Cougar volleyball reloading with talent

Submitted by By JEREMY WOZNICK, Star-Herald sports reporter
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With seven players returning from last year’s 56-2 national runner-up team, the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team already looks to be a scary matchup for the opposition as usual.

Combine that with the addition of a number of talented new recruits, the Cougars could be downright frightening when the season kicks off in just over two months. “We have seven girls coming back from last year’s team,” WNCC coach Chris Green said. “The great thing is when we start practicing and doing drills, it won’t take us long to get going.”

Players are scheduled to report for practice around Aug. 1. The season-opener for the Cougars will be in the South Sub-Region Tournament on Aug. 24-25, which will be played at Cougar Palace in Scottsbluff.

Headlining the seven returnees are redshirt sophomore hitter Jennifer Eichler and sophomore setter Soriana Pacheco. Both played big roles in WNCC’s run to the national championship match last year. Also returning for the Cougars are Shawntell Jones, Stacie Meisner, Kendra Schauermann, Cassie Vrooman and Becky Hughes.

The Cougars said goodbye to defensive stalwart Bianca Rivera, who is continuing her collegiate career at Creighton University in Omaha, and Leticia Kuhn. As a freshman last year, Kuhn led the team in kills with 578.

“We lost our offensive leader with Leticia leaving. But we have a good group coming back with Jennifer as a hitter and Soriana as our setter. They were a big part of our offense last year,” Green said. “We did lose our defensive leader with Bianca, but Stacie and Kendra will definitely be able to step in and fill those shoes.”

Eichler, who was given a medical redshirt as a freshman, was second on the team in hitting last year with 515 kills. Eichler orally committed to continue her playing career at Division I Tulsa University in Tulsa, Okla. Among the new recruits scheduled to join the returning talent, 6-foot-3 middle hitter Fatina Balza could make the biggest impact of the bunch.

She was a member of the Venezuelan junior national team and brings in plenty of experience. Joining Balza as incoming hitters are Daphine Silva, Aida Bauza and Nayka Benitez. Silva is a 5-10 outside hitter from Brazil, while Bauza and Benitez both are from Puerto Rico. Bauza is a 5-9 explosive outside hitter and Benitez is a 5-6 outside hitter/defensive specialist in a similar mold to the departing Rivera.

Also signed to join the team is Jazmuhn Carlson. Carlson is a 6-0 middle blocker from Cheyenne, Wyo., who Green believes has a lot of potential, as do all of the new recruits.

“We’re excited about the talent we have coming in,” Green said. “All of them have a lot of potential to do very well.”

In addition to the new recruits, Green said the Cougars are welcoming Chelsey Lyles to the team this year. Lyles, a 6-0 hitter from Colorado Springs, Colo., competed at WNCC on a basketball scholarship last year. She averaged over nine points and nearly five rebounds per game. She also collected 34 steals and led the Cougars with 17 blocked shots.

“She’s very talented and jumps really well,” Green said of Lyles. “I think she’s going to be a very good player for us.”

Last year the Cougars advanced to the national championship match for the first time in school history before falling in three games to Iowa Western Community College. WNCC was ranked No. 1 in the national rankings for seven weeks in a row.

Last year also marked the eighth straight year the Cougars won the Region IX championship and advanced to the national tournament. All eight have been under the direction of Green, who is now in his ninth season as head coach. Green said the success the program has had at the national level is a key recruiting tool he uses often.

"We use it a lot,” he said. “That’s one of the first things we do when we’re trying to recruit someone. We talk to them about our program having success in the past, and the exposure they’ll get when they play here because we’re in the top 10 or the top 20 of the national rankings all the time and we play at the national tournament.”