Oct. 14, 2011 -- Lais Soares tallied 15 kills and the Western Nebraska Community College picked up its 30th win of the season with a sweep over Lamar Community College 25-18, 25-15, 25-14 Friday at Cougar Palace.
The win was also the Cougars 67th straight set victory. But, the win didn't come easy against a scrappy Lamar Community College squad that made the Cougars fight for every point.
Tasha Meyer, who finished the contest with seven points including six in the crucial second set in helping the team move out from a 14-12 lead to a 19-12 advantage, said it wasn't the best performance on the court, but a win is a win.
"I think we did alright. We didn't do our best, but it is a learning experience and we will do better tomorrow [Saturday]," the freshman from Hawaii said. "Mentally, it was hard [to get into the game after facing them last weekend]. We thought we would beat them fast again but we can't underestimate teams. We have to keep playing aggressive all the time."
Lamar put up one heck of a fight, but they also came off of playing Northeastern Junior College tough on Thursday, falling 27-25 in the second set against the Plainswomen. Friday night, they pushed the No. 1 team in the country to the limits.
Lamar held a 13-11 and trailed 16-15 before the Cougars finally got things rolling on two service points from Dani Grace. Later, Abbey Wade had a kill and two service points before Soares hammered home a kill for the win.
WNCC started the second set strong, bolting to a 6-2 lead behind the serving of Meyer. Lamar came back to tied the game at 6-6 on three service points by Noheani Ader. The contest stayed tight until Meyer served up four points behind two kills from Jodi Huddleston for a 19-12 lead. Grace followed with another three points fro a 23-13 lead. Wade then hammered home a kill and served the final point for the set two win.
Meyer said that head coach Giovana Melo told the team during the 10-minute intermission to keep playing tough.
"She just told us to keep our energy up, play our game, and don't let the little things bring us down," she said. "She said we need to play as a family because that is what we are."
WNCC zoomed to a 6-1 lead behind five points from Debora Araujo only to watch Lamar cut deficit to 11-8. That comeback was short lived as Alex Rivera served three straight aces to push the lead to 16-8 followed by Fernanda Goncalves getting three points for a 20-9 lead. WNCC kept excelling on all cylinders as Wade finished off the match with another monster kill.
Soares led the way with 15 kills and three solo blocks followed by Araujo with eight kills, three aces, eight points and 11 digs. Also for the Cougars, Huddleston had seven kills, Megan Johnson had five kills, Wade had six kills, three points, and nine digs; Rivera had eight digs and four points; Grace had eight digs and six points; Fernanda Goncalves had six digs, 10 points, and 35 set assists; and Meyer had three digs and seven points.
WNCC, 30-0, will be back at home Saturday when they entertain Trinidad State Junior College at 1 p.m. The contest will also feature the unveiling of last year's national championship batter in a special ceremony before the match.
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