The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team received 14 kills from Lilly Zwart and nine kills from Jaylin Nachtigall as the Cougars captured their 15th win of the season with a 25-17, 30-28, 25-22 win over Casper College Tuesday night at Cougar Palace.
Zwart, a sophomore from New Zealand, said the team played OK, but said it was nice to see so many people step up.
“I think we have really improved from the last two weeks and we shut down a team in three sets instead of dragging it to five or losing just one set like we have,” Zwart said. “We are becoming a lot more consistent and composed in those long rallies. We are really working as one team instead of those six players on the court.”
The team win was evident as nine different players got a kill while eight players got a dig and another seven picked up a service point with five ace serves total. Plus, the Cougars got a home game after nearly four or five weekends on the road.
“It was great coming back home and I love playing at home and I love all the student supporters that we have is one of my favorite things,” Zwart said.
The Cougars varied offensive attack showed the depth of the team this season. Zwart led with 14 kills along with two digs, two assisted blocks, five points and an ace serve. Nachtigall had nine kills along with an ace serve and block, while Tamika Eastman, Finja Schul, and Dessiah Christopher all had three kills.
Eastman also had seven digs, six points and an ace, while Schul had 11 points and two aces.
Nora Marginean added 27 set assists with two kills and five points, while Taylor Tyser had 15 digs with seven points and Alex Gonzalez-Orozco had 11 digs.
The whole match was a string of runs where big leads were not safe. WNCC opened the first set leading 10-5 after four points from Tyser and two from Zwart. WNCC led 20-11 on three points from Marginean and won the opening set 25-17.
The second set saw Casper jump to a 3-0 lead only to watch WNCC come back to lead 12-8 on two Schul points. WNCC had a 22-18 lead after a Nachtigall kill and ace serve and had set point at 24-22. Casper came back to make it 25-24 on two Makenna Lorenzen points. WNCC went up 28-27 on a Eastman kill, but couldn’t end it. Casper had a missed serve and then Eastman got the final point on her serve for the 30-28 win.
The third set was also close as neither team had more than a two-point lead until late. WNCC went up 17-14 on a Nachtigall kill. Casper came back to tie the set at 17. The Cougars responded after a Nachtigall kill and two Schul points on two Nachtigall kills.
The Cougars went up 22-19 on a Nadiyyah Northern kill and Marginean point. Casper fought back to tie the set at 22. Zwart hammered down a kill to give the Cougars the lead and Eastman served the final two points with the final point coming on a Zwart kill.
WNCC, 15-6, will be back in action this weekend when they open Region IX South conference action. Friday, the Cougars will face Trinidad State, who leads the South with a 17-4 record. That action starts at 6 p.m. WNCC will then face Otero College on Saturday with a 2 p.m. start.
Zwart said Friday’s contest will be key and they have to be ready to face a Trinidad team that at one time was ranked 17th in the nation.
“It will be a good game. Trinidad looks like they will be good competition this season,” she said. “They are ranked so it will be a hard fight and they have incredible players. It will be a really good fight and everyone needs to come out and watch.”
