WNCC volleyball picks up two wins in tournament

Danika Youngblood

                COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa -- The No. 6 Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team received double-doubles from Danika Youngblood and the Cougars got back on the winning track with sweeps over Division II-ranked Iowa Lakes Community College and Jefferson College in the second day of the Iowa Western tournament at Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Saturday.

               The Cougars opened play on Saturday with a 25-15, 25-15, 27-25 win over Iowa Lakes before dropping Jefferson College 25-15, 25-10, 25-22. WNCC finished the tournament at 3-1.

               Youngblood was huge at the net and on defense with double-doubles in both matches. Against Iowa Lakes, the sophomore from Utah had 14 kills and 10 digs before finishing with 13 kills and 12 digs against Jefferson.

               Alex Rivera also was stellar on defense, finishing with 16 digs against against Jefferson and 13 digs against Iowa Lakes.

               Rivera said they learned from the loss to Iowa Western on Friday and came out a different team.

               "Every time you lose, you learn from your mistakes. We know we have to do the little things to win," she said. "We actually improved from that loss and we took positive things out of it. Like coach told us that you will lose some games and you will win some games. You can get a lot of good out of a loss and you are not always going to win. I think that is what good teams are made of when they can just come back from a loss. That is what we did."

               Rivera said the competition was fierce with plenty of national-caliber teams.

Alex Rivera

               "The competition was pretty good. San Jac, Western Wyoming and Iowa Western all went to nationals and all the other teams like Jefferson and Eastern Arizona were good. It was tough competition," she said. "You couldn't go into a match and say we will win this one because the competition was at the same level."

               The tournament also proved important as the team starts to mold together as a unit considering how young in playing experience they are.

               "We are still trying a lot of new things and getting to know each other because this is our first tournament," Rivera said. "We want to get better and we want to play more and make sure we know each other inside the court. i think the more we play, the more we get to know each other and the we will get better."

               Against Iowa Lakes, the Cougars had a plethora of outstanding achievements. Besides Youngblood and Rivera, Taylor VanderWerff and Yora Tovar each finished with eight kills and four blocks. Priscila Mendes finished with four kills and eight digs, while Allora Tanner had four kills, five digs and two blocks.

               Also for the Cougars, Kat Agson had three kills; Luiza Martins had two aces and 34 set assists; Morgan Broussard had two digs and six set assists; Lindsay Wehkamp had two kills and two digs; and Tasha Meyer had three digs.

               In the Jefferson contest, Mendes pounded home 12 kills while collecting nine digs and six service points. Tanner finished with five kills, four blocks and, two digs and four points, while Tovar and VanderWerff each had four kills and three blocks.

               Also for the Cougars, Agson had one kill and one dig; Martins had two blocks, two digs, seven points and 36 set assists; and Meyer had four points.

               The Cougars, 3-1, will next be in action Tuesday when they travel to face Casper College in Casper, Wyo. After that WNCC will partake in the Salt Lake Community College tournament where they will face Salt Lake Community College and Mt. Hood Community College on Friday and No. 1 College of Southern Idaho and Northwest (Wyo.) College on Saturday.