WNCC volleyball wins 26th straight match

The No. 1-ranked Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team didn’t look like a ranked team in the first two games Saturday night against Trinidad State Junior College. The third game was a different story as the Cougars played like the top-ranked team to prevail in straight games 30-18, 30-28, 30-11 Saturday evening at Cougar Palace.

“In the first game, I don’t think the girls were ready to play,” WNCC coach Chris Green said. “In the that first game, the score looks as if we won easily, but we didn’t start playing well until the third game.”

Freshman Kendra Schauermann was one of the players that stepped up in the third game. The 5-foot-8 hitter had four clutch kills and had some clutch serving to help lead the team. Schauermann, though, said they didn’t a game like the second one to wake the team up.

“We have played a lot of teams that we sometimes under look them and don’t play our game, and in that second game we didn’t play very good,” she said. “But we have to have a game like that to wake us up.”

Schauermann, though, was just one player that stood out. Leticia Kuhn and Jennifer Eichler finished the night with 14 and 12 kills respectively, followed by Schauermann and Barbara Freitas with eight each.

The big difference that turned the match around in the third game was the team’s all-around play, including strong serving runs. Kuhn did the most damage with runs of five and eight points on two separate occasions. In those runs, Kuhn had four aces. The 6-foot freshman finished the night with 16 points and five aces.

Schauermann said the third game is how his team should be playing all the time, but credited Trinidad State with their never-give-up attitude.

“The third game we came out like we are suppose to be playing,” she said. “But if we play like we did in the second game against anybody else, we will not be in good shape. Trinidad State is a good team. They are scrappy and they came out and played pretty well in the match, too.”

Green said there were a couple of players that weren’t at the top of their game, but despite that he was pleased with how they responded in that third game.

“We played well in that last game,” he said. “We served well, we blocked well and we played defense pretty well.”

Kuhn also finished with 14 digs and five blocks in the game, but it was Schauermann that had an all-around game. She finished with nine points, three aces, eight kills and two blocks. And, what impressed Green was that she wasn’t afraid to go up for a triple block against Trinidad’s State’s top hitter Mary Claire Bolo.

“Kendra had some nice hits. She listen wells and knows where the open spot is on the court. She is a smart player and a good defensive player,” he said. “She also went out there and triple blocked their big hitter over and over again and we don’t practice that in practice. She picked it up well. I think it helped us a little bit to slow her down and it was hard for her to hit around our block.”

The Cougars also saw Freitas finish with eight points, eight kills, two aces and six blocks; Eichler with three blocks to go with her 12 kills; Bianca Rivera with 15 digs and three points; Shawntell Jones with three kills; Soriana Pacheco with three kills, 38 set assists and nine points; and Stacie Meisner with two aces and five points.

WNCC, now 35-1 and winners of 26 straight matches, will be back at home for another sub-region contest Monday against Otero Junior College. Monday’s contest is the second to last home regular season contest. First serve is set for 7 p.m.