No. 2 Cougars win 17th in a row, improve to 26-1
By JEREMY WOZNICK
Star-Herald Sports Reporter
GARDEN CITY, Kan. — Another tournament, another tournament title for the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team.
In what’s becoming a trend this season, the Cougars rolled to three more victories Saturday to capture first-place honors at the Garden City Invite in Garden City, Kan. The tournament title was WNCC’s fourth of the season and improved the Cougars’ overall record to an impressive 26-1.
“Overall, we played pretty well,” said WNCC coach Chris Green, whose team has won 17 matches in a row without dropping a single game. “We served the ball really well in this tournament and that was one thing we were looking to try to do after a couple of home games where we didn’t serve very well. We did serve extremely well in this tournament and that was one real good positive.”
Gering High School graduate Stacie Meisner was one of a number of Cougars who really stepped up in the serving department. In a 30-7, 30-18, 30-21 win over West Texas, Meisner totaled 22 service points and fired three aces.
“Stacie’s serving was incredible,” Green said. “She just has a great float serve and she’s a weapon when she goes back there to the serving line.”
Jenny Eichler and Leticia Kuhn each recorded nine kills to pace WNCC in hitting against West Texas, while Hailey Mueller led the team in blocks with four. Freshman Soriana Pacheco registered 30 set assists from her setter’s position and sophomore Bianca Rivera totaled a team-leading 11 digs in the match.
Against the host school Garden City, Meisner served 15 points and had 12 digs to help pace the Cougars to a 30-18, 30-12, 30-13 win. Kuhn finished with a double-double in the win with 11 kills and 11 digs, and Eichler had three blocks. Pacheco totaled 32 assists and Rivera recorded 18 digs and served seven aces.
In WNCC’s other match on Saturday, Eichler pounded 11 kills to lead the Cougars to a 30-14, 30-24, 30-20 win over Colby Community College. Mueller again led the team in blocks with six and Kuhn finished with 12 points and nine digs. Also for WNCC in the match, Pacheco had 31 assists, Rivera had nine digs and Barbara Freitas had two aces and four points.
“The competition in this tournament wasn’t as good as what we’ve been used to,” Green said. “Garden City has a pretty good team and we played well enough to dominate them. That was encouraging.”
WNCC, which is ranked No. 2 in this week’s NJCAA poll, will be back in action at Cougar Palace Thursday through Saturday at the WyoBraska Shootout. The Cougars will play seven matches in the tournament, which WNCC co-hosts with Eastern Wyoming College.
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