The two first-year head coaches for their respectful teams, along with WNCC assistant coach Nicole Gonzalez, were teammates for the Cougars in 2001 when they went 57-5 and finished third in the nation. Now, all coaches will square off against each as coaches instead of players, at 10 a.m. today at Cougar Palace.
Melo and Siqueira led their respectful teams to three wins in the first day of the Shootout on Thursday, and both said it will be strange when they face each other for the first time.
“It is going to be something different because we played with each other [at WNCC] and we played against each other [in Brazil], so it will be different coaching against each other,” Melo said about coaching her long-time college teammate. “I think it will be just a great match. They have a good team and I wish her good luck. I think whatever happens on the court, happens on the court and off the court is something completely different. I am going to treat her as well as I treat other coaches and any other team. It will be a tough match [today] because she has a good team.”
Siqueira, however, will be wearing red instead of the blue and gold that she wore when she starred for the Cougars. She did say that there it feels great to be back.
“Emotionally for me, it feels great to be back and knowing that I am back home, seeing the people I miss. Giovana has always been great,” she said. “It will be a very competitive game, I can tell you that much. Our goal is to play up to their level and have a good match. That is all we came here for. I am excited for the morning.
The Trappers enter today’s competition with an 18-6 record and Siqueira said they have to be patient in order to come out on top over her former team.
“Patience,” she said. “They can come and hit the ball hard at times and we have to be focused and say, ‘hey, good for them, but let’s do what we do best.’ That is play defense and put the ball away smartly.”
WNCC enters the second day with a record of 28-2 after breezing to wins against Casper College 25-16, 25-10, 25-13; Sheridan College 25-10, 25-12, 25-12; and Colby Community College 25-10, 25-8, 25-15. Northwest also claimed three wins, but they had a tougher go of it, defeating Colby 25-23, 25-19, 25-23; McCook Community College 25-11, 25-15, 25-10; and then Trinidad State Junior College 25-20, 25-12, 25-18.
Melo was pleased with how her team played today, especially with the serving that kept their opponents off balance with powerful jump serves and floaters that die just inside the hitting line.
“We did a pretty good job. Every one of our players got in and did their job. We got better today,” Melo said. “We have been serving well and if we can go on runs, we can get a lot of points and stop the other teams. That is the thing that we have been working on, to keep serving tough and making good serves.”
Siquiera has also pleased, despite playing short-handed after some injuries hit them earlier this week.
“I don’t think we played to the best of our ability. We had our best hitter sitting on the bench [Thabata Galvao], who got injured a couple days ago. Our outside captain became a middle this morning and our rightside became an outside, so if you look at that, our play was good, but there were several times they were not up to what I expect them to be. “
WNCC flexed its depth while showing why they are the No. 2 team in the country with a dominating performance. The Cougars received a stiff test from Casper, a team that also competed at last year’s national championship, in the first game and then cruised throughout the tournament.
Paulina Piegza paced the Cougars in the contest with 12 kills and three blocks. But, it wasn’t just Piegza doing the hitting, it was a team effort. Kaleinani Kabalis hammered home nine kills, followed by Fatiba Balza and Paloma Alvarez each with seven, and Cami Weimer with five.
Kabalis, besides her nine kills, also finished with 11 digs, three aces, nine points and three blocks. Also for WNCC, Nayka Benitez had 13 digs, four aces, and eight points; Sabina Piegza had 35 set assists; Balza had three blocks, seven points and two aces; and Quinones had six points.
WNCC was just as dominating in its second match against Sheridan as Balza finished with 12 points, nine kills, three blocks and four digs. Also for the Cougars against Sheridan, Benitez had eight digs, three points and three aces; Kabalis had five kills and seven digs; Paulina Piegza had nine kills; Quinones had 10 points and five points; and Sabina Piegza had two blocks, seven points and 28 set assists.
The Cougars finished off the first day with an all-around team effort where everyone contributed in some fashion in the win. Kabalis led the team with a double-double, collecting 12 kills, 16 points, 1 solo b lock, three aces and five digs.
Balza and Paulina Piegza each contributed seven kills. Balza also had four blocks, four aces and 10 points. Piegza added two blocks.
Also For WNCC, Sabina Piegza had 27 set assists; Benitez finished with three blocks, one ace and seven digs; Cami Weimer hauled in one kill, one block and one dig’ Whitney Roth had one block’ Quinones had eight points and two digs; Naomi Flinders had one ace and 11 set assists; Gabriela Aviles collected one ace and four points’ and Paulina Alvarez finished with three kills and one dig.
Other first-day scores in the tournament saw Sheridan defeat McCook 25-16, 25-10, 25-10; Casper over Trinidad State 25-14, 25-17, 25-9; Casper over Colby 25-23, 26-24, 25-18; Sheridan over Trinidad 25-17, 25-14, 21-25, 18-25, 16-14; Laramie County over Williston State 12-25, 25-16, 25-17, 24-26, 15-13’ Northeastern Junior College over Miles Community College 25-15, 25-10, 25-12; Seward County defeat Laramie County 25-15, 23-25, 25-15, 25-20; Williston State over Miles 27-25, 25-15; 25-13; North Platte over Laramie County 25-18, 22-24, 25-9, 25-21; Seward County over Northeastern Junior College 23-25, 25-27, 25-22, 25-14, 15-10; North Platte over Miles 24-20, 25-14, 25-20; Seward County over Eastern Wyoming 25-20, 25-21, 25-21; North Platte over Eastern Wyoming 25-22, 19-25, 25-22, 25-18; and Northeastern Colorado over Eastern Wyoming 25-14, 25-23, 25-8.
Today’s Schedule
At Scottsbluff
10 a.m. – WNCC vs. Northwest Wyoming, Colby vs. Sheridan; Noon – Williston State vs. Casper College; 2 p.m. – Williston State vs. Northwest Wyoming; 4 p.m. -- Northeastern Colorado vs. Sheridan College; 6 p.m. – WNCC vs. Williston State, Northeastern Colorado vs. Casper College; 8 p.m. – Seward County vs. Sheridan College, North Platte vs. Northwest Wyoming.
At Torrington, Wyo.
10 a.m. – Seward County vs. Miles City, Northeastern Colorado vs. Laramie County; Noon – Eastern Wyoming vs. McCook, Trinidad State vs. North Platte; 2 p.m. – Colby vs. Laramie County, Trinidad State vs. Miles City; 4 p.m. – Colby vs. North Platte, Seward County vs. McCook; 6 p.m. – Eastern Wyoming vs. Trinidad State, McCook vs. Laramie County; 8 p.m. – McCook vs. Miles City.
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