Clark, Harned excited to return to Cougar Palace for alumni scrimmage

B.J. Clark and Dayna Harned were teammates for the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team and come Saturday night, the two once Cougars will team up again for the alumni volleyball scrimmage at 7 p.m.

For the two, it will be a time to get re-acquainted with former players. It will also be a time to play against the current Cougar team to see just how good this year’s volleyball team will be.

“It is definitely a different feeling being on the other side of the court,” Clark said. “But it is fun to see all the new talent.”

Harned agreed. “I think it is exciting to see what the new team will be like and how good they will be,” she said. “I love that I get asked to come back and play, but the best part is that I get to see some old friends that I don’t get to see normally.”

Clark and Harned, who played for the Cougars in the 2002-03 season while winning 100 matches in two seasons and two regional titles, said playing against “the younger girls” is not so much trying to win, it is just playing volleyball again in Scottsbluff.

“Well as for the alumni team, I don’t really think it is about winning as much as it is about just getting out there and having a good time,” Clark said. “It is always fun to see my old teammates. As for other teams (opponents) this coming season, they are going to need luck (to defeat this year’s team).”

Harned said it will take plenty of skill to top this year’s Cougar team on Saturday.

“Considering that most of us don’t play a lot it, it will take a lot of heart,” she said. “We will have to pull out some of the skills that we have put away for some time.”

Other former players expected to show up Saturday for the scrimmage include Molly Tabke (2004-05), Bethany Dillman (2004-05), Leslie Reeh (2003-04), Brittany Isakson (2003-04), Missy Marsh (2002-03), Renee Ellis (2002-03), Jamie Meisner (2005) and Jennifer Pedersen (1994).

Clark is looking forward to see her old teammates once again.

“Coming back to WNCC means a lot to me,” she said. “For me, at least this was the place that I really got to play competitive ball and got the chance to really shine.”

Clark finished her career with 304 kills, 938 digs (11^th all-time), and 643 points (13^th all-time). After her two years at WNCC, Clark went on to play two years at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan. She graduated this past May from the University of Wyoming, and is now working at Biolife Plasma Services. She is hoping to go back to get her master’s degree in counseling.

Harned, who will graduate in December, has found memories have playing volleyball for the Cougars and coach Green.

“I loved playing at WNCC. It was so much fun playing here,” Harned, the 5-5 libero from Brush, Colo., said. “I never played for a team that won a title or even made it anywhere like nationals, so it was a great experience for me and I would not of changed anything.”

Both agreed that their 2002-03 teams could have competed with last year’s national runner-up team. As far as winning, it is hard to judge.

“I think that we would definitely put up a really good fight,” Clark said. “I think all the previous teams for WNCC had something special about them that made them pretty unbeatable.”

Harned added, “I believe that our team could beat them back in the day. We had a lot of heart and depth to our team both years i was there.”

The one thing that Clark wishes that was different from when she attended WNCC was that it was a four-year institution.

“If there was one thing that I could change is that WNCC would have been a four year college,” she said. “I would have loved to spend my full four years of college getting my education from there and playing for coach Green.”