WNCC volleyball goes to 19-0 on the season

                The Western Nebraska Community College and Eastern Wyoming College volleyball teams finished the Wyo-Braska Shootout in good fashion on Saturday, winning both their matches.

               The No. 1 Cougars easily swept past Air Force Prep 25-20, 25-16, 25-13, before registering a sweep over Laramie County Community College 25-17, 25-13, 25-16 to finish the tournament as the only undefeated team with a 4-0 mark. WNCC's dominating tournament performance, in which the Cougars never dropped a set, moved the Cougars record to 19-0.

               The Lancers also had a nice ending to the tournament, beating Lamar Community College 25-16, 20-25, 25-10, 25-22, before taking out Air Force Prep 25-17, 25-18, 24-26, 25-18. The Lancers went 3-1 in the Invite.

               WNCC coach Giovana Melo said her team continues to roll right along after playing well in the tourney.

               "I thought we did a pretty good job. I thought we were up and down and struggled a little bit after the match with Western Wyoming, and same with this morning where we didn't have a lot of energy," she said. "Even though we are winning, we need to be a little bit more consistent."

               The Air Force Prep win was a team victory as the Cougars combined for 45 kills and had nine blocks. They also had a strong serving game, finishing with 11 aces, including Fernanda Goncalves getting six and Alex Rivera finishing wiht four.

               As for hitting, Danika Youngblood hammered home 13 kills followed by Megan Johnson with nine, Lais Soares and Abbey Wade with five each, and Alyssa Ostrander, Debora Araujo, Taylor VanderWerff and Goncalves with three kills each.

               Also for the Cougars, VanderWerff, Goncalves, Youngblood, and Johnson each had two kills. Goncalves also had 27 set assists and eight digs; Youngblood had seven digs; RIvera had nine digs; Grace had four digs; and Wade with six digs.

               Melo said the depth that they are building is making this team stronger and stronger. She was pleased with how they all played in the Prep win.

               " it is really good the depth that we have. it makes the team better and we are getting better as a team," she said. "We are getting better every day and we are getting overall better with every aspect of the game."

               WNCC was just as impressive against LCCC, who swept Northeastern Junior College earlier in the day. The Cougars pounded home 37 kills and had 11 blocks. Aruajo led the way with 11 kills, two blocks, and seven digs. Soares finished with nine kills, while Youngblood had seven kills, two blocks, and seven digs.

               Also for the Cougars, Goncalves had two blocks, 27 set assists, and 10 digs; Rivera had 11 digs; Grace with seven digs; and Johnson with two kills and eight points.

               The Lancers also had a good day. EWC coach Verl Petsch said they played strong in most of the sets, except for the one set in each match they started to lose focus and relaxed.

               "Against Lamar, I thought we played quite well," he said. "We took control in the first set. We then came out flat and let them back into the match in the second before coming on strong in games three and four. I thought our setters did a nice job moving the ball and distributing the ball to our hitters."

               Austin Daley led the Lancers with 13 kills while Karson Dingman and Alanna Freel each had six kills. Shelby Brewer finished with 17 assists, while Dakota Clough had 18 digs, 27 points and seven aces. Freel also finished with five stuff blocks.

               Against Air Force Prep. Petsch said they came out and dominated the first two sets.

               "We came out and won the first two sets and had good control," he said. "We then got conservative and AIr Force moved the ball on us while we didn't move our feet and wo the third set."

               Daley and Freel finished with 16 and 10 kills each, while Brewer had 25 set assists and 17 points. Clough finished with 12 digs, eight points, and three aces, while Dingman had two blocks.

               The Lancers and Cougars will each host contests on Tuesday. EWC will host Laramie County Community College in a North sub-region contest at 7 p.m. The Cougars will take on McCook Community College at 7 p.m. at Cougar Palace in Breast Cancer Awareness night where spectators are asked to wear pink in honor of all breast cancer survivors.

Saturday’s Results
Laramie County over Northeastern Colorado – 25-20, 27-25, 25-23; Northwest Wyoming over Williston State – 25-16, 25-18. 25-14; WNCC over Air Force Prep – 25-20, 25-16, 25-13; Casper College over Williston State – 24-26, 20-25, 25-18, 25-18, 15-8; Northwest Wyoming over Barton – 25-14, 20-25, 25-22, 17-25, 15-8; WNCC over Laramie County – 25-17, 25-13, 25-16;
Casper College over Lamar C.C. – 25-16, 25-17, 25-15
At EWC Verl Petsch Activities Center
Barton over Sheridan – 25-16, 25-13, 25-21; Western Wyoming over Seward County -- 25-23, 25-13, 25-19; EWC over Lamar C.C. – 25-16, 20-25, 25-10, 25-22; Seward County over Sheridan – 29-31, 25-20, 25-21, 27-25; EWC over Air Force Prep -- 25-17, 25-18, 24-26, 25-18; Western Wyoming over Northeastern Colorado -- 25-23, 25-15, 25-19.