Cougar volleyball team captures two wins to move into championship match

Submitted by JEREMY WOZNICK, Star-Herald Sports Reporter

TRINIDAD, Colo. - A pair of wins on Friday has the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team back in the championship match of the Region IX South Tournament for a ninth straight year.

The top-seeded Cougars opened the tournament with a 30-7, 30-18, 30-20 thumping of Lamar Community College before sweeping past Northeastern Junior College 30-22, 30-23, 30-27.
With a win today, the 49-2 Cougars will earn their ninth consecutive trip to the national tournament. The Cougars will take on the winner of the NJC-Trinidad State match today at 1 p.m. The winner of that match would have to beat WNCC twice today to knock the Cougars from their perch.

"We really had to work hard for the win tonight," WNCC coach Chris Green said following his team's win over NJC. "Our blocking in the first match was especially good. Against NJC we didn't serve very well, but we really played some scrappy volleyball. We really played well defensively."

The Cougars are playing the tournament without one of their top offensive and defensive players in Nayka Benitez, who didn't make the trip due to an infection. However, the Cougars didn't seem to miss a beat.

Against NJC, three different Cougars finished with double-double performances. Jennifer Eichler totaled 13 points and 10 kills. She also served four aces and collected five blocks. Soriana Pacheco finished with 38 set assists and 13 digs, while Stacie Meisner added 16 points, 11 digs and two aces. Aida Bauza led WNCC in hitting with 13 kills and Kendra Schauermann dug up a team-high 16 digs. Shawntell Jones added five blocks.

WNCC had a much easier time of it in its opening win over Lamar. Eichler paced the Cougars offensively with 15 kills. Eichler, along with Jones, both totaled a whopping eight blocks each. Pacheco totaled 36 assists and Schauermann had 12 digs. Meisner had another good match for the Cougars as she finished with 24 points, 10 digs and five aces.

The Cougars totaled 14 blocks in the win over Lamar.

In WNCC's last eight appearances in the regional tournament under Green, the Cougars have yet to lose a match. The coach said being the only team left in the tournament without a loss is a big advantage for his ball club today.

"Psychologically, it's a big advantage for us against whichever team we play," Green said. "It was good to get these first two matches. I think it's going to make whomever we play force the issue a little bit and sometimes that leads to errors. We're sitting in the best possible position right now."