The Cougars faced deficits of five points on several occasions in the third and fourth set, but found the heart and drive they needed to succumb Salt Lake 27-25, 21-25, 25-23, 25-19 behind a 21-kill performance from Debora Araujo.
The win sends the Cougars into the title game Saturday at 5:30 p.m. (MST) against San Jacinto College. San Jac swept through Western Wyoming Community College 25-21, 25-21, 25-21. This will be The Cougars third appearance in the championship match in the last six years; the last time coming in 2007 when they defeated Miami Dade for the title.
Kathyrn Stock, who had five kills and five service points in the crucial fourth set, said this team had the confidence to win and stayed with their game of playing one point at a time.
“It was a really big win. We went in here confident and we knew we were going to win it, but we also knew it was going to be extremely tough,” the sophomore said. “We just had to stay patient and give it our all every single point. We really, really focused on getting one point at a time. That helped us to be calm. This will give us a lot of confidence for our game tomorrow.”
Head coach Giovana Melo was ecstatic with how her team fought back from the many deficits. The fight the Cougars had was unbelievable Friday night.
“We had to learn from our mistakes and I had to tell them that we are a better team when we have a lot of energy, when we are happy, when we are celebrating,” she said. “We are not a good team when we are worrying about the mistakes and that [high energy] is what we went back to. This team showed that they have a lot of heart; that is for sure.”
Stock said after they dropped that second set and were behind 15-13 in the third, they just had to remember the movie “Miracle” that they watched today as a team, where the United State came back to defeat USSR for the gold medal at the Olympics.
“I think that movie helped a lot because there were a lot of similarities,” Stock said. “The US going against the USSR in the of the Olympic games, and we are going against a real tough team in the semifinals of a national championship. We knew it was going to be hard, but we also knew that this is the time, we have to do it know, and we have to do it as a team.
“Going one point at a time was the key. We just had to worry about one point at a time and it kept us from freaking out. We really relied on each other as a team, playing smart with our whole hearts, every single point.”
Salt lake controlled the first set, vaulting to a 10-7 and 13-9 lead. WNCC, however, kept strong as Stock served four points behind kills from Araujo and Lais Soares to take a 17-15 lead. WNCC kept excelling, moving out to a 24-21 lead on one of Salt Lakes’ five missed serves. But the Bruins came back taking a 25-24 lead behind three points from Kellie Turner. WNCC’s Soares followed with a kill and then Emily Hoehn served the final two points as Stock hammered home the final two kills for the win.
Salt Lake vaulted to a 11-7 lead in the second set before a Tania Torres kill and three ace serves by Araujo put WNCC in front 12-11. The Bruins came back as Shiela Uluave had two aces for a 22-17 lead before Turner evened the match at a set apiece with an ace serve.
WNCC jumped out on Salt Lake in the third set behind three service points from Torres for a 4-1 lead. Salt Lake came back to take several 2-point leads, the final time at 21-19 and seemed to have the set in their hands.
The was when the Cougars picked up their game, starting with an Ariel Austin kill. Hoehn then served three points for a 23-21 lead. Stock and Aruao each had kills to give the Cougars an exciting, come-from-behind win.
The fourth set was a dogfight from the get-go. Salt Lake controlled the tempo early on, taking a 9-4 lead and lead 13-11. That was when Stock drilled two kills to the floor to start a rally. Hoehn then had a clutch ace serve to help WNCC take a 15-13 lead.
Salt lake came back, tying the match at 15 before Stock rattled home another kill. Stock then had five straight service points for a 21-16 lead. Salt Lake tried making the set interesting, coming back to slice the lead to 24-19, but Aruajo blistered home a spike to send the Cougars into the championship match.
Melo and the rest of the team was over-whelmed with emotion after moving into the championship match.
“We did come from behind just like in the movie Miracle that we watched today, where the US came from behind in every single game they played,” she said. “I think it was a little bit of inspiration for them. They did a really good job and they played with heart and that is what it takes. When it comes down to it, when somebody is not having a good day, somebody else will have to step up and that is what happened. I am very happy. This absolutely feels amazing and it won’t be over until after tomorrow. We will see what happens.”
Araujo paced the team with 22 kills, four aces, eight digs and nine points. Stock also came up big with 13 kills, three aces, three blocks and 12 points. Also for the Cougars, Austin had seven kills and two blocks; Torres had five kills, four digs and five points; Fernanda Goncalves had 42 set assists, four blocks and four points; Soares had seven kills and five blocks; Hoehn had nine digs and eight points; and Kuulei Kabalis had 16 digs and five points.
Salt Lake was led by Ame’ White with 13 kills and 12 digs followed by Sheila Uluave with 12 kills and 15 digs.
Saturday’s championship game can be heard on KOZY 101.3 FM or online at kozy1013.com. the match will also be video streamed live at psblive.com. Friday’s semi-final match between WNCC and Salt Lake had 1,000 viewers watching online, from reports from the NJCAA.
Stock said they don’t know much about San Jac, but they just have to worry about their game.
“All we have to do is the same thing we did tonight, keep going one point at a time; giving it our all every time and just play as a team and we are going hard every single point,” she said. “We know we can do it.”
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