By James Hernandez

The College of Southern Nevada concluded its 2018 regular season away from the "Den" this past weekend as they tuned up for postseason play with matches versus Colorado Northwestern Community College and Utah State University Eastern.

Friday's match versus the Spartans presented an opportunity for the Lady Coyotes to fine-tune its play with the Region XVIII tournament just one week away in Twin Falls, Idaho.

CSN came out on the attack early in the match, and took full advantage of CNCC's mistakes by setting the tone for the entire match with a (25-15) set one victory. A confident group of Lady Coyotes put forth a similar effort to claim set two (25-17) and put a stranglehold on the match. The Spartans were able to battle and earn set three (29-31), however it wasn't enough to beat Southern Nevada. CSN finished off Colorado Northwestern (25-16) in set four to earn the team's second conference match victory of the year, as they continued to navigate through one of the toughest volleyball conferences in the entire NJCAA. With the victory CSN improved to 2-7 in conference play and 9-16 overall.

Match standouts for the Lady Coyotes included Abbey Archambault with 10 kills, Kaylee Wilcox with 36 assists and Jacquie Yapching with 25 digs.

Southern Nevada entered Saturday's regular season finale hungry to claim a victory over one of the top four teams in the SWAC. Despite a few near-misses, the Lady Coyotes had been unable to finish the fight versus a club with a winning record on the year. The Eagles came out on fire in the opening set, dispatching CSN (13-25) in a non-competitive opening set. After regrouping on the sidelines, the Lady Coyotes rallied to knot the match up at 1 set apiece after grinding out set two (25-23). Eastern responded with a (18-25) third set victory that left them one set win away from a match victory. A resilient CSN team rallied to claim set four (25-20), setting up a winner-take-all fifth and final set. Set five was a back and forth war of attrition that saw both sides leave it all out on the court. Unfortunately for Southern Nevada it was USU-Eastern Eastern who made enough plays to squeeze out a (14-16) fifth set win. The loss (13-25, 25-23, 18-25, 25-20, 14-16) dropped the Lady Coyotes to 2-8 in SWAC play and 9-17 overall in 2018.

Match standouts for CSN included Abbey Archambault (15 kills), Carlee Becker (17 assists) and Jacquie Yapching (18 digs).

Fans your Lady Coyotes will be in Twin Falls, Idaho November 2-3 to battle for SWAC supremacy in the 2018 Region XVIII tournament. For future opponents, match times and live updates all weekend log onto www.csncoyotes.com or follow us on Twitter @CSN_Vball and Facebook CSNCoyotes