The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team used strong serving while flashing its depth in rolling past Otero Junior College 25-14, 25-11, 25-9 Thursday night at Cougar Palace.
The top--ranked Cougars had eight different hitters finish with three or more kills while Debora Araujo and Tasha Meyer each finished with double-digit points serving in the Cougars 29th win of the season.
The way the Cougars played Thursday night was a marked difference in the way they played in a sweep over Eastern Wyoming College on Tuesday. Taylor VanderWerff, who finished with four kills, said the difference between the two matches was the energy on the court.
"Tonight we definitely had a lot more energy. Tuesday was a little rough, thinking we would go in and take it pretty easy and went in thinking they [EWC] wasn't so scrappy," VanderWerff said. "We did pull through on Tuesday and tonight we depended on the energy." WNCC's convincing win at home was totally different of how they played Otero last weekend, when the Cougars were locked in a battle in all three sets. Thursday, VanderWerff said, the big difference between the two matches was that they were playing in front of their home crowd.
"A big part of that difference was that we were at home and the crowd brings us a lot of energy," she said. "This week we really worked on having enthusiasm and that was a huge thing in practice."
Midway in the first set was when the Cougars started to dominate. Up until that point, WNCC held a slim 10-7 lead. But, after a Jodi Huddleston kill and four Danika Youngblood service points, the Cougars went up 15-7. WNCC pushed the lead to 19-9 on three Alex Rivera points and then cruised to the 25-14 win.
WNCC dominated the second set from the get-go, running out to an 8-1 lead behind the net play of VanderWerff and Lais Soares. The Cougars extended the lead to 13-8 after Meyer had four points. Rivera got in the serving spirit, serving four points, including two aces for a 20-7 lead and then Alyssa Olson added three points to help the Cougars to the 25-11 win.
Strong serving from Araujo spearheaded the Cougars start in the third set, as the sophomore outside hitter served six points behind big kills from Abbey Wade and Alyssa Ostrander for an 9-1 lead. WNCC kept playing strong as Meyer served five points to push the lead to-15-3. Wade added five points for a 23-6 lead as Huddleston had two monster kills. VanderWerff finished off the match with a thundering kill.
VanderWerff said that what is making this team click is its depth and tonight it showed. Araujo led the way with 11 kills followed by seven from Soares and Huddleston, six from Youngblood, five from Wade, four kills from VanderWerff, and three kills each from Ostrander and Megan Johnson.
"It is great that we are really mixing it up on offense because the other team doesn't know what to do with it," the 6-foot-1 middle hitter from New Orleans, La., said. "I like mixing it because it makes the game fun."
Araujo also finished with nine digs, while Fernanda Goncalves had nine digs, six points, three aces, and 34 set assists. Also for the Cougars, Meyer had 11 points and six digs; Youngblood had four points, one ace, and six digs; Rivera had seven points, three aces, and eight digs; Olson had three points and six set assists' Wade had five points; and Soares had two blocks.
The win pushed the Cougars to 29-0 overall and 5-0 in subregion play. VanderWerff said that being undefeated is driving this team to stay on top of their game.
"I think that is what is really pushing us is being undefeated and that we have high expectations for ourselves and for our fans," she said. "That pressure is pushing us more than being an hindrance. "
WNCC will continue its home campaign by entertaining Lamar Community College on Friday at 7 p.m. in dorm parent recognition. Then, on Saturday at 1 p.m., the Cougars will face Trinidad State Junior College as last year's national championship banner will be unveiled in a special ceremony before the start of the contest.
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