The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team showed little rust after a 10-day lay-off between matches.
And what makes WNCC’s win Tuesday night at Cougar Palace even more impressive is the fact swept McCook Community College in three sets with just seven Cougars suited up because of various reasons. The Cougars registered a 25-12, 25-16, 25-12 win over the Indians for their 80th straight home victory to run their record to 32-2 on the season.
“Considering the circumstances, I think we did a good job,” first year coach Giovana Melo said. “The players picked it up and some of them played in a role they haven’t played in before.”
The one Cougar that stood out Tuesday night was Paloma Alvarez, who rattled home 14 kills on the night to lead both teams. Alvarez also had three aces, five points, three blocks and five digs.
“I think she stepped it up tonight,” Melo said of her sophomore outside hitter. “I think she saw that we were missing a couple of players and she said, ‘let me take care of it.’ I was proud of her.”
WNCC did, however, also get strong serving games from Sabina Piezga and Fatima Balza, who both had 14 points and four aces each. Balza also had six kills, two blocks and eight digs; while Piegza had 25 set assists, three kills, four blocks, and two digs.
Also chipping in for the Cougars were Brooke Bloomenkamp with three points and five digs; Naomi Flinders with six points, five kills, two blocks and six digs; Paulina Piegza with two aces, seven points, eight kills, five blocks and five digs; and Whitney Roth with one block.
The McCook was paced by Whitney Hochstettler with four kills and two blocks, while Chelsey Quigley had two blocks, three kills and two aces. Sidney graduate Tara Long finished with seven assists, five points and one ace. Myra Brown also picked up five points.
Even playing short-ended, the Cougars were on top of their game early, running out to a 6-1 lead after Flinders had three service points. WNCC pushed the lead to 10-2 as Balza served up three points and then the Cougars closed out the first set 25-12 as Sabina Piegza ahd four points, including two aces.
The second set was a little tighter as Long served three points to knot the score at 3-3. Later, Brown had four straight points to tie the set once again at 9-9. After a WNCC timeout, the Cougars went to work as Sabina Piegza served up seven points, including two aces and two kills each from Flinders and Alvarez to lead 17-9.
McCook fought back cutting the lead to 17-13, but Alvarez changed the momentum with five points to help the Cougars to the 25-16 win.
The Indians started the third game on fire, leading the No. 2-ranked team in the nation 4-3 and 5-4. That lead was short-lived as Balza served up six points and then Sabina Piegza added four points to put WNCC up 18-8 on their way to a 25-12 win.
Melo said that the lay off might have helped the Cougars refocus after the first half of the season.
“It is hard to stop playing for 10 days and not playing [matches] at all,” she said. “I think it was good for our team to stay away from the ball a little bit. The lay off was good for us, but now, we need to focus back in because we have two big tournaments after this week’s home stand.”
The Cougars will have three more matches this week, beginning with Family Night on Thursday against Lamar Community College at 7 p.m. WNCC will then have Breast Cancer Awareness night on Friday against Otero Junior College at 7 p.m., followed by an afternoon tilt against Trinidad State Junior College on Saturday at 1 p.m.
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