Western Nebraska Community College sophomore Dani Grace had special incentive in playing Tuesday night’s match against McCook Community College during Breast Cancer Awareness night.
While Grace helped her No. 1 Cougar defeat McCook 25-6, 25-10, 25-9 with 11 service points, more importantly, Grace was playing for her mother, Wanda, who is a breast cancer survivor of two years.
Grace said this was a special night for bringing awareness to the cause, which so far has raised over $3,000 for the Festival of Hope. “I think it is really special. This is for all the people [Grace paused for a moment] who has had breast cancer and strong enough to survive,” she said. “Personally, I played today’s game for my mom because she is a survivor of breast cancer. She fought for two years. I actually cried in the locker room when coach [Giovana Melo] was giving a speech. It was pretty emotional.”
Grace not only was playing for her mom, but also her dad (George Kuamo’o) who had lung cancer and passed away when she was in high school in Hawaii.
“I played for my mom and papa,” she said. “He didn’t get to see me play my senior year and my two years of college because he passed away. It was for him, too.”
While tonight was for Breast Cancer Awareness, Grace said it is also for all individuals that has had loved ones fighting cancer of some sort.
“Tonight wasn’t just for people with breast cancer,” she said. “It was for everyone with all types of cancer as well.”
The Cougars definitely made the night special not only in bringing awareness to breast cancer, but helping the Cougars pick up their 20th win of the season. It was a night that saw many plusses for the top-ranked Cougars, both on and off the court.“I thought we played well,” Grace said. “We just tried to improve on the things we like to do, which is keeping our energy through the whole time. Sometimes it is hard to bring the energy level all the time when we play some teams.”
WNCC took control early as Grace served four points to push the Cougars to a 14-3 lead. Abbey Wade then added another four points for a 19-4 lead and then Fernanda Goncalves served out the side with three points for the 25-6 win.
Game two was a little closer at the beginning as Janessa States; had an early kill and the Indians only trailed 5-4. Grace turned the game around with four straight service points for a 10-4 lead. Grace finished out the contest with a four-point service run for the 25-10 win.
McCook’s Shanice Malone had an early kill to cut the Cougar lead to 6-4, but things changed in a heartbeat as Wade served up two aces for an 11-5 lead and then Alyssa Olson went on a four-point service run, including two aces, for a 19-7 lead. Taylor VanderWerff finished off the contest with four service points.
WNCC was led by Debora Araujo with 13 kills, two aces and seven digs. Wade finished the night with six kills, one block, three aces and four digs; while Jodi Huddleston had had five kills and three blocks.
Also for the Cougars, Megan Johnson had three kills; Alyssa Ostrander had two kills; VanderWerff had three kills and an ace; Grace had 11 points, an ace serve, and four digs; Lais Soares had two kills and three blocks; Goncalves had 19 set assists and three digs; Olson had nine set assists and an ace serve; and Alex Rivera had eight digs, three set assists and an ace serve.
States led McCook with five kills.
WNCC, 20-0, will be back in action this weekend when they travel to Liberal, Kan., for the Seward County Invite. The Cougars will face Western Texas College, Pratt Community College, and Missouri State-West Plains.
Also, Breast Cancer Awareness T-shirts orders are still being taken. Individuals that would like a pink shirt, should contact Amy Winters at 308-641-5125.
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