WNCC volleyball ranked 5th in preseason poll

The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team is living up to its pre-season hype.

The Cougars, fresh off a 5-0 start at the South Sub-region tournament Saturday, learned Monday that they are the pre-season 5th-ranked team in the nation after the National Junior College Athletic Association released the poll earlier that morning. For some, the ranking did not sit well; they thought it should have been higher.

“I think we are good and I don’t think we should be ranked that low. We should be ranked higher” sophomore Hailey Mueller said. “I was expecting more. I thought we were going to be third again like last year. But that is O.K., we can move up.”

Miami-Dade, last year’s national tournament runner-up, sits atop the pre-season rankings. The Sharks finished last season 33-3 and return three starters back from last year. Miami Dade eliminated WNCC in the Final Four last year at the national tournament, and then fell to the College of Southern Idaho in the championship game.

Other teams ahead of the Cougars in the poll include Hutchinson Community College, Missouri State University-West Plains and the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith. Southern Idaho, last year’s national championship, is absent from the polls after being placed on one year’s probation for seven rules violations stemming from illegal visits, giving extra financial assistance and other violations. The probation means there is no post-season play as well as national rankings for the seven time national champs.

WNCC’s presence, on the other hand, in the polls is due in part to the tradition Cougar coach Chris Green has brought to the program. And, this weekend, the Cougars will face several national-ranked teams at the Salt Lake Invite.

The Cougars will face Snow College, Yavapai College, Southern Idaho and Salt Lake Community College on Friday, before playing Northern Idaho College on Saturday. Salt Lake is ranked 6th and North Idaho is ranked 12th. Also at the tournament is 2nd-ranked Hutchinson and 3rd-ranked MSU-West Plains.

“This weekend will be really tough. There will be some really hard teams,” Mueller said. “It is going to take a lot of effort and team work [to repeat what we did last year at this tournament].”

Other notables in the pre-season rankings include Northeastern Junior College at number-9, who the Cougars defeated Saturday at the sub-region tournament. WNCC will also face Seward County Community College (No. 15), Iowa Western Community College (No. 13) and Casper College (honorable mention) later in the season.

Actually, what the pre-season poll did was make the Cougars hungrier to improve to show they deserved to be higher.

“I know we can do better and we will improve,” Mueller said. “I know we will go up higher. There are a lot of areas we can improve on, but it just takes time and effort. We are still trying to feel each other out.”