WNCC volleyball sweeps McCook

The Western Nebraska Community College’s Jennifer Eichler pounded home 16 kills and three Cougars finished with double-figure points as the Cougars swept McCook Community College 30-12, 30-9, 30-20 Tuesday evening at Cougar Palace.

Eichler, though, was just one of the heroes on the night as Barbara Freitas, Soriana Pacheco and Kendra Schauermann each had stellar games in the serving department. Schauermann finished the night with 15 points followed by with Pacheco 14 and Feitas 13.

WNCC coach Chris Green said while several people stepped on the serving end, his team had more errors then aces. Green complimented McCook’s defensive play. “Our goal was to have more aces then errors and I don’t think we had that tonight in our serving,” he said. “I think McCook actually passed pretty well and we weren’t serving very aggressive.”

But what the Cougars were doing was terminating kills and making serving runs of three, four, five and even longer runs periodically all night long. In the first game, Freitas and Schauermann were the serving heroes. Freitas had six points behind the hitting of Eichler, who had three kills during the stretch to help WNCC to a 19-9 lead.

A couple rotations later, Schauermann iced the game as her floating serve rattled the McCook defense for seven straight points, including an ace to help WNCC to a 28-11 lead, and consequently the 30-12 win.

Soriana Pacheco started the Cougars on the right foot in game two with four straight points for a 5-0 lead. Then it was Schauermann’s turn to at the service line and the 5-foot-8 Windsor, Colo., graduate served up six points behind two Freitas and Echler kills, and two Eichler blocks for a 12-1 lead.

WNCC stretched the lead to 22-4 as Jillian Kelly had five straight service points. Freitas wrapped up the game with four straight points, climaxing with a Eichler kill.

The third game was back and forth in momentum. WNCC jumped out to a 5-1 lead before McCook’s Candace Smith, a Gering graduate, sliced the lead to 5-4 on two service points. The Cougars responded back jumping back to an 8-4 lead behind Freitas’ three points, including two aces. Later, Cassie Vrooman served up four points for a 13-5 lead.

McCook wouldn’t fold as the Indians battled back cutting the lead to 18-15 behind Kelsey Kathman’s three points. McCook cut the lead to three once again, 20-17, before Bianca Rivera served up three points for a 26-18. Pacheco finished off the match with two service points. Green is pleased with how Eichler and Freitas are coming around.

“Eichler has been doing a great job lately and I can’t say enough about her,” he said. “This past weekend, too, she did a great job, especially in the championship match against Iowa Western. She is jumping well and she is hitting a high ball.”

Eichler was no match for the McCook defense as she hammered home 16 kills. She also had three blocks on the night.

Eichler’s performance was mirrored by Freitas, who had a complete all-around match. The 5-11 sophomore from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, finished with 13 points, two aces, six digs, nine kills and four blocks.

“Barbara did a nice job [Tuesday night],” Green said. “She has been improving steadily through out the season. We have three middle blockers that are doing a pretty good job and she is right in the mix.”

Also for the WNCC, Leticia Kuhn had five digs and six kills; Pacheco had 14 points, 32 set assists, five digs and three blocks; Schauermann 15 points and eight digs; Rivera nine digs, five points and four kills; Kelly seven digs, two blocks and six points; Hailey Mueller six kills and two blocks; and Vrooman five points and five set assists.

WNCC, 21-1, will be back in action Thursday night as they host Casper College. Green said Casper will be a good test for his team. “We hate to see the third game end up like it did where we kind of lost momentum, especially going into a tough match on Thursday,” Green said. “Casper is a lot better team then some of the teams that we have had here so far this season. We are expecting a tough match on Thursday night. Hopefully against Casper we will have a lot of people in the stands.”