The Cougars received a 15-kill performance from Debora Araujo and a 10-kill effort from Danika Youngblood in rolling over the Reivers 25-16, 25-20, 25-15.
“First of all, I was very impressed and I was delighted to be the honorary coach,” Governor Heineman said. “These young ladies are very, very good. They have a great chance to defend their national championship. I was so impressed with their power, their athleticism; it was just a lot of fun to be here tonight.
“I was so proud that Coach Gi and the girls invited me to come to the game. They told me that this is the game they wanted me to come to. Then, to get that special plaque, it was one of the best evenings I have had as governor.”
WNCC coach Giovana Melo said her team played well in all aspects. But, what really helped the team was their serving and passing. The Cougars recorded three aces – all from Dani Grace and received a 12-dig performance from Alex Rivera.
The other area that stood out for the Cougars was their blocking, especially from middle blocker Jodi Huddleston, who had three solo blocks.
“We came out pretty strong. Our serving got us going in a groove and getting us a lot of points. Volleyball is about serve and pass,” Melo said. “We were also playing a pretty good team and you can’t take anything away from Iowa Western. We had a good night of serving and we came out with a good win.”
WNCC started slow, trailing Iowa Western 7-6 in the first set. That quickly changed as Megan Johnson went on a 3-point service run followed by Rivera serving five points behind four kills from Araujo for a 20-11 lead. The Cougars captured the first set 25-16 on a Grace ace.
The second set was a little more intense as neither team went up more than three points. Iowa Western led 14-13 before Danika Youngblood helped push the lead to 16-14. The Reivers sliced the lead to 21-20 on a Lisa Gregerson kill, but a missed serve gave the ball back to WNCC, and Grace served out the set with an ace.
Iowa Western cut WNCC’s third set lead to 7-5 on a Aubrey Cook block. Youngblood came back for WNCC with a smashing kill and Fernanda Goncalves and Tasha Meyer combined on five service points to push the lead to 15-7. Grace added another two points to push the lead to double digits, 18-8, before Youngblood finished off the match with a thundering kill.
Araujo paced WNCC with 15 kills and six digs, followed by Youngblood with 10 kills, 10 digs, and two blocks. Also for the Cougars, Grace had seven digs, three aces, and eight points; Soares had seven kills; Goncalves had nine digs and 32 set assists; Huddleston had five kills and five blocks; and Megan Johnson had five kills and two blocks.
The win pushes the Cougars to 15-0. It doesn’t get any easier as WNCC will face No. 2 Western Wyoming Community College on Friday at noon in the first day of the Wyo-Braska Shootout at Cougar Palace. After that, the Cougars will face No. 12 Barton Community College at 4 p.m.
“I didn’t expect to be 15-0, especially with the hard schedule that we have had,” Melo said. “We prepared them to play tough teams and we want to keep them at that level so when we get later in the season, we are ready for anything. We have had 15 games so far and everyone has played pretty well for us. We have a lot of depth and that is good.”
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