MCCOOK – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team moved to 7-2 on the season after sweeping a pair of matches on Saturday at the McCook Labor Day Invite.
The Cougars finished the tourney 3-1 after defeating No. 19 Hutchinson Community College 30-28, 25-20, 16-25, 25-17 and then swept past Southeast Community College 25-13, 25-10, 25-13. The Hutchinson win was a big win since Hutchinson defeated the Cougars the previous week at the Iowa Western Invite.
The Hutchinson win was a total team effort as four Cougars finished with double-figure kills and five Cougars had double-figure digs. WNCC also tallied 10 aces on the day with Ahleejah Tovo-Sunia and Taylor Tyser collecting double digit service points.
Lilly Zwart and Finja Schul each had 12 kills while Tovo-Sunia and Tamika Eastman each had 10 kills. Schul had a double-double adding 10 kills with her 12 kills along with two solo blocks, six points, and an ace.
Tovo-Sunia had a triple-double adding 14 digs and 13 service points with her 10 kills. Also collecting double-doubles were Eastman, Tyser and Nora Marginean. Eastman had 10 digs with her 10 kills along with six points and an ace, while Tyser had 30 digs with her 10 service points with three aces, while Marginean had 45 set assists, 10 digs, three kills and four points.
Also for the Cougars, Zwart had 12 kills, sic points, and an ace, while Chloe Grady had six kills and a solo block. Alex Gonzalez-Orozco had nine kills.
The Hutchinson match was an exciting, competitive contest. The first set had plenty of excitement. With the score knotted at 11-11, Hutchinson went up 15-11. WNCC came right back as Tyser served six straight points for an 18-15 lead. The two teams were knotted at 22-22 and the Blue Dragons faced game point at 24-23. WNCC got a sideout and Eastman had a service point to put WNCC one point from the set.
Hutchinson got a sideout and went up 27-26. WNCC got a big block from Eastman and Schul to tied the game and was a point from the set on a Schul kill. Hutchinson got a sideout to extend the first set. WNCC got a sideout on a Schul kill and then Schul ended the first set with a service point for the 30-28 win.
The second set was just as intense. Hutchison led 5-3 and later 11-8 and then 14-11. WNCC came back as Zwart got a kill and Eastman served two service points to tie the second game. Later, Tyser got two points including one on an ace for a 17-15 lead. WNCC led 20-16 on back-to-back Zwart service points. WNCC never looked back and took the second set 25-20.
The third set was the same way. The two teams were tied at 10-10 when Hutchinson served four points for a 15-10 lead. WNCC got the deficit to 18-15, but Hutchinson had a 4-point run and then closed out the set on a 3-point run for the 25-16 win.
The fourth set was knotted at 9-9 when Eastman had a kill followed by Marginean with three points for a 13-9 lead. Hutchinson came back and tied the set at 17-17, but Schul hammered a kill and then Tova-Sunia reeled off seven straight service points behind three aces and two kills from Schul and a kill from Eastman for the 25-17 win.
The Southeast match was controlled by WNCC. The first set saw Southeast lead 3-1 and trailed 5-4. Zwart hammered down a kill and then went back and served eight straight points, including three aces for a 14-4 lead.
WNCC had a slight hiccup when Southeast sliced the deficit to 19-12, but Zwart stopped the run with a kill and Tyser served four points with two aces as WNCC won the first set 25-13.
The second set saw the set knotted at 3-3, but thing changed as Tyser had three points for a 7-3 lead and then went up 14-6 after four Tovo-Sunia points. WNCC kept colling as Marginean and Juju Melendez combined for five points for a 22-8 lead and won the second set 25-10 on a Grady kill.
Southeast started the third set leading 5-1 and later led 8-7. Things changed after that as Schul had two points for a 10-8 lead and then Marginean had four points for a 15-9 lead. WNCC pushed the lead to 23-12 after five Tyser points and won 25-13 on a Dessiah Christopher kill.
Tyser and Zwart each had a double-double in in the match. Tyser finished with 14 digs and 16 points along with three aces and two set assists, while Zwart tallied 11 kills, 12 points, two solo blocks, and three aces.
Tovo-Sunia finished with six kills, nine digs, and four points; Marginean had 26 set assists, seven points, four digs, two kills, and an ace; Eastman had two digs and a solo block; Schul had five kills, five digs, and three points; Jaylen Nachtigall finished with three kills, six digs, and four points; and Christopher had three kills.
WNCC, 7-2, will be back in action next weekend when they compete in the SOCO Classic in Trinidad, Colorado. WNCC will face Eastern Wyoming College and Frank Phillips on Friday and North Platte and Clarendon on Saturday.
