TRINIDAD, Colo. – The 18th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team won all four matches at the SOCO Classic in Trinidad, Colorado, over the weekend.
The Cougars won a pair of 4-set matches on Friday, defeating Eastern Wyoming College (25-20, 25-18, 23-25, 31-25) and then Frank Phillips College (25-21, 25-23, 16-25, 25-22). On Saturday, the Cougars captured two more victories, sweeping North Platte Community College (25-21, 25-19, 25-19) and then earning a 5-set win over Clarendon College (25-22, 24-26, 25-17, 23-25, 15-10).
The four wins moves the Cougars to 11-2 on the season and seven straight wins.
WNCC will now be in action at the Sheila Worley Tournament in Sterling, Colorado, next weekend when they face three-of-4 ranked teams in No. 15 Odessa College, No. 10 Utah State-Eastern, Dodge City Community College, and No. 6 Barton Community College.
WNCC head coach Fatima Balza said she proud of how her team won some tough sets to get the match wins.
“It was a weekend full of challenges and every team we played really gave us a great fight,” Balza said. “We had some great moments where we came back and won sets, but there were also times when we struggled to hold onto our lead. Overall, it was a good weekend that showed us what we are doing well and what we can work on for the upcoming week.”
WNCC 3, EWC 1
The first match of the classic saw WNCC capture the first sets 25-21, 25-23. The third set was one where the Cougars trailed 20-16 before coming back to tie the set on two Nora Marginean service points before EWC won the third 25-23.
The fourth set was all EWC at the start with the Lancers grabbing a 9-4 lead and pushed the lead to 18-9. That was when the Cougars woke up as Taylor Tyser had four service points to make it 18-14. EWC pushed the lead to 21-16. Finja Schul then had a kill and Ahleejah Tovo-Sunia ripped off four service points to tie the set at 21-21.
Both team had set points later on as the two teams had sideouts back and fourth. WNCC grabbed their first lead of the match at 25-24, but neither team could get the set winner. With the score knotted at 29-29, Tamika Eastman hammered a kill to put the Cougars up 30-29 and Marginean had the final service point for the match winner.
Lilly Zwart led the Cougars with 17 kills with five digs, six points, and three solo blocks. Schul finished with 14 kills with three solo blocks, four assisted blocks, three digs, and three points.
Eastman tallied eight kills, 11 points, and six digs, followed by Tovo-Sunia with seven kills, 11 digs, and 11 points; Dessiah Chistopher with five kills; Jaylen Nachtigall with three kills; Chloe Grady with three kills and three solo blocks; Tyser with 14 digs, nine points, and five assists; Marginean with 25 set assists, 12 points, three aces, 14 digs, and two kills; and Alex Gonzalez-Orozco with eight digs.
WNCC 3, Frank Phillips
The Frank Phillips match on Friday was similar to the EWC match. WNCC captured the first two sets and struggled in the third in falling 25-16.
The fourth set saw Frank Phillips grab a 15-9 lead and led 22-18 in the fourth. WNCC got a sideout and then Tovo-Sunia served six straight points with three aces and big kills from Schul and Eastman for the 25-22 win.
Tovo-Sunia had a triple-double in the match with 10 kills, 10 digs, and 15 points. She also had three aces. Zwart finished with 12 kills with two points, while Schul had eight kills, four points, five solo blocks, and three assisted blocks.
Also for the Cougars, Marginean had 24 set assists, 16 points, seven digs, and three aces; Tyser had nine digs, five set assists, and two points; Grady had four kills; Eastman had six digs; Gonzalez-Orozco had nine digs; and Nachtigall had four kills.
WNCC 3, North Platte 0
The first match on Saturday against North Platte saw a competitive contest with both teams not getting a lot of long service runs. WNCC won the first 25-21 as they got key kills at the end for the win. Zwart had the final two kills in the first set.
The second set saw WNCC race to a 15-8 lead and led 19-9 after three Schul points. WNCC won the second 25-19 on a Schul and Grady block.
The third set saw WNCC run to a 13-7 lead before North Platte came back to tie things at 15-15. WNCC went back in front 19-16 on two Tyser points and won the match with three Tovo-Sunia service points.
Zwart and Schul each finished with 11 kills. Zwart also had eight points, two aces, and three digs, while Schul had four points and two solo blocks.
Also for the Cougars, Marginean had 32 set assists. Three kills, three digs, and five points; Tyser with 14 digs, seven points and two aces; Tovo-Sunia with seven kills, seven digs, and 12 points; Grady with three kills; Eastman with four kills, four points, and nine digs; and Gonzalez-Orzoco with five digs.
WNCC 3, Clarendon 2
This was a match where both teams had long service runs to grab big leads but also come back from deficits. This match also had a number of instant replay challenges that helped both teams with points.
The first set saw Clarendon grab a 16-11 lead only to watch WNCC tied the set at 18-18 on three Tyser points. WNCC won the first 25-22 on a Schul kill and then a service points.
The second set was back and forth. The set was tied at 19-19 before WNCC grabbed a 24-20 lead. The Cougars couldn’t get the set winner as Clarendon served the final five points for the 26-24 win.
WNCC came out in the third set focused, grabbing an 11-4 lead behind seven straight service points from Zwart. The Cougar led 23-11 after two more Zwart points. Clarendon came back to slice the lead to 23-17 before WNCC won the set on a Schul kill.
The fourth set saw Clarendon lead 14-11 and later 20-17 and won the set 25-23 after a challenge for an instant replay to force a fifth set.
Clarendon came out in the fifth and went up 6-3 and later 9-4 and had the Cougars on the back of their heals. Zwart stopped the service run with a kill and then Tyser had three points to bring WNCC back to within one at 9-8. Clarendon led 10-8 before WNCC got a sideout. From there, Zwart put together a solid service run with six straight with key kills and blocking as WNCC came back for the 15-10 match winner on a Schul block.
Zwart and Tovo-Sunia each had a double-double to lead the Cougars. Zwart tallied 21 kills, 17 points, two digs, two solo blocks, and four assisted blocks, while Tovo-Sunia had 17 kills, 11 digs, seven points, three solo blocks, and two assisted blocks.
Also for the Cougars, Nachtigall tallied eight kills and seven points; Schul had seven kills, nine points, six solo blocks, and five assisted blocks; Eastman had 10 digs; Grady had two kills; Tyser had 10 points, four set assists, and six digs; and Marginean had 24 set assists, five points, four digs, three kills, and six total blocks.
