WNCC volleyball defeats NJC at home on Oct. 19

               [Oct. 19, 2012]  Kat Agson pounded home 17 kills and the second-ranked Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team wrapped up the No. 1 seed for the Region IX South Volleyball tournament with a four-set win over Northeastern Junior College.

                The Cougars, playing in front an estimate 1,000-plus fans including Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman, topped the Plainswomen 24-26, 25-10, 25-15, 25-21 for their 26^th straight victory. Friday’s night was also Think Pink night in recognition of breast cancer awareness.

                Agson, who added eight digs to go with her 17 kills, said the team played well after that first set hiccup.

                “We just had to make some adjustments on our side because we were making too many errors,” Agson said. “The first set we had like 13 errors and in the second set we had just four. So, it was just a matter of us taking care of our side of the net.”

                The first set loss snapped a 45-set winning streak but the loss might do the team more good than harm.

                “I think it is a good thing because when it comes to regionals, everyone will try to come and play hard,” Agson said. “We can’t rely on our laurels anymore because we know it will be high pressure coming at regionals.”

                The first set was a dandy as both teams battled from start to finish. After WNCC lost that first set, they had to refocus, and refocus they did.

                “[The difference between the first and second set] was just minimizing our errors and playing our game,” Agson said. “If we didn’t have the set that we wanted, we just gave them the ball and let them make their own errors.”

                The Cougars played totally different in the final three sets. They won the second and third set with ease at 25-10 and 25-15. The fourth set was close at the beginning before the Cougars made a move to push the lead to around six or seven points on a strong front play from Agson, Danika Youngblood, Allora Tanner and Taylor VanderWerff for the win. VanderWerff got the final kill on the night for the team’s 32^nd win.

                The Cougars finished the match with a total of 54 kills and 11 blocks. Youngblood finished with a double-double of 14 kills and 20 digs, while Yoro Tovar had eight kills, two aces and three digs. Also for the Cougars, Priscila Mendes had three kills and four digs; Luiza Martins had three kills, 38 set assists, and 12 digs; Lauren Knox had three kills and 12 digs; VanderWerff had two kills and three blocks; Tanner had four kills; Alex Rivera had 22 digs and four set assists; Morgan Broussard had 13 set assists; and Tasha Meyer had nine digs.

                The Cougars, 32-2, will wrap up the home portion of their schedule tomorrow (Saturday) when they entertain Casper College at 7 p.m. This will also be sophomore appreciation as the six sophomores – Agson, Youngblood, Rivera, Meyer, VanderWerff, and Megan Johnson, play their final game at Cougar Palace.