WNCC captures two wins, earns 7th straight trip to Final Four

 

                WEST PLAINS, Mo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team moved into the semifinals of the national tournament for the seventh straight year by sweeping No. 13 Wallace State-Hanceville and then No. 5 Blinn College Thursday in the first day of the NJCAA national tournament in West Plains, Mo.

                The Cougar women steamrolled through Wallace State 25-16, 25-19, 25-14 in the first round and then used strong defensive play to stop a talented and tall Blinn College 25-22, 25-21, 25-21.

                The win sends the Cougars into a semifinal match against No. 8 Salt Lake Community College, who upended previously unbeaten and No. 1 Miami Dade College in three sets 31-29, 25-22, 25-15 at 5:30 MST. The other semifinal will pit the other Region IX team Western Wyoming Community College against San Jacinto College. Western Wyoming defeated Barton Community College 25-22, 25-23, 25-20 before getting by Eastern Arizona 25-18, 26-24, 22-25, 25-14. The winners of the two semifinals will face off for the championship Thursday night at 5:30 while the losers will play for third at 3:30 p.m.

                 “Overall, I thought they played the best that I have seen them play as a team,” WNCC coach Giovana Melo said. “They were playing together the entire time and they were playing with a lot of heart. That is something that I am very proud of them for.”

                Melo said it feels great to be back in the Final Four.

“It feels great, but obviously we have to focus on the next game and see if we can make it to the finals,” Melo said. “We know how good they [Salt Lake] is because we lost to them in the regular season. But I think the girls are ready.”

                If the Cougars play anywhere to what they did Thursday, they easily could be finding themselves playing for a national title because that is just how on the Cougars were.

                “I thought we played well offensively and defensively. I have nothing to complain about,” Melo said. “We just played really strong and hard as a team.”

                What stood out for the Cougars in both matches on Thursday was their defensive play and many of those stellar defensive plays by Kuulei Kabalis, Emily Hoehn and Fernanda Goncalves kept rallies going, which saw WNCC terminate with a momentum-changing kill. For instance, in set one against Blinn, Hoen and Goncalves teamed up with two great saves that led to a Cougar point and a 10-6 lead.

                Moments later, after an Ariel Austin change-up kill for a point, there was another long rally that saw a number of saves before Austin put down another change-up klll for a point. Two serves later, Kathryn Stock picked up the momentum another notch as she won a joust at net to put WNCC up 17-13. Austin finished off the first set with a hammering kill.

                Blinn took a 2-0 lead in set two before Debora Araujo had three service points for a 4-2 lead. Blinn sliced the lead to a single point on several occasions, but the Cougars never relilnguished the lead as the Cougars won the second set 25-21.

                WNCC fell behind three times in set three, the final time at 11-9. That was when Araujo served three points behind two monster kills from middlehitter Tania Torres for a 13-11 lead. Kabalis then widened the lead as she had four service points, including a kill from Araujo and two more kills from Torres for a 21-15 lead. Austin finished off the match, sending the Cougars to the Final Four, with her 11^th kill of the match.

                Araujo led the Cougars with a double-double of 15 kills, 10 digs and nine points. Also for the Cougars, Austin finished with 11 kills, while Torres had 10 kills, two blocks, and three points. Stock had four kills and five digs; Lais Soares had four kills’ Kabalis had 10 points and six digs; Hoahn had three digs; Fernanda Goncalves had nine digs, 34 set assists, and seven points.

                WNCC was just as impressive in the opening match against Wallace State putting with two players notching double figure kills with Araujo and Stock pacing the team with 13 and 11 kills respectively. Austin also hammered home eight in the opener, while Tania Torres had five, and Lais Soares had 12.

                Kabalis, who had some eye-popping digs in the two matches, said the team played well in the opener.

                “I thought we had plenty of energy and we played together as a team and we just had to work for one point at a time,” Kuulei Kabalis said. “We just want to leave everything on the court and play with our hearts and our mind. We worked so hard for this moment, and we just want to give it all we got.”

                The Cougars dominated play for much of the match. Wallace State did hold a couple leads on the Cougars and trailed No. 4 WNCC 10-8 in the first set. Then, a Stock kill and three points from Stock pushed the lead to 12-8. WNCC went ahead 18-9 on four Kabalis service points and the first set win. 25-16.

                Wallace State jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second set and led 7-5 at one time. WNCC rebounded, taking a 13-9 lead on three Goncalves service points and stayed consistent the rest of the way for the 25-19 win.

                WNCC controlled the third set from the get-go, taking a 4-0 lead on three Goncalves kills before Emily Hoehn pushed the lead to 12-3. WNCC went on to capture the match on a Araujo kill.

                Aruajo also finished with five Aces and six digs, while Stock had nine digs, five points and two blocks.

                Also for WNCC, Goncalves had 12 points, four aces, 32 set assists, and five digs; Austin had two blocks; Torres had six blocks and seven points; Soares had four blocks; Hoehn had points; and Kabalis had four points and nine digs.

Thursday Scores
Match 1: #3 San Jacinto def. #14 Jefferson (25-10, 25-13, 23-25, 22-25, 15-5)
Match 2: #6 North Idaho def. #11 Iowa Western (25-23, 25-17, 25-11)
Match 3: #10 Eastern Arizona def. #7 Florida St.-Jacksonville (25-21, 25-20, 25-19)
Match 4: #2 Western Wyoming def. #15 Barton County (25-22,25-23, 25-20)
Match 5: #1 Miami-Dade def. #16 Gadsden State (25-11, 25-12, 25-17)
Match 6: #8 Salt Lake def. #9 Midland (25-12, 19-25, 24-26, 25-22, 15-8)
Match 7: #5 Blinn def. #12 Temple (16-25, 25-23, 25-14, 25-17)
Match 8: #4 Western Nebraska def. #13 Wallace State (25-16, 25-19, 25-14)
Match 9: San Jacinto def. North Idaho (17-25, 27-25, 25-23, 25-20)
Match 10: Western Wyoming def. Eastern Arizona (25-18, 26-24, 25-22, 25-14)
Match 11: Salt Lake def. Miami-Dade (31-29, 25-22, 25-15)
Match 12: Western Nebraska def. Blinn (25-22, 25-21, 25-21)
Friday’s Schedule
Match 13: Jefferson vs. Iowa Western, 9 a.m.
Match 14: Florida State Jacksonville vs. Barton County, 9 a.m.
Match 15: Gadsden State vs. Midland, 11 a,m.
Match 16: Temple vs. Wallace State, 11 a.m.
Match 17: North Idaho vs. Eastern Arizona, 1:30 p.m.
Match 18: Miami Dade vs. Blinn, 1:30 p.m..
Match 19: 13 winner vs. 14 winner, 3:30 p.m.
Match 20: 15 winner vs. 16 winner, 3:30 p.m.
Match 21: San Jacinto vs. Western Wyoming, 5:30 p.m,.
Match 22: Salt Lake vs. Western Nebraska, 5:30 p.m.