GILLETTE – The Eastern Wyoming College volleyball team opened the Region IX North Division play last week with a pair of road games against Laramie County Community College and Gillette College.

The Lady Lancers opened the weekend against a team who is currently receiving votes in the NJCAA DI National Volleyball Rankings, falling 3-1 to the Laramie County.

The Golden Eagles won the first two sets 25-14, 25-22, but the Lady Lancers prevented a sweep with a 25-19 win in the third set. In the fourth, LCCC battled back to win 25-13.

Ana Djurovic led Eastern Wyoming with 16 kills, while Belle Dolan and Neely Rutledge had seven kills. Sydney Anderson and Siale Unufe added six kills each. Emma Blackstar dished out 22 assists, while Nikoleta Tatar had 18. Keelie Bunker had a team-high 19 digs, while Unufe had two blocks.

On Friday, the Lady Lancers traveled to Gillette to face the Pronghorns, who are in their first year of resuming sports after cutting their athletic programs in 2020.

EWC scored a 3-1 victory. Eastern Wyoming won the first set 25-16 before falling 25-18 in the second. The Lady Lancers won the next two sets 25-18 and 25-20 to pick up the first conference win of the season.

Djurovic had 16 kills, while Dolan had eight. Unufe and Anderson tallied six and seven, respectively. Blackstar had 21 assists, while Tatar had 17. Bunker had 21 digs, while the Lady Lancers as a team had 23 blocks. They were led by Unufe with nine assisted blocks and two stuff blocks.

The Lady Lancers are now 7-13 on the season and 1-1 in the Region IX North. EWC continues its four-game road trip with stops at Central Wyoming College on Friday, Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. and at Northwest College at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30.