The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team is just one win away from claiming its 13th straight Region IX championship after the Cougars swept past Otero Junior College and Northeastern Junior College in the second day of the Region IX South Tournament at Cougar Palace on Friday.
Danika Youngblood and Debora Araujo combined for 28 kills and the No. 2 ranked Cougars swept past Otero 25-12, 25-13, 25-10 to open the tournament. The two outside hitters then combined for 25 kills in taking out No. 14 Northeastern 25-19, 25-17, 25-19 to move into Saturday’s championship match at 1 p.m. WNCC, 37-1, will face the winner of Saturday’s morning match between NJC and Trinidad State Junior College for the automatic berth into the NJCAA national tournament Nov. 17-19.
WNCC coach Giovana Melo said her team played well to open the tournament with two wins.
“I thought we played pretty decent in both games,” the fourth-year head coach said. “We came out pretty strong. We lost focus a little bit here and there, but we were able to get our focus back and play a decent game all through the whole day.”
In the NJC match in particular, the Cougars flashed hits hitting depth, finishing with 46 kills. Youngblood led the way with 14 kills. The freshman from South Jordan, Utah, also had 11 digs and 11 points. Aruajo also powered home 11 kills, five points, and seven digs.
Also for the Cougars, Lais Soares had six kills and nine points; Fernanda Goncalves had two kills, 42 set assists and 10 digs; Jodi Huddleston had six kills and two blocks; Megan Johnson had seven kills; Alex Rivera had 14 digs and four points; and Dani Grace had nine digs.
Melo said her team hit the ball really well from all areas. And, while Youngblood and Araujo had their usual double-digit kill performance, Scottsbluff graduate Jodi Huddleston played two of her best contests being a force in the middle.
“We have a lot of weapons and that is good for us no matter where the passes are, we have hitters coming in and hitting from everywhere,” she said. “Jodi is playing really, really well and I am very happy for her.”
The NJC match was a dogfight. Both national powers were tied at 16-16 in the first set when Youngblood went on a four-point service run that was powered by strong front row play by Huddleston to push the Cougars up 21-16. Soares finished off the first set with a kill.
NJC started the second set strong as MacKenzie Krause had a 4-point service run for a 6-5 lead. Both teams kept battling as NJC led 11-10 before WNCC had two monster kills from Youngblood for a 14-11 lead.
The Plainswomen cut the deficit to 17-16 before Soares served three points behind a change-up kill by Youngblood and a powerful kill from Huddleston. Youngblood finished out the set with three points.
The third set was also close as both teams had mini runs. With the scored tied at 5-5, WNCC’s Soares went on a five-point service run that saw three kills from Youngblood and two from Huddleston for a 11-5 lead. NJC sliced the lead to 21-17 late, but WNCC was just strong down the stretch as Youngblood and Johnson each had kills to help the Cougars move one win from a berth in the national tournament.
Melo said what was huge in the NJC win was the team’s defense. In fact, both teams were making hustling and one-armed saves that were eye-popping.
“We practice that kind of defense every day and we have been normally as a team been good defensively throughout,” she said. “We have been getting better throughout this season and it showed for sure at the end of the season.”
The Otero match, however, was a continuation of how the Cougars played against Otero to open up the tournament Friday morning. In that match, Youngblood finished with 15 kills, including 14 in the first two sets, to power the Cougars to the victory. Youngblood also had a block and eight digs. Araujo finished the contest with a block, nine digs and three aces.
Also for the Cougars, Rivera finished with 11 digs; Grace had seven digs; Soares had six kills, two blocks, five digs and two aces; Huddleston had seven kills; Johnson had seven kills and two blocks; and Goncalves had five digs and 42 set assists.
The two squads battled back and forth early in sets one and two. In the opener, WNCC led 8-7 before a monster kill by Johnson and the Goncalves ran off three points for a 12-7 lead. Otero cut the lead to 15-11 on a Jayde Comfort kill and service point, but Soares served six straight points three kills each from Youngblood and Huddleston. Huddleston finished off the set with a kill from the middle.
WNCC trailed in the second set 6-5 but it was only momentarily as Huddleston had a kill and then Rivera ran off five service points for an 11-6 lead. The Cougars widened the lead as Goncalves had a four-point service run for a 16-7 lead. Huddleston finished off the set with another kill for the 2-0 lead.
The final set was all Cougars as Araujo served up two aces for a 4-1 lead. Otero cut the lead to 9-6, but Aruajo hammered home a kill and then Rivera served eight straight points for an 18-6 lead. WNCC’s Soares finished off the match with a kill from the rightside.
In other scores in the tournament on Friday, NJC opened with a 25-20, 25-17, 25-16 win over Trinidad State. In elimination contests, Trinidad powered past Lamar Community College 25-21, 25-20, 25-22; Otero topped McCook 25-15, 26-24, 25-9; and Trinidad State defeated Otero 25-23, 25-15, 25-23.
Melo said her team needs to be ready to go on Saturday in the championship match.
“We will have to come just as hard as we did today if not harder,” Melo said. “We can remember that last year at regionals, NJC came back and beat us in the first championship game making us play another game with them, so we definitely need to come ready to go.”
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