WNCC volleyball drops No. 1 CSI, No. 7 Salt Lake in tourney

               SALT LAKE CITY – Danika Youngblood tallied 42 kills in two matches and the No. 6 Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team upended No. 1 College of Southern Idaho and No. 7 Salt Lake Community College to open the Salt Lake tournament on Friday.

               The Cougars received a 22-kill performance from Youngblood in the team's win against Southern Idaho in dropping the Golden Eagles 25-19, 25-20, 21-25, 25-22. Youngblood then pounded home 20 kills in the team's five-set win against the host team 25-21, 20-25, 25-19, 16-25, 15-11.

               WNCC coach Giovana Melo said both were big victories. She said in the CSI match, a line-up change in the fourth game was a huge lift for the Cougars. The fourth set saw huge kills from Allora Tanner and Lauren Knox. The freshmen finished with eight and six kills respectively.

               "The CSI win was big for our confidence. We played pretty well, but we were also up and down in sets three and four," We made a couple changes and the team came back and stayed the same level. I thought Lauren and Allora did a nice job coming in. The first two sets with Priscila and Kat, they were playing well but I thought the team need a change, some energy and CSI was starting to pick up what Priscila and Kat were doing. i felt it was a good time to bring them and make a little bit of a change in the lineup."

               Even in the third set where they lost, the Cougars fought back. They were down 8-3 at one time and came back to almost capture the win. In that game, however, Luiza Martins and Alex Rivera collided and Martins was a little dizzy. Melo said Morgan Broussard came in and keep the energy level at that high level.

               "There were a couple things that happened, one being Luiza hitting her head against Alex and Luiza was a little dizzy," Melo said. "We kept playing with her on the floor for a while before we had to get her out and Morgan came in and kept the game on the same level. We picked up our energy and we were able to come back but it wasn't enough to win that set. But it gave them a little bit momentum going into the fourth set."

The Western Nebraska Community College received a 22-kill performance from Danika Youngblood the No. 6 Cougars upended the pre-season No. 1 College of Southern Idaho in four sets to open the Salt Lake Community College tournament on Friday.

               Youngblood led the team with 22 kills and 19 digs. Also coming on strong for the Cougars was Tanner who finished with eight kills and two blocks, while Knox had six kills and five digs. Also for the Cougars, Kat Agson had five kills, two blocks and two digs; Priscila Mendes had four kills and 18 digs; Yoro Tovar had two kills and six blocks; Martins had 41 set assists and eight digs; Megan Johnson had three kills; Broussard had two set assists and a dig; Rivera had 21 digs; and Tasha Meyer had five digs.

               WNCC kept the energy high in the match against Salt Lake in winning in five thrilling sets. Melo said that while they didn't play well all the way through, they did play well when they had to.

               "We were up and down against Salt Lake and the win shows a lot things about the girls that they focused on what they had to do to pull it out at the end," Melo said. "These two wins are good for us despite us actually not playing our best game to our highest ability. Still, we are beating some really good teams and that says a lot. We have a lot of depth on our team. We just kept chipping away and getting a little bit better every day."

               The big reason for the win was how the team stayed more consistent with their serving.

               "We took a couple more risks on our serves as well as we were able to pass a little bit better," Melo said. "That is the areas we struggled in the first four sets and in the fifth set were able to get back to playing the way we know how. We are a really good team when we make those passes."

               Youngblood led the team with 20 kills and nine digs followed by Agson with seven kills and Knox with eight kill, three digs, and two aces. Also for the Cougars, Mendes had four kills and 10 digs; Tover had three kills, four blocks and four digs; Johnson had three kills; Martins had six digs and 44 set assists; Rivera had three aces and 27 digs, and Meyer ahd three digs.

               WNCC, 6-1, will continue play in the Saturday when they face North Idaho at 9 a.m. and Snow College at 1 p.m.