COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – The Western Nebraska Community College started a little slow, but warmed up in dropping Iowa Western Community College in straight sets 25-23, 25-22, 25-19.
The victory gave the fourth-ranked Cougars their 35th victory of the season. It was also the team’s 16th straight win. WNCC also swept its last three opponents after claiming a five-set win against Northeastern Junior College last Tuesday. The 16th-ranked Reivers fall to 39-6 on the season.
WNCC coach Giovana Melo said the team came ready to play.
“The girls came out ready to play,” the third-year head coach said. “We were ready and a lot has to do with us having a good road trip. We enjoyed the day together that we had. We did start a little slow, but they were ready to play and stayed strong.”
The Cougars trailed in the first set 11-6 before fighting back to knot the score at 15-15. The Cougars kept clawing away at the Reivers before capturing the set 25-23. Melo said the key in the set was the girls not losing focus.
“I really don’t know why it takes a little bit to get going,” she said. “I think they like to give us a little bit of a heart attack. What I liked was they did play really hard.”
The second set was nip and tuck throughout as neither team. Iowa Western led by three early on a number of occasions. WNCC never lost site as they hammered away with some clutch kills from Ariel Austin, Kathryn Stock, and Debora Araujo to take a 19-17 lead.
The Cougars kept strong as they captured the second set 25-22.
Fernanda Goncalves started the Cougars off well in the third set, serving four straight points. Iowa Western came back to slice the deficit to 9-7 before WNCC picked up the pace once again behind solid play.
Kathryn Stock put the Cougars up 22-16, their largest lead of the match. Both teams then traded sideouts until Araujo finished off the match with her 15th kill for the 25-19 win.
Melo said the thing that impressed her the most about the win was the team played together the entire time.
“I liked that we played the whole time,” she said. “Even though we were behind, we still stay focused in the game and we were playing as a team every single point. We have been working on it the entire season and it is coming around.”
Araujo led the Cougar attack with a double-double, finishing with 15 kills, 15 digs, and three points. Lais Soares pounded home double-digit kills with 12 and three blocks.
Also for the Cougars, Stock finished with nine kills, four digs and five points; Ariel Austin had seven kills; Tania Torres had six kills and seven points; Goncalves had 28 set assists, two kills, two blocks, two aces, and nine points; Kuulei Kabalis had 10 digs and three points; and Emily Hoehn had six points.
WNCC will finish the regular season on Thursday when they host Northeastern Junior College at 7 p.m. That contest will be the last home match for the Cougar sophomores. The Cougars will then compete in the Region IX tournament Nov. 4-6 at La Junta, Colo.
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