Cougars finish WyoBraska Invite 3-1

Cougars finish WyoBraska Invite 3-1
(WNCC Sports Information)
September 20th, 2021 | WNCC Sports Information

The 20th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team rebounded with authority on Saturday after falling to Central Wyoming College on Friday with two wins over Casper College and Western Wyoming Community College to finish the Wyo-Braska Invite with a 3-1 record.

WNCC opened the day 25-22, 25-22, 21-25, 25-16 win over Casper College and then wrapped up the Invite with a sweep over Western Wyoming 25-19, 25-21, 26-24.

Ale Meoni, who was celebrating her 18th birthday on Saturday, said the team did well on Saturday and rebounded from Friday’s loss. After the win against Western Wyoming the team sang happy birthday to the Cougar freshman.

“I think we played well, but not to our maximum but it still was pretty good,” Meoni, who grew up in Italy and graduated high school in Houston, said. “We were just trying to focus on the games today and leave the game yesterday [Friday] behind and keep going and play.”

A big change in play was a change in the lineup as Jenna Curtis was playing on the rightside and Juliana Oliveira moved to the outside.  It paid off as Curtis and Oliveira upped their kills and hitting percentage.

“Since the rotation didn’t work yesterday, we were trying to find something new and Coach Binny came up with Jenna [Curtis] as a rightside and Juliana [Olivera] as an outside,” Meoni, who is a left-handed rightside hitter, said.

Curtis finished with 10 kills in the win over Western Wyoming and nine against Casper. Oliveira had nine kills against the Mustangs and seven against the Thunderbirds.

In the win over Western Wyoming, the birthday girl Meoni led the way with 13 kills followed by Curtis’s 10, and then Oliveria and Erica Fava each with nine.

Fava finished the WWCC Mustang match with a double-double, adding 11 digs, 10 points, and three aces. Also for the Cougars against the Mustangs, Macey Boggs had 23 set assists with six digs; Julia Moccellin had 19 set assists, six digs, and seven points; AnaKaren Chavez had 10 digs, five points, and two set assists; Hyleigh Fornstrom with three kills, two digs, and three points; and Laura Milori had two digs and three points.

In the win over Casper, Fava led the way with a triple-double of 19 kills, 20 digs, 11 points, and two aces. Meoni finished with 11 kills in the match, followed by Curtis’ nine kills, Oliveira’s seven, and Fornstrom with five.

Also for the Cougars against the Thunderbirds saw Boggs with a double-double of 16 digs, 20 set assists, three points, and two aces; Moccellin with 24 set assists and five points; Fornstrom with five fills, nine points, three digs, and an ace; Chavez with 12 digs, five points and two set assists; Angel Nahinu two kills, two solo blocks, and three assisted blocks.

The two wins moves the Cougars to 11-8 on the season as they get ready to play four matches next week. WNCC travels to face Casper on Tuesday and then comes home to host Northwest College on Thursday, Otero Junior College on Friday, and Trinidad State College on Saturday.

Other scores on Saturday at Cougar Palace in the Wyo-Braska Invite saw McCook Community College top Lake Region State College 25-13, 25-18, 25-20; Western Wyoming beating Lake Region State 27-25, 25-20, 25-14; and Casper over McCook 25-14, 25-23, 18-25, 25-18.

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