, but fell behind 9-3 after two big service runs. WNCC trailed 15-9 on a block, but the Cougars couldn't get a service run going and fell 25-12.

                The third set was one of the Cougar's best sets against NJC this year, according to the video commentators. WNCC started as Marginean served five straight for a 5-0 lead. The Cougars led 9-6 but fell behind 11-10 on an ace serve.

                WNCC stopped the service run on a block and then led 15-12 after two points each from Schul and Marginean. WNCC trailed 22-21 when Eastman got a solo block to tie the set. WNCC went on to lead 24-22 after two Marginean points and was one point from winning the set.

                NJC came back to go up 25-24, but a missed serve after a WNCC time out put the set at 25-25. NJC got the final two points for the win.