MIAMI — After battling to an 11-11 draw midway through the third game, the No. 15 ranked Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College Lady Norse lost 3-0 in the opening volleyball match of the regular season Wednesday against Labette (Kansas) Community College in the NEO Student Activity Center.
The Lady Norse travel to Bethany, Sept. 12, for a 7 p.m. match Southwestern Christian College.
NEO returns to the Student Activity Center, Sept. 13, for a 6 p.m. District O match with Metropolitan Community College-Longview Lakers from Lee's Summit, Missouri.
The Labette Lady Cardinals improved to 3-4 on the season.
"It helped them a little bit that they had played the opening week of the season while we waited to start," Lady Norse head coach Eric Iverson said. "Our youth was probably more of a bigger factor for us.
"In retrospect, it's not really fair to us to compare this team to where we were in November of last year when we finished 10^th in the national tournament with a 27-5 overall record," Iverson said. "That was after a full season of playing with a very older, experienced team and three quality sophomore transfers.
"Now, we have three people in the entire program and on the court in the exact same role they were a year ago," Iverson said. "That would be the head coach, one outside hitter and one setter.
"Everybody else is new to their roles and new to the program," Iverson said. "We knew there was going to be a little bit of a rebuild for a while and that's the way it's going to be."
Labette (3-4) started the best-of-five match with a 25-22 victory in the first game. The Lady Cardinals won 25-23 in the second game before capturing a 25-22 win in the final game.
"We didn't play clean the entire match, but that's how it goes," Iverson said. "I thought we were scrappy, but we just didn't play clean.
"Personnel-wise we can straighten-up what went on last night," Iverson said. "Once some of our players figure out the speed of the game at this level, we'll be alright. It's still early for us."