The Western Nebraska Community College and Eastern Wyoming College volleyball match on Tuesday at Cougar Palace will be a contest between two teams entering with winning streaks.
The Lancers have hit a positive stride after going 3-1 at the Colby Invite over the weekend, which included wins over Trinidad State, Otero and Clarendon College after opening the tournament falling to ranked Western Texas College.
The Cougars enter their home opener with a sparkling 8-0 record after sweeping through the Iowa Western Invite two weeks ago and the Salt Lake Invite last weekend. WNCC has now won 14 straight dating back to last November at the Region IX tournament when Northeastern Junior College handed the Cougars a rare defeat.
The battle of the Highway 26 teams take to the court at 7 p.m. at Cougar Palace. Preceding the college game will be the Leyton and Lingle-Ft. Laramie high school volleyball match.
EWC coach Verl Petsch said this team made strides over the weekend.
"I thought we had a very good weekend. We started off with that West Texas group, who was real strong and deep, and we played them competitively," Petsch said. "Obviously we have a very young group which we are still trying to get their feet on the ground. We showed a marked improvement after that first match and played pretty well. We had those typical ups and downs but I was very pleased with our progress and performance over the weekend."
Petsch said Tuesday's contest is the start of a difficult week as the Lancers face three ranked teams. After facing top-ranked WNCC today, the Lancers will have Casper College, who earned honorable mention votes, on Thursday and then No. 3 Western Wyoming Community College on Friday.
"You always want a team to go in and be competitive, but I want my team to go out and be successful, and by successful I am referring to in executing of what we do and competing," he said. "if we can do that, we will feel good about our play."
Petsch said Region IX could be the premier region in the country this year as far as volleyball talent.
"Region IX is going to show to be one of the premier if not the premier region in the NJCAA this year," he said. "This week is tough for us with the Cougars [today] and then we have Casper who is always strong even though they have stumbled a little bit this year. Then we get Western Wyoming at home, so we are going to see some quality NJCAA volleyball this week. This week will be an educational experience."
WNCC is one of the top-notch volleyball programs in the country after winning the national championships twice in the last four years. The Cougars also entered this season as the preseason No. 1 ranked team.
The Cougars showed their depth at this past weekend's Salt Lake Invite where they dropped just one game. swept Northwest (Wyo.) College, No. 7 Salt Lake Community College, College of Eastern Utah, and went four sets against No. 5 College of Southern Idaho.
The Cougars are led by sophomores Debora Araujo, Fernanda Goncalves and Lais Soares, but also have received stellar play from sophomore Jodi Huddleston and transfer Dani Grace. The Cougars have also seen outstanding play from outside hitter Danika Youngblood and defensive stalwart Alex Rivera at the libero position.
Araujo is second in the nation in kills, averaging 4.58 kills and has an hitting efficiency of 40 percent. Huddleston is also among the leaders in hitting efficiency as the Scottsbluff graduate is hitting at a pace of 42 percent. Megan Johnson, a freshman, is fifth in the nation in hitting efficiency at 58 percent, while Rivera is third in the nation in digs per game at 5.5. Goncalves is second in the nation in setting at 11.25 per game, just behind Western Wyoming's Makayla Keck at 12.21 per game.
GAME NOTES: Tonight's action can be heard on the radio at Double Q County 105.9 and can be watched live on the Internet at sports.wncc.edu. Also, it is Pack the Palace promotion night as individual that come dressed in Cougar colors will pay just $1 admission charge. The Cougars next home match will be Monday, Sept. 19 against Iowa Western Community College when they will raise last year's national championship banner.
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