WNCC volleyball go 4-0 in first day of Molten Classic without dropping a game

Photos of the first day of the Molten Classic located at wncccougars.albumpost.com

The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team returned to the site where they captured their first national championship last November and wasted little time in showing their dominance at the Molten Classic in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

The Cougars swept through the first day unbeaten without dropping a game en route to picking up four wins, including a sweep over Kishwaukee Community College in a battle of last year’s national champions.

Kishwaukee won the Division II title and were pre-season ranked No. 1 going into the tournament. The Cougars, unranked in the pre-season after capturing the Division I title, swept past Kishwaukee 25-20, 25-22

WNCC started the tournament by downing preseason top-10 ranked Indian Hills Community College 25-15, 25-12, and then finished the day by pasting Southwestern (Iowa) community College 25-13, 25-13, and then No. 11 Marshalltown Community College 25-7, 25-15.

“I am extremely happy. I can breath a little bit,” first-year coach Giovana Melo said. “I was nervous coming in and I know they were two because we weren’t sure where we were. Now, we saw we can do pretty well.”

And, after day one, Melo says this team can go a long way with the depth they showcased on the court Friday.

“I am pretty impressed with how we play together and how hard they worked and how hard they played,” she said. “I am really happy with them. I thought everybody played really well. I thought the Polish kids played really well together. I thought everyone played well together and they all stepped up when it was time to step up.”

Melo was really impressed of how her young team battled against a championship team like Kishwaukee.

“That was a good game. I felt in the first game, we were able to stop them because we did a really good job on their outsides,” she said. “Then we let them go in the second game a little bit. But we were able to pull it together and win the match in two games. That was real good for us.”

In the battle of the national championship teams, both squads looked strong. Kishwaukee entered the WNCC match after opening up their season with a 3-game win over Southwest Missouri-West Plains.

Kish quickly took a 10-7 lead over the Cougars only to see the Cougars come storming back behind three service points by Gregner Quinones to tie the game at 15. WNCC continued stretching the lead in the opening game, taking a 17-13 lead on a Kaleinani Kabalis kill.

Sabina Piegza expanded the lead to 20-15 on two service points and the Cougars went up 22-16 on another hammering kill from Kabalis as they went on to win 25-20.

Kish ran out to a 6-1 lead to open the second game and continued leading through the early stages. Things soon changed as sophomore Nayka Benitez served up three straight points to take a 16-14 lead.

Both teams battled back and forth until Kabalis pounded down a kill to put WNCC up 21-19. Sabina Piegza pushed the lead to 23-19 on two service points to help the Cougars move to the win.

Fatima Balza paced the Cougars wiith eight solo blocks and eight kills. Kabalis finished with nine digs, five and four blocks, while Paulina Piegza had seven kills and two blocks. Naomi Flinders finished with seven digs and seven blocks, while Quinones had five digs and six points.

Also for WNCC, Benitez had 10 digs and six points, while Sabina Piegza had five points, five blocks and 15 set assists.

The Cougars were just as impressive in their opening season win against Indian Hills, sweeping to the victory behind a balanced offensive output and a strong blocking effort. Balza finished with six kills, five solo blocks, and Kabalis had eight kills and four blocks.

Also for WNCC, Sabina Piegza had 15 set assists, seven digs, six blocks, six points and three kills; Quinones had four kills and four digs; Benitez had 11 digs; Cami Weimer four points, and Paloma Alvarez had two kills and four blocks.

Against Southwestern, Balza served nine straight points to put the Cougars up 11-1 and they never looked back in getting the win.

Paulina Piegza paced the Cougars with 11 kills and five solo blocks. Kabalis finished with six kills, three solo blocks and five blocks. Also for WNCC, Balza finished with 15 points, seven digs and two aces; Brooke Blomenkamp had five blocks and six digs, Whitney Roth had three solo blocks, Sabina Piegza had 16 set assists, six points, two aces, five digs and two kills; and Quinones had thee digs.

WNCC was just as impressive in the day’s final match, a 40 minute win against Marshalltown as Kabalis quickly put the came out of reach by serving eight straight points, including three aces to put the Cougars up 16-4. Kabalis finished the game with 12 points, three aces, five kills and four digs.

Balza and Paulina Piegza paced WNCC with seven kills each. Paulina Piegza also had four solo blocks.

Also for WNCC, Benitez had five digs and three blocks; Weimer had three digs; Quinones had three digs, two aces, and eight points; and Sabina Piegza had 14 set assists, three blocks, four points, and 10 digs.

One of the reasons for the Cougars dominance on the day was their blocking, where they totaled a number of solo blocks from everybody that played the front line. Melo said they worked hard in the off season on their blocking and it paid off.

“We have been working on blocking a lot and it is something that we have been emphasizing,” she said. “It is something that is really important. I thought we blocked really well and we served really well.”

WNCC will conclude the Molten Classic Saturday with four more matches Hutchinson, SW Missouri-West Plains, Cloud County and Hillsborough.