LIBERAL, Kan. -- Western Nebraska Community College's Fernanda Goncalves picked up the Most Valuable Player honors at the Ozfest Invitational in helping the Cougar volleyball team win all four of its matches over the weekend in Liberal, Kan.
The fifth-ranked Cougars, after topping Redlands Community College and Lamar Community College on Friday, were just as impressive on Saturday. The Cougars swept through Seward County Community College 25-21, 25-10, 25-15, before taking down Midland College 25-20, 21-25, 25-14, 25-16 to improve to 27-3 on the season.
WNCC coach Giovana Melo said they played well on Saturday.
"In the second game against Midland, we were winning pretty good and then Midland came back on us and won the second set," Melo said. "But the girls did a nice job of focusing back in and coming out strong in the third and fourth sets in beating them.
The Cougars win against a good Midland squad was because of a strong blocking game against Midland's two Polish hitters. The Cougars had 25 assisted blocks in the four-set win against the Chaparrals, led by Lais Soares and Goncalves with eight assisted blocks each. Tania Torres also chipped in six assisted and one solo block in the win. Torres was also named to the all-tournament team as a middle hitter.
WNCC won the first set against Midland 25-20 as Kathryn Stock hammered home the final point. The second set was a tussle as the Cougars held a big lead, but also had plenty of hitting and service errors that gave Midland the advantage as they evened the match at 1-1.
The Cougars responded in set three with a different attitude and completely dominated play, including three ace serves from Deborah Araujo as the Cougars never was in jeopardy of losing, winning 25-14.
The final set was close at the beginning until Torres served two straight points, including an ace to push the Cougars lead to 17-11. WNCC pushed the lead to 21-14 on a Araujo kill and then Goncalves finished off the Chaparrals with three straight points.
Melo said their blocking was a big reason why they topped Midland.
"The biggest thing we try to do against the big hitters is take away their tendency. Most of the time we take away what their strongest shot is and let our defense play around them. Today was a really good blocking day. There was some trash-talking on the field and Midland thought they would take our players out of the game. But it actually got them fired up and . I never seen our team this fired up against a team of this caliber."
Goncalves finished with 31 set assists in the match, including two ace serves, two kills, five digs, and eight blocks. Araujo had a double-double with 14 kills, 13 digs and five aces; while Stock had eight kills and 12 digs. Also for the Cougars, Ariel Austin had 10 kills; Torres had five kills; Kuulei Kabalis had nine digs and an ace; Emily Hoehn had 14 digs and an ace; and Lais Soares had three kills and eight blocks.
WNCC was just as dominating in its opening game on Saturday against Seward, sweeping the home team in three sets. Goncalves finished with 34 set assists, six digs and two aces. Araujo also collected a double-double, finishing with 11 kills, 10 digs and two aces. Also for the Cougars, Austin had eight kills; Torres had seven kills; Soares had four kills; Stock had 13 kills; Hoehn had 21 digs; and Kabalis had five digs.
The Cougars were also impressive on Friday as well as they swept through Redlands and Lamar Community Colleges. The Cougars topped Redlands 25-20, 25-17, 25-21 as Stock had a double-double of 12 kills and 13 digs, followed by the Cougars topping Lamar 25-12, 25-19, 25-10 behind Araujo's double-double of 16 kills and 12 digs.
All-tournament performer Torres finished Saturday's matches with 12 kills and three aces.
In the match against Redlands, Stock led the way with 13 digs and 12 kills, while Araujo had 12 digs, nine points and 12 kills. Also for the Cougars, Austin had eight kills; Lais Soares had seven kills; Torres had five kills; Goncalves had 33 set assists; Hoehn had 18 digs; and Kabalis had 15 digs.
WNCC was just as dominating against Lamar as Araujo had 12 digs and 16 kills, followed by Stock with 10 digs, six kills and 12 points. Also for the Cougars, Torres had eight kills and two aces; Austin had seven kills; Soares had seven kills; Hoehn had 17 kills; Kabalis had 10 digs; and Goncalves had 34 set assists.
WNCC, 27-3, will next be in action Tuesday when they host Eastern Wyoming College beginning at 7 p.m. at Cougar Palace. The contests can be heard on the radio and Internet at kozy1013.com. The contest will also be video-streamed live via Ustream.
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