The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team made Think Pink night a successful one as the Cougars ran their winning streak to 15 matches with a straight set win over Casper College 25-15, 25-18, 25-18 Saturday night at Cougar Palace. The win was the Cougars 15th straight victory since falling to Western Wyoming Community College Sept. 25, and once again, the received a balanced offensive attack.
Debora Araujo paced the team with a double-double of 10 kills and 14 digs. Araujo said they played alright.
“The team played good and together,” the freshman from Brazil said. “I think we need more energy and we need consistency. But, overall, I think we played good but we can play better.”
WNCC needed to play well against a scrappy Casper team that hung with the fourth-ranked Cougars. The two teams never swayed from more than a 2-point lead early. WNCC finally started to put some distance between them as Fernanda Goncalves had three straight points for a 14-8 lead lead.
Aruajo added to the lead with two points along with kills from Tania Torres and Ariel Austin. Emily Hoehn then went on a four-point scoring spree to push the lead to 23-12 before an Araujo kill ended the first set.
Casper came out strong in the second set, grapping a 6-5 lead on a service point from Susana Cricchi. WNCC changed things after Aruajo went on a four-point scoring spree for a 13-8 lead. The Cougars went up 16-9 and later 20-13 before the Thunderbirds’ Mo Bunney brought Casper back to 20-16. But, kills from Torres and Aruajo pushed the score to 22-6 and a Torres and Austin block gave the Cougars the set win.
Casper started the third set the same way as the second, vaulting to a 9-6 lead on strong serving from Cricchi. Kathryn Stock changed everything as the sophomore outside hitter served five straight points for a 13-9 lead. Later, Torres served two points for a 20-13 lead before Tori Bozzo hammered home two kills to put the Cougars up 23-15 and the third set win.
WNCC totaled 42 kills as a team with just eight hitting errors. Stock finished with 10 kills, nine digs and seven points; while Austin had seven kills and two blocks. Also for the Cougars, Torres had six kills, three blocks and four points; Lais Soares had five kills; Goncalves had two kills, eight digs, 24 set assists and five points; Kuulei Kabalis had 14 digs; Emily Hoehn had four digs and five points; and Sierra Schmidt had two points and three set assists.
WNCC, 34-3, will have two more regular seasons remaining. The Cougars will travel to face Iowa Western Community College on Tuesday before hosting Northeastern Junior College on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the final home game for the sophomores.
Araujo said they will need to play strong, especially against NJC, who they beat on Wednesday in a five-set thriller in Sterling, Colo.
“We need to play a good game because NJC is really good,” she said. “We need to work hard to have a chance to win the game. As long as we play together, we have a lot of potential with this team.”
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