WEST PLAINS, Mo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team found themselves back in the Final Four for the eighth straight year after two sweeping performances in the first day of the NJCAA national volleyball tournament in West Plains, Mo., on Thursday. The Cougars received a 10-kill performance from Jodi Huddleston and a 17-point serving performance from Tasha Meyer as the Cougars easily controlled Western Texas College 25-16, 25-14, 25-4 in the first round.
WNCC coach Giovana Melo then hooked up against former teammate Flavia Siqeira in the second round and the Cougars swept past the Patriots 25-17, 25-19, 25-15 behind a 15-kill performance from Debora Araujo to move the Cougars into the semifinals and a match-up of No. 3 seed and Region IX North tournament champion Western Wyoming Community College Friday at 5:30 p.m. (MST).
Melo said this team played pretty well even though they lost a little focus at times against Central Florida.
“I think we came out strong in both games that we played,” the fourth-year head coach said. “We were ready to go and I think the girls are excited. They know what they are here for and now we are a top four team in the country.”
The Cougars, however, stayed tough in both contests. Melo said that as well as they played on Thursday, they will have to play even tougher in the semifinals against a good Mustang team, who also swept its two opponents. Western Wyoming defeated Barton Community College 25p13, 25-21, 25-19, and then topped Iowa Western Community College 25-15, 25-13, 25-22.
“It definitely will be a dogfight,” she said. “But it feels great to be in the Final Four and it is something that I am proud of the girls for. I have been excited of how they have been playing the entire season. I am very proud of them.”
WNCC, however, was hitting on cylinders in both matches on Thursday. Against Central Florida, who came in with a 41-6 record, they opened up tight contests with pin-point serving and some monster kills to get the victory for the team’s 40th win of the season.
“We came out mentally ready and they were on the top of their game,” she said. “Here and there we lost our focus, but we knew what we needed to be and what we needed to do the whole time.
In the opening set against Central Florida, WNCC held a slim 8-6 lead before the Cougars went on mini service runs, including a5-point run by Lais Soares for a 22-12 lead, which allowed WNCC cruise to the opening set win 25-17.
The second set was intense with WNCC holding an 8-5 lead early only to watch the Patriots to cut the lead to 14-12. Danika Youngblood changed the momentum with a huge kill and then Soares had five straight points fro a 20-12 lead. Araujo hammered home her seventh and eighth kills of the set for the win.
WNCC led just 8-5 early in set three before Meyer went on a 5-point service run for a 17-5 lead. After that, the two squads had sideout after sideout before Youngblood served the final two points.
Youngblood and Araujo powered the Cougars to the victory. Araujo finished with 15 kills, eight digs, five points and two aces, while Youngblood had nine kills, nine digs, two blocks, and six points.
Also for the Cougars, Soares had six kills, three digs, 10 points and two aces; Fernanda Goncalves had 31 set assists and seven digs; Alex Rivera had 12 digs; Dani Grace had five digs; Huddleston had five kills, four blocks, and six digs; Megan Johnson had three kills and three blocks; and Meyer had three digs and six points.
In the opener, WNCC lead 99 percent of the time and completely dominated the third set behind an 11-point service run by Meyer. That service run also saw fine frontline play from Huddleston and Abbey Wade as each player pounded home two kills in the stretch. Wade then finished off the match with three-straight service points, including Scottsbluff graduate Huddleston pounding home her ninth and 10th kill of the match.
WNCC opened the match on a role, zooming to a 10-2 lead behind five service points from Debora Araujo and three from Meyer. Western Texas cut the lead to 15-10 before WNCC pushed the lead back to 20-12 on a Aruajo kill and service point before Goncalves served out the first game win.
The second game saw WNCC jump out to a 6-3 lead before Western Texas fought back to take their first lead of the match at 7-6 behind three service points from Gabriella Feliciano. With the score tied at 8-8, Huddleston pounded home a kill and then Rivera served up six points for a 15-8 lead. WNCC pushed the lead to 19-10 before Huddleston finished off game two with another one of her hammering kills.
WNCC finished with 42 kills in the match as eight different Cougars managed at least two kills. Huddleston paced the team with 10, followed by Araujo with nine, Danika Youngblood with eight, Lias Soares with six and Wade with three.
Also for the Cougars, Huddleston finished with two kills; Fernanda Goncalves had 31 set assists and 12 digs; Araujo had two aces and seven digs; Youngblood, Rivera, and Araujo each had seven digs; Dani Grace had five digs, and Meyer had four digs.
Thursday’s Scores
Western Wyoming over Barton CC 25-13, 25-21, 25-19
Iowa Western over Temple 25-20, 25-22, 25-17
College of Central Florida over North Idaho 26-24, 28-26, 25-12
Western Nebraska over Western Texas College 25-16, 25-14, 25-4
Blinn over Gadsden State 25-11, 25-13, 25-12
Eastern Arizona over Miami Dade 25-19, 25-17, 18-25, 25-18
Southern Idaho over Mineral Area 23-25, 25-17. 25-20, 25-17
San Jacinto over Wallace State-Hanceville 21-25, 25-15, 25-20, 25-20
Western Wyoming over Iowa Western 25-15, 25-13, 25-22
Western Nebraska over Central Florida 25-17, 25-19, 25-15
San Jacinto over Southern Idaho 25-21, 25-21, 25-20
Blinn College ovvr Eastern Arizona 23-25, 23-25, 26-24, 25=20, 15-6
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