WNCC opened Saturday's action by dropping Western Wyoming Community College 18-25, 25-14, 25-19, 25-19, and then lost a heartbreaker to Southern Idaho in five thrilling games 21-25, 22-25, 25-19, 27-25, 23-25.
WNCC coach Giovana Melo was upbeat with the way her team came back in both contests.
"Against Western Wyoming we came out a little slow and we were waiting for things to happen. I think we learned a lot today i coming back in both matches," she said. "We played with a lot of heart and showed that we can fight and play no matter what is going on with the scores. We lost the first set against Western Wyoming and we lost the first two sets against CSI. So, we showed a lot of heart today."
The CSI contest was a classic match-up of two top 5 ranked teams. After CSI won the first two games, the Cougars switched to a 6-2 offense and fought back, winning the third game 25-19 and the fourth in thrilling fashion 27-25. That set up the fifth set, which the Golden Eagles won 25-23.
Melo said she has never been involved in a fifth game that was that high scoring.
" The fifth set was pretty fun. I never played or coached in a game that went that far in the fifth set. it was pretty much back and forth the entire fifth set," she said. "It was fun and it was heartbreaking to go all the way that far and come back from that far behind and not win it. it was very nerve racking but it was fun coaching a team fighting like that."
The Cougars had two players finished with 20 or more kills in that five-game thriller. Debora Araujo hammered home 27 kills while Kathryn Stock had 20 kills. WNCC also had three players finish with double-figure digs, led by Kuulei Kabalis with 23, followed by Araujo and Stock with 14 and 13.
Also for the Cougars, Lais Soares had five blocks; Tania Torres had four blocks; Araujo had six points and four aces; Fernanda Goncalves had 24 set assists; and Sierra Schmidt had 21 set assists.
The Cougars also played well in a come-from-behind win against Western Wyoming, who later upended CSI in three games Saturday afternoon at the tournament. Araujo finished the game with a double-double of 18 kills and 11 digs, while Stock had 11 kills, nine points and two aces. Kabalis led the team with 22 digs, while Goncalves had 48 set assists.
WNCC, 6-2, will next be in action Tuesday when they travel to Torrington, Wyo., to face Eastern Wyoming College. First serve is set for 7 p.m.
Melo said they learned a lot from this tournament, where they went 2-2.
"We showed that we are a team that can come from behind, show a lot of heart and show a lot fight," she said. "We can compete against the good teams. We still have a ways to go, but we have to learn to me more aggressive so we don't have to go through those type of games."
No comments:
Post a Comment