The NCHS volleyball team ventured to 1A Lingle Friday evening and were just a step behind the Lady Doggers all night. While all three sets were close, the young Lusk girls just never put a streak together in the three set loss. Scores were 25-18, 25-20 and 26-24. 

NCHS TEAM STATS: Serving- 57/61, 93 percent; 27 kills/99 atts, 27 percent; 24 assists; 57 digs.

NCHS PLAYER STATS: Serving- Ashley Christianson 12/12; Taylor Gaukel 11/11; Kianna Blackburn 10/11, 3 aces; Anna Richardson 11/13. Kills- Gaukel 13; Blackburn 6; Richardson 5. Assists- Christianson- 24. Digs- Gaukel 27.

Saturday against the Wyopreps #2 Lady Hornets- a team that features at least half a dozen six-foot tall girls, NCHS battled hard with better passing than the night before and finding a few open holes in the defense. PB got out to an 11-4 lead before extending it to 17-9. NCHS clawed back to within 21-19 before the Lady Hornets finished the first set 25-20. The second set was close at 14-11 but a couple of mistakes quickly found PB with a 25-14 win.

Whatever Head Coach Sandra Johnson said before the third set, apparently worked as the Lady Tigers did a lot of things right. A 6-4 lead became 11-5 and 18-10 before PB Head Coach Lisa Gilbert was forced into her second timeout. The visitors cut the lead to four before a resilient Lady Tiger squad held on to gain the 25-19 third set win. The victory showed communication, passing and heart but when the team you are facing is so tall and experienced, while NCHS is clearly neither tall nor experienced- you take away those good things to improve for next time. PB took the early lead at 9-5 and pushed it to 17-7 before closing out the match with the 25-11 win. The Lady Tigers fall to 0-3 in the 2A SE region games but remains above .500 at 9-8 overall.

NCHS TEAM STATS: Serving- 69/70, 7 aces, 99 percent. 30 kills/99 atts, 30 percent. 25 assists. 54 digs.

NCHS PLAYER STATS: Serving- Gaukel 13/13; Christianson 13/13; Richardson 11/11; Blackburn 15/16, 3 aces. Kills- Gaukel 16; Blackburn 6; Richardson 5. Assists- Christianson 22. Digs- Gaukel 15; Blackburn 14. 

The JV was missing a few girls at LFL but played hard in the 25-23 and 25-19 losses. Lucy Ceaglske served 10/10 and had 7/8 digs. Jaden Stauffer served 4/4 with three aces. The tall, athletic PB girls beat NCHS Saturday 25-12 and 25-5.

The C squad got a pair of games in last week with a trip to Torrington. After winning the first set 25-16, Lusk struggled in the next two in 25-9 and 25-14 scores. Guernsey-Sunrise came to Lusk and like the one down there, it would be five sets no matter what. NCHS won 25-13, 25-11, 25-16, 25-4 and 15-7.

This weekend the Lady Tigers face a pair of 2A Northeast region teams as Moorcroft visits Tiger Gym Friday evening (4 and 5 p.m.) before a trip to Sundance on Saturday (2 and 3 p.m.). Both are winnable games and possible matchups at regionals-just over three weeks away.