The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team made the seven sophomores final match at Cougar Palace a successful one as they swept past No. 9 Northeastern Junior College in impressive fashion Thursday at Cougar Palace. The Cougars Debora Araujo finished with a double-double of 14 kills and 12 digs to powering No. 4 WNCC team to a 25-19, 25-18, 25-21 victory. It was the Cougars 17th straight victory and 36th win of the season. The win also sewed up the No. 1 seed in next week’s south sub-region Region IX tournament in La Junta, Colo.
Kuulei Kabalis, one of the seven sophomores, had another extraordinary night in the back row. Kabalis finished with 19 kills, including several pancake or one-armed saves. Kabalis now has 914 career digs and is just one o
f 15 Cougar players to amass 900 kills.
Kabalis said this team came ready to play.
“Honestly, we have been working really hard in practice, making sure that we come out strong every single game no matter who we play,” the sophomore from Hawaii said. “It is a big accomplishment for us [to stay strong]. We are really proud and excited for regionals. If we can accomplish this, we probably can accomplish anything that we put our minds to.”
The Cougars, in fact, have strung together two well-executed matches this week. On Tuesday, they swept No. 14 Iowa Western Community College and Thursday night, they handled NJC with somewhat ease.
“It is showing right know how good we can be in that we won these two past games,” Kabalis said. “If we keep working hard, we will make it to nationals and prove we can be number one.”
The NJC contest, however, wasn’t no gimme. The two squads hooked up in a top 10 battle that was tightly contested. In the first set, there were 10 ties, the last one at 16-16 as NJC’s Alyssa Muller had a service point. But a Plainswomen missed serve – NJC had seven missed serves in set one – gave the Cougars the momentum and they ran with it.
Araujo and Ariel Austin each had monster kills to push the lead to 19-17. After a sideout, Austin and Tania Torres pounded home two more kills for a 21-17 lead. WNCC never miss fired after that as Emily Hoehn served the final point.
NJC started the second set off well, grabbing an 8-7 lead after Alexa Kippes served four straight points. Kathryn Stock stopped the run with a kill and then served three points for an 11-8 lead. Both teams kept battling back and forth like two top 10 ranked teams.
WNCC held an 19-17 lead when Lais Soares hammered home a monster kill. Stock then served four points, including two aces for a 24-17 lead. Araujo finished the set with another monster kill for the win.
The Cougars started strong in the third set, but watched the Plainswomen come back to tie the set at 7-7 on a Karen Rivatto ace serve. After a missed serve, Kabalis served three points on two huge kills from Araujo for a 11-7 lead. WNCC pushed the lead to 15-10 on a Torres and Stock block, and later went up 19-14 on two Hoehn service points on their way to the sweep.
One of the keys to the match was the defensive intensity the Cougars had on the floor as they stayed in a number of long rallies and then winning those back and forth bouts. Kabalis said this team will do anything to keep the ball alive, and they definitely did that in the team’s final regular season match.
“We just have that mindset to just get everything and anything,” she said. “So, if we have to run to the bleachers, we will run to the bleachers. We won’t give up on anything. It was great tonight. No one gave up.”
Araujo finished with 14 kills, 12 digs, four points and two blocks; while Stock had seven kills, 12 points, three aces and nine digs. Also for the Cougars, Austin had four kills and two blocks; Torres had five kills and five points; Lais Soares had two kills and six blocks; Fernanda Goncalves had four blocks, 22 set assists and six points; Kabalis had 19 points digs and three points; and Hoehn had six points.
WNCC will next be in action next Friday and Saturday at the Region IX tournament. For now, Kabalis will savor the win after she and the other sophomores finished playing at Cougar Palace in style.
“I am getting chicken skin right know just thinking about having played my last match here,” she said. “It has been a really good two years on this court with all the girls and teammates. I love them all. I just enjoyed it.”
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