Submitted By JEREMY WOZNICK, Star-Herald Sports Reporter
After three years as a member of the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team, Jennifer Eichler still finds it hard to believe she only has a couple more matches left in a Cougar uniform before her career at WNCC comes to an end.
But there's no place she'd rather end her extended stay at WNCC than at the NJCAA national tournament, which kicks off Thursday in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
"It's hard to believe my career here is almost over, but I'm glad I get to end it at the national tournament," Eichler said. "I'm glad that we're going there again, and it's a bonus that I'm a sophomore and this is the last time I get to play for Coach [Chris] Green and WNCC."
The Cougars open play in the national tournament on Thursday at 3 p.m. against Hillsborough Community College out of Tampa, Fla. WNCC advanced all the way to the championship match in last year's tournament before finishing runner-up to Iowa Western.
For Eichler, her junior college career was lengthened an extra year after she was awarded a medical redshirt as a freshman in 2005. Prior to that season, Eichler was diagnosed with a condition known as hyperthyroidism. Hyperthyroidism is a hereditary condition in which an overactive thyroid gland produces an excessive amount of thyroid hormones that circulate in the blood. The condition gave Eichler a number of problems during preseason practices before her freshman year including muscle weakness, fatigue, heart palpitations and an increased heart rate.
Eichler ended up sitting out that season and was rewarded with an extra year of eligibility. "It's all under control," Eichler said of the condition. "I just have to take a pill every day and have my blood checked once a year to make sure the medicine is doing what it's supposed to be doing."
Eichler had the opportunity to move on to a bigger school following last year's historic season.
However, she said returning to WNCC for an extra season was an easy decision for her to make.
"It wasn't a tough decision for me at all," Eichler said. "I knew after last year that I would be coming back. I didn't want to play anywhere else knowing I had one more semester here."
In her final season in a Cougar uniform, Eichler has flourished as a rightside hitter for a WNCC team that won its ninth straight regional championship and currently owns a record of 50-2 entering national tournament play. Her powerful southpaw hitting style has rendered most teams helpless at the net defensively. She leads the Cougars with a whopping 502 kills in 140 games. She also leads the team in serving accuracy at .948 and has the second-most blocks on the team with 141.
Her strong season has been noticed by plenty of coaches from around the nation as she earned both all-Region IX honors and all-tournament honors at the Region IX's South-Sub Region Tournament.
"I think I've had a good season," Eichler said humbly. "Coach has come up to me a lot and told me I've been doing a good job. Everyone on the team just tries to do their part and I think I've been doing my part as the rightside hitter. I've been getting a lot more sets and hits this year and I think I've improved a lot."
Her stellar play this season has also made her into one of the team leaders. That leadership role has been one she's embraced and has thrived in.
"I love having that role of being a leader in hitting out on the court," Eichler said. "A lot of times last year I really didn't feel like that because we had Leticia [Kuhn] and she was our big hitter. This year the ball's been split up between hitters and it's not always set to the same person every time. I think that has really helped me, and the rest of the hitters, because teams can't just focus on one of us all the time.
"I like having Coach and the other players counting on me. I like having the pressure put on me knowing that I can get the point. I like that role a lot."
This year's trip to the national tournament will be the third for Eichler. She was a student manager for the team in 2005 before helping the Cougars to the national championship match last year. Although the Cougars reached the title match a year ago, Eichler said it was a disappointing finish to the tournament because the team didn't play up to its potential in the final. She's hoping if this year's team is back in that position again, the finish will be a better one.
"We didn't play well as a team and it was disappointing," Eichler said about last year's final match. "We're so excited that we get another chance to go for No. 1. I think we have a really good chance of making it into the final again. It really depends on if we can bring it all together this year, unlike last year."
Although Eichler's playing career at WNCC will end at the completion of the national tournament, her collegiate career will continue at the Division I level next year as she'll be playing at the University of Tulsa in Tulsa, Okla. She'll join the team on scholarship in January. Tulsa began showing interest in her last year and has been in contact with her ever since.
"I'm so excited to get down there," Eichler said. "It's a bigger school and I'm ready to experience something like that."
Eichler is a secondary education major with aspirations of being a teacher and a volleyball coach.
She is the second member of this year's WNCC team to sign to play with a Division I school next year. Setter Soriana Pacheco will be continuing her career at Kansas State University.
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