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By James Hernandez

Lady coyotes volleyball returned home this past weekend to play host to a pair of nationally ranked teams, #11 Salt Lake Community College Bruins and #4 College of Southern Idaho Golden Eagles. CSN was looking to exact a measure of revenge versus its conference foes after dropping a pair of road games to the Bruins and Golden Eagles earlier this season.

Salt Lake (18-5 overall, 5-2 SWAC) entered Thursday night's match with CSN one game behind conference leader CSI, as both nationally ranked powers continued its quest towards home court in the upcoming Region XVIII tournament. The Bruins were locked in from the opening whistle, beating the coyotes at every facet of the game on its way to a lopsided (5-25) opening set win. Southern Nevada regrouped to give Salt Lake a scare in set two, before bowing out (23-25). Set three was competitive early, however SLCC used its size and experience to its advantage, putting away the lady coyotes in straight sets (5-25, 23-25 and 12-25). Match standouts for CSN included Lexi Riggs and Kathy Hernandez with four kills each, Logan DeLong and Carlee Becker with 7 assists apiece, as well as Jonaveh Cintron and Esmeralda Solano 22 digs combined.

The mountain to climb got even higher for CSN Saturday afternoon as they welcomed in the # 4 ranked College of Southern Idaho Golden Eagles. Southern Idaho defeated the Lady Coyotes in straight sets during the team's previous meeting earlier this season in Twin Falls, Idaho. CSI appeared to pick up right where they left off, establishing its supremacy around the net to claim an extremely competitive opening set (23-25). Southern Idaho found its rhythm in set two as they dominated Southern Nevada (6-25) to take a 2 sets to 0 advantage. Despite a valiant effort by the Lady Coyotes in set three, it was not enough as the Golden Eagles closed out the match in straight sets (23-25, 6-25 and 11-25). Standouts for Southern Nevada included Kathy Hernandez, (8 kills, 5 digs) Carlee Becker (13 assists) and Esmeralda Solano (18 digs).

Fans your Lady Coyotes will be away from "the den" this weekend to battle the Spartans and Eagles in some big-time SWAC action. For match times and live updates log onto www.csncoyotes.com or follow us on Twitter @CSN_Vball and Facebook CSNCoyotes.