WNCC defeats NJC, moves record to 47-2

STERLING, Colo. – Western Nebraska Community College’s Aida Bauza powered down 19 kills and the No. 5 ranked Cougars swept Northeastern Junior College Wednesday evening in the team’s regular season finale.

WNCC won in straight games 30-21, 30-25, 30-19 and improves its record to 47-2. The Cougars now turns their focus to the Region IX tournament which begins next week in Trinidad, Colo.

“We need to go down to Trinidad and play better then we did today,” WNCC coach Chris Green said. “Hopefully, we will play better because we really need to improve before the national tournament if we get there. NJC is a tough team and if they are hitting well, they will be a tough team to beat.”

Bauza, though, was just one of a handful of players that sparkled against NJC. Nayka Benitez finished with a double-double collecting 15 points and 15 digs. Benitez also had four aces in the match.

Also collecting double digits in the match was Kendra Schauermann with 10 digs, Daphine Da Silva with 13 points and Soriana Pacheco 40 set assists.

The one thing that impressed Green, though, was the team’s defense as the Cougar defenders saved balls and kept rallies going all night.

“We had some great defensive plays, too, to keep rallies going. NJC had some hard hits that we kept alive by our defensive,” he said. “They served the ball very tough and we didn’t get much of an offense going. We had a lot of one passes and a lot of passes where Sori had to bump set it. That can be contributed to their tough serving.”

As much as the defense was providing strong defensive play, Green said his hitters struggled.

“Aida played very well and had a nice night. She led the team in kills, easily,” he said. “It was nice to see us win with two of our five hitters not doing so well as we normally see.

It was the third game where the Cougars defense stepped up. After the Cougars won the first two games 30-21 and 30-25, the two ranked squads were locked into a battle. Both teams were tied at 3-3, when both teams put back-to-back long rallies, which was highlighted by some eye-popping saves by the Cougars.

Later, WNCC’s Pacheco served up three straight points, which included a Pacheco kill and a Benitez save that opened the NJC fan’s eyes to help WNCC to a 9-5 lead. WNCC couldn’t shake NJC, though, as the Plainswomen came back to slice the lead to 15-13.

That was as close as NJC got as Pacheco recorded a kill and then Benitez’s strong serving pushed the lead to 19-13. WNCC added to the lead as Stacie Meisner served up four points for a 29-19 lead before Fatima Balza tipped the ball over to end the match.

Besides Bauza’s 19 kills, Balza had eight kills and four blocks; Pacheco had seven kills four blocks and six points; Jennifer Eichler and Chelsea Lyles each had six kills; Shawntell Jones had five kills, four blocks and six points; Schauermann had 10 digs and four points; and Meisner had six digs and four points.

“It is likely that we will play them on Friday and Saturday [at regionals next week],” Green said. “We will see them some more and hopefully all of our hitters will have good matches next time we play them.”