Cougar volleyball team makes national championship match

The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team is just one win away making school history after qualifying for the NJCAA national championship match against Iowa Western Community College.

The Cougars earned the championship match trip in impressive fashion sweeping through both Frank Phillips College and North Idaho College to earn the volleyball team’s first trip to the title match. First serve is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. The match can be heard on KPNY radio or the Internet.

WNCC march to the title contest was done in impressive style. The Cougars saved some of their best volleyball for Tuesday’s match. Against Frank Phillips, the team earned 30-22, 30-11, 30-18 win as the team recorded 16 aces, 43 kills and 50 digs as a team.

But, as well as the team played against Frank Phillips, they stepped it up even higher against North Idaho College, the only team to have beat the Cougars this season back in early September. This time, the Cougars ran through North Idaho 30-16, 30-18, 30-19.

WNCC coach Chris Green described his team play as some of the best volleyball they have played all season.

“It looks like Iowa Western will be the team we will be playing and they are an excellent team. They have great hitters and good ball control,” Green said. “But, if we can play like we did tonight, which was probably the most complete game that we have played, we have a great shot of winning the national championship.”

What was impressive about the Cougars win against North Idaho was the way the entire team clicked as a unit. Green said one of the biggest heroes on the night was freshman setter Soriana Pacheco. Pacheco finished with 34 assists, but had seven kills, two blocks, three points, and nine digs.

“All of our hitters did a great job and our defensive players were great out there, but Soriana deserves more credit then she has gotten throughout the year,” he said. “She makes our offense run. Without her, we wouldn’t be as successful as we are. Bianca is great, but Soriana really makes our team. She runs the offense so well and she is isolating our hitters one on one with our opponents and when we are hitting one on one, we usually get kills. Soriana did a good job, but our passing was also great tonight. We played a complete game and hopefully we can play a complete game tomorrow night.”

Pacheco, though was just one of many players that contributed in some fashion in the semi-final win. Freshman Leticia Kuhn was her typical self finishing with a match high 17 kills. She also had eight points, eight digs and two aces. Red-shirt freshman Jenny Eichler also stood out with 10 kills, four blocks and three digs.

The three sophomores, who will be playing their last game at WNCC, also made an impact. Bianca Rivera, who is headed to Creighton University next year, finished with 16 digs and 11 points. Barb Freitas, playing in her first national tournament, was sensational as well collecting eight kills, six points, five points and five digs. Hailey Mueller also collected some huge kills and blocks finishing with two kills.

In fact, the way the team played Tuesday wasn’t a surprise to the team. They knew all along that they were ready for this tournament.

“It is not really a big surprise that we haven’t lost a game at the national tournament,” Eichler said. “We came in here ready. I know once we stepped on the court, we don’t worry about anything but the game and how we are going to play. I’m not really surprised that we are doing this well.”

Freshman Kendra Schauermann put Tuesday’s games in prospective, it was a total team effort.

“We don’t have one go-to player. Everybody can play,” she said. “We have an amazing defense. Bianca is like the most amazing defensive person I have met in my whole life and Soriana can always make the set off any pass. Plus, she can go up to block or hit herself. We have amazing hitters and it is not just one hitter, we have Leticia, Jen, Barbara, Shawntell.”

That all-around team play wasn’t only evident in the semi-final win against North Idaho, it was huge in the sweep of Frank Phillips earlier in the day. In that match, Kuhn and Eichler led the way with 16 and 11 kills. Khn also had seven digs, 12 points and four aces.

But, what really one the game for the Cougars in the earlier match was the team’s blocking. The team tallied 20 blocks in the “block party” that they put up against Frank Phillips. Eichler, Freitas and Pacheco each had five blocks in the win.

Pacheco continued her march for tournament MVP with another all-star performance with 13 points, two aces, eight digs, 36 set assists, five blocks and three kills.

Today’s championship match between WNCC and Iowa Western will start at 5:30 p.m. It will also be taped to be rebroadcast on CSTV television on Sunday. Other matches today will see the University of Arkansas-Ft. Smith facing Miami Dade for 9th place; San Jacinto College facing Hutchinson Community College for 7th place, Frank Phillips meeting Blinn College for 5th, and North Idaho taking on MSU-West Plains for 3rd place.