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WAHPETON, N.D.-The North Platte Community College volleyball team clinched a spot Nov. 7 in the NJCAA Division II National Tournament by defeating the North Dakota State College of Science in straight sets. The Lady Knights advance to the national tournament Nov. 19-21 in Wisconsin Dells, Wisc. North Platte (27-14) is the No. 13 seed in the 16-team tournament and faces Kiswaukee College of Illinois (38-4) at 3 p.m. Nov. 19 in the opening match. The district win Nov. 7 came after the Knights defeated the same team the day before in four sets, giving North Platte the District G championship in the best-of-three series. "We are playing good ball right now," NPCC Head Coach Sally Thalkan. "We felt like we could compete, and we did." On Friday night, the Lady Knights won the initial match against the Wildcats, 25-20, 19-25, 25-18, 25-15. The win Saturday was by scores of 25-18, 25-20 and 25-22. It will be the fourth trip to nationals in college history and the third this decade. The Knights previously qualified in 1984, 2004 and 2007. The team is practicing tactics to use against the best junior college teams in the country, Thalkan said. "It'll be interesting to see how we stack up and who we play," she said. "We're ready to step up to the challenge. Teams at nationals are very, very good. We're a pretty good team. We're pretty balanced, and very confident." All the NPCC players are from western Nebraska or eastern Colorado. Many attended high school in Lincoln County. And, their success is due in part to playing in Region IX, a highly competitive region of the junior college scene, Thalkan said. In the first game of the District G match, Alexa Hopping of Sutherland had 16 service points and 26 set assists. Former McPherson County standout Tasha Miller of Tyron contributed eight points and 19 set-assists. Tiffany Hoaglund of Brady served eight points, as did RyAnn Spady of Imperial. At the net, Erica Brown of Hershey put down 14 kills. Brandi Dye of North Platte had 11 and Barbie DeCent of Paxton eight. In the second, district-title-clinching game, Hoaglund served 12 points. Miller had nine points plus 12 set-assists. Hopping had eight points and 17 set-assists. Brown put away eight kills and former Eustis-Farnam standout Jacey Schultheiss had seven kills.
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- 11/8/2009 6:33:43 AM
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