By James Hernandez 

The College of Southern Nevada welcomed in a pair of ranked opponents (#3 Salt Lake and #7 Southern Idaho) this past weekend as the team concluded its 2018 home schedule, making its final preparations before postseason play begins in just two weeks.

The Bruins entered Southern Nevada for Thursday evening's match as the top ranked team in the Scenic West Athletic Conference, managing to remain unbeaten in one of the premier volleyball conferences in the entire NJCAA.

The Lady Coyotes were up to the task early on, matching the third ranked Bruins point for point, until SLCC pulled out the (23-25) victory in the matches opening set. Sets two and three were mirror images of one another, closely fought battles that saw a more experienced Salt Lake team make enough plays down the stretch to claim both sets by identical (18-25) scores.

#3 ranked SLCC defeated CSN in straight sets (23-25 18-25 18-25) dropping the Lady Coyotes to 1-6 in conference play and 8-15 overall. Match standouts for Southern Nevada included Lexi Riggs and Nickelle Fleming with 9 kills apiece as well as Kaylee Wilcox (27 assists) and Jacquie Yapching (14 digs).

Saturday afternoon was a meaningful day at the "Den" as a special sophomore class was honored in the final home match of their careers versus #7 Southern Idaho. A packed house showed up to say good-bye to a great group of Lady Coyotes, unfortunately the Golden Eagles were looking to spoil the celebration.

A determined group of Golden Eagles came out sharp in the opening set, dispatching CSN (17-25) to take a 1 set to zero advantage. Southern Nevada stepped up its play in set two, competing down to the wire in a thrilling second set that saw them on the wrong side of a (23-25) score. Set three was once again tighter than spandex on a sumo wrestler, however a veteran CSI squad was able to outlast a valiant effort from CSN down the stretch to squeak out the third set (24-26) and claim the match in straight sets (17-25 23-25 and 24-26).

The loss dropped Southern Nevada to 1-7 in SWAC play and 8-16 overall. CSN standouts included Lexi Riggs (9 kills), Abbey Archambault (8 kills, 17 digs) and Kaylee Wilcox (27 assists).

Fans your Lady Coyotes will conclude regular season play on the road Friday October 26^th versus the Spartans and Saturday October 27^th against the Eagles.

For match times and live updates log onto www.cancoyotes.com or follow us on Facebook CSNCoyotes and Twitter @CSN_Vball.