Western Nebraska Community College’s Lilly Zwart accomplished something that she had dreams of doing ever since she came to the United State and that was an All-American athlete.
                Zwart, the sophomore from Nelson, New Zealand, said ever since her freshman year, she had a goal to accomplish that feat. Earlier in December the NJCAA Division I All-American list was unveiled and Zwart’s name was among the third team honorees.
                “Being All-American was one of the biggest goals I had when I moved to America and I didn’t know it was a thing until I got here until my roommates told me about it and since then it became my goal to become one,” Zwart said. “Without us going to nationals, I thought my dream of being an all-American had died. But, getting told I made All-American was one of the astonishing things I received all year. Honestly, getting the Region IX South Player of the Year was incredible and first team on the all-conference was amazing and proud of myself. Then topping all those off being an All-American was so incredible and so happy.”
                Zwart was one of four Region IX players on one of the three teams. Joining Zwart as honorable mention was Eastern Wyoming’s Boden Liljedahl, the Lancer libero. NJC had two All-Americans as Nerea Alvarez Jorge was a First Team selection as a setter and Rosa Brencic was a Second Team selection as an outside hitter.
                When Zwart learned of  her All-American honor, her first instinct was to call her mom back in New Zealand.
                “My first thoughts of an All-American was to call my mom. She’s known about this dream that I’ve had since I found out what the All-American team was and she has been supporting me every way to get to that goal,” Zwart said. “My first instinct was to tell my mom and we had a little bit of excited call about that. Then, I told my roommates and they were super proud of me. Honestly, my first though after hearing about being an All-American.”
                Zwart said this season was a special season with how the team played as a family and grew on the court.
                “Honestly, I really had a fun season. Following last season with all the coaching changes, it was really nice to grow with the sophomores and the freshmen coming in,” she said. “I think we all really enjoyed ourselves which was the most important part. When we were having fun, we were winning and when we were winning, we weren’t just scraping by, we were blowing teams out of the water, which was so much fun. Myself, personally, I think I had a really incredible season. I broke my season high multiple times for kills and I really just learned to be a more all-around player than just being a dominant hitter on the front line.”
                Zwart has a standout season this  year, tallying 474 kills, 119 digs, and 105 blocks. She finished her 2-year career with 848 kills, 40 service aces, 192 blocks, and 223 digs. She was named Region IX South Player of the Year this season as well as a South All-Region player.
                With one more semester at WNCC, this next semester will be one of her hardest as she decides where to continue her playing as well as being around all the friends that she has become close to. She has had some unofficial offers but still has colleges calling so she will be making recruiting visits. She said, however, she isn’t going to jump the gun in making a decision, looking for the right fit.
                “I will be taking my visits to a couple schools and be making a decision where to go next year,” Zwart said. “Then, the rest of the semester, I will be training hard as I can so I can be the best version of myself when I go to that school. Also, to really enjoy my time at WNCC. I grown to love it here living in Scottsbluff so this next semester is going to be about enjoying my last few months here and make sure everyone that helped me along the way, realizes how much I appreciate them.”