The Central Wyoming Volleyball had two road games this past week that were decisive in determining if the Rustlers would qualify for the Region IX tournament. The top four teams from Region IX North division would be granted a berth to the Region IX Tournament. At the beginning of last week, CWC was in a three-way tie for third place in the Region IX North standings with Laramie County Community College and Casper College. Best case scenario for the Rustlers was to win both of their games on Tuesday and Friday, and they'd clinch third place in the division. And that's exactly what the CWC Volleyball team did in both of their last regular season conference games of the season. 

The Northwest College Trappers posed the greater challenge for the Rustlers, taking their Tuesday match in Powell to five sets. The Rustlers had ice in their veins, and remained cool, calm and collected throughout the match. The usual suspects, Khloe Hobson and Presley Ryan, led the offensive stampede for Central Wyoming, and each recorded double digit kills. Laina Whitney and Rachel Workman put their hardhats on and went to work as well and contributed eight and nine kills each. Ultimately, the Rustlers put away Northwest College in five sets and took one step closer to punching their Region IX playoff ticket.

CWC's offense was like a hot knife through butter in Friday's regular season finale against Gillette College. Outside of a hiccup in the third set where Gillette stole a 25-27 win, It was evident Central Wyoming was dead set on their mission of making it to the Region IX playoffs, outscoring Gillette 75-45 in all of the other sets.

The Central Wyoming Volleyball team now turns their sights to their first round matchup of the Region IX tournament, which takes place this Wednesday, November 6 at Laramie County Community College's gym against Western Nebraska CC.