WNCC volleyball team falls in four sets in Final Four at nationals

                WEST PLAINS, Mo. – The Western Wyoming Community College volleyball team received a double-double from libero Cori Perrault and the Mustangs ended the Western Nebraska Community College Cougar’s bid for back-to-back national titles with a four-set win Friday evening in the semifinals of the NJCAA national championships.

                WNCC came back from a 7-point deficit in the opening set to capture the set 28-26. After that, the Mustangs’ energy level was high octane as Perrault finished with 19 digs and 11 service points in rolling to three straight set wins 25-19, 25-16, 25-18 to earn the schools’ first-ever berth in the championship match.

                The Cougars, even though their dream of back-to-back titles is over, still have a chance to bring a trophy back to western Nebraska as they play San Jacinto College in the third place contest Saturday at 3:30 p.m. (MST). Western Wyoming will face Blinn College for the title. Blinn earned a trip to the national championship match with a 27-25, 25-17, 18-25, 25-22 win over San Jacinto.

                Saturday’s third place showdown will be a rematch of last year’s title match in which WNCC defeated San Jacinto in five sets. And, for the 40-2 Cougars, the third place contest will be a chance for them to finish the season strong.

                WNCC sophomore Lais Soares said this loss is hard to take, but said head coach Giovana Melo gave them an emotional speech afterwards reminding them they are still winners and they played heard with a lot of heart.

                “She said to keep our heads up and that we played hard and played with heart,” the sophomore rightside hitter said while fighting back tears. “It  is real hard to find words to express this feeling right now. We wanted to go to the finals especially for our sophomores but we played hard. We have to come and play hard for third place. We did a good job.”

                WNCC gave it their all, but that all wasn’t enough to stop a Western Wyoming team that had luck and energy on their side. In fact, every time WNCC made a run and got up by two or three points, the Mustangs found a will and a way to come back.

                Soares said while her team played well and tried their best, Western Wyoming was just a little better on the night.

                “They are a really good team, too. They came with heart and today they were better and that is fine,” Soares said. “But, I think this team played really good. They played together and really hard. We didn’t have too much luck but I am still proud for this team.”

                Both teams played with spirit and the first set the tone. Western Wyoming forged to a 13-6 lead behind five points from Perrault, but WNCC immediately answered back as Danika Youngblood went on a six-point service run of her own highlighted by Jodi Huddleston’s front row play to put WNCC up 15-13.

                The lead didn’t last long as the Mustangs went up 20-18 only to see WNCC come back to take a 23-22 lead on a Huddleston block. Both teams traded sideouts until Debora Araujo hammered home three straight kills for the first set win.

                The second set saw the Mustangs lead from start to finish except for the four ties that was in the set. What set the Mustangs off from the Cougars was Western Wyoming managed a couple key service runs, including a run by Kortnie Christensen for a 13-8 lead and then a huge 3-point run by Perrault for a 22-14 lead.

                The third set saw WNCC jump to a 2-1 lead before Christensen went on a 4-point service run for a 6-2 lead. WNCC cut the lead to three points on a couple occasions, but Makayla Keck slammed any hope of a comeback with a 6-point service run for a 23-12 lead.

                WNCC came out in the fourth set inspired as they jumped to a 9-5 lead behind a Taylor VanderWerff kill and later led 13-10 on a Araujo kill. But the Mustangs’ strong serving was too much  as Keck had two points to tie the contest at 13-13 and then Olivera Medic and Perrault had five combined points to put the Mustangs up 21-15.

                Perrault not only had a double-double, but she also had two aces in the contest. Medic paced the Mustangs with 17 kills and four solo blocks, while Arielle Allen had 15 kills, two solo blocks and four assisted blocks.

                WNCC was paced by Araujo’s double-double of 23 kills and 14 digs. Aruajo also had four solo blocks. Danika Youngblood also finished with a double-double with 10 kills and 14 digs.

                Also for the Cougars, Alex Rivera had 13 digs; VanderWerff had four kills; Soares had four kills and three digs; Fernanda Goncalves had 15 digs and 45 set assists; Huddleston had three kills and four blocks; Dani Grace had seven digs; and Megan Johnson had seven kills and two blocks.

Friday;s Results

Match 13 - Temple def. Barton, 3-0 (25-23, 25-17, 25-22)
Match 14 - North Idaho def. Western Texas, 3-0 (25-16, 25-15, 26-24)
Match 15 - Miami Dade def. Gadsden State, 3-1 (22-25, 25-18, 25-23, 25-20)
Match 16 - Mineral Area def. Wallace State, 3-1 (20-25, 25-16, 25-22, 25-23)
Match 17 - Iowa Western def. Central Florida, 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-20)
Match 18 - Southern Idaho def. Eastern Arizona, 3-2 (23-25,19-25,25-22,25-18,15-7)
Match 19 - North Idaho def. Temple, 3-1 (25-22, 25-19,18-25,25-23)
Match 20 - Mineral Area def. Miami Dade, 3-1 (28-26,25-22,17-25,25-23)
Match 21 - Western Wyoming def. Western Nebraska 3-1 (24-26, 25-19, 25-16, 25-18)
Match 22 - Blinn def. San Jac 3-1 (27-25, 25-17, 18-25, 25-22)

Saturday;s Matches (All times MST)
9 a.m. -- North Idaho vs. Mineral Area 9th Place
Noon - Central Florida vs. Eastern Arizona 7th Place
1:30 p.m. - Iowa Western vs. Southern Idaho 5th Place
3:30 p.m. - Western Nebraska vs. San Jac 3rd Place
5:30 p.m.  - Blinn vs. Western Wyoming (Championship)