Over the Labor Day weekend, Neosho faced off against four teams, all of which compete at the NJCAA DI level. The Panthers finished the weekend 2-2.
On Friday, the Panthers faced Laredo Community College and Victoria College. Neosho swept both matches. The Panthers jumped out to an early lead against Laredo and never looked back keeping the Palominos under 20 points in all 3 sets (25-15, 25-10, 25-18). Leading the way for the Panthers was
Jill Starling with 11 Kills, only 1 error, and 14 assists. The Panthers increased their win streak by sweeping Victoria College (25-19, 25-16, 27-25).
Jill Starling again led the way with 11 Kills, followed by
Mackenzie Brown with 6 Kills.
Haley Slade contributed with 22 assists.
Saturday proved to be a tough day for the Panthers, as they faced #14 in NJCAA DI San Jacinto and Wharton. The Panthers suffered two losses in a row for the first time this season and ended their five match win streak. The Panthers struggled offensively the first two sets against San Jacinto. The third set was a different story for Neosho, who found their stride offensively and went back and forth the whole set, but unfortunately couldn't close out the set (15-25, 10-25, 22-25). Wharton was a similar story. The Panthers struggled offensively early in the first set, but rebounded for the second and third sets. Unfortunately, it still wasn't enough to get past Wharton (12-25, 21-25, 17-25). Sophomores
Jill Starling and
Mackenzie Brown led the Panthers in kills. Jill had 10 followed by Mackenzie with 6.
Taryn Strobel led the team defensively with 11 digs.
After this weekend, the Panthers are now 8-4 overall. They will face their next conference opponent, in the first home match of the season, on Wednesday, September 9th against #13 Johnson County at 6:00pm.
