WNCC Cougars defeat NJC in four games, capture 44th win of the season

Western Nebraska Community College's Naomi Flinders wasn't nervous entering her first start at setter for the injured Sabina Piegza.

Flinders was just one of a handful of Cougars that stepped up their game in helping the No. 1 Cougars topple the No. 14 Northeastern Junior College Plainswomen in four games win 25-21, 25-19, 22-25, 25-23 Tuesday night at Cougar Palace.

But, it wasn't as easy as one would think as both teams exhibited long rallies and booming hits.

"I thought we came together pretty well after we made some errors tonight," the freshman from Provo, Utah, said. "We came together as a team tonight. They are a fun team to play against because it was good competition."

Flinders, who finished with 26 set assists, seven points and 11 digs, said she wasn't nervous at the start. But as the match went along, the nerves started to surface.

"I wasn't nervous at first then as the game got on I started to get nervous," she said. "We covered our hitters well I thought and got some good digs, so there were a lot of longer rallies. That made the game more fun."

Definitely the Cougars had their hands full against a talented Plainswomen squad. WNCC, on the other hand, had just a tad more talent as the Cougars finish with double-figure kills as well as Kaleinani Kabalis and Nayka finishing with double-doubles.

Fatima Balza paced the team with 17 kills followed by Paloma Alvarez with 11 and Kabalis and Paulina Piegza with 10 kills each. Kabalis also finished with 10 digs on the night as well as six points.

Benitez, though, was the star in the back row, collecting an eye-popping 20 digs. The 5-foot-3 libero also rattled off 11 points and five aces in securing the Cougars 44th win of the season against two defeats.

As much as the Cougars shined in the game, NJC was matching the Cougars talents left and right. Brunna Kronbauer led the Plainswomen with 12 kills follow2ed by Suyan Leipelt and Amy Einspahr with 7 kills each. Caroline Ratteree also stepped up with five kills.

NJC also dug up plenty of the Cougars' hard hits as freshman Dere Martinez led the Plainswomen with 11 digs followed by Leipelt with nine.

None of the four games were runaways. In the first game, WNCC jumped out to a commanding 11-3 lead behind Gregner Quinones' four points and some clutch kills by Balza, Alvarez, Kabalis and Flinders.

NJC battled back cutting the lead to 14-12 and later tying taking the first lead of the game 20-19 on two Kronbauer points. The Cougars battled back has Kabalis hammered home a kill and then Balza served up two points for a 22-20 lead.

Amy Einspahr stopped the run momentarily before Kabaliz hammered home two blistering kills and Flinders served out game one with two points.

Game two was back and forth for the first half of the game as both teams were knotted at 12-12 before Balza opened up the contest and kill and three service points. WNCC kept playing well in the second game as the Cougars frontline was hitting on all cylinders to breeze to the 25-19 win.

Game three was a game of momentum switches. WNCC held an 11-6 lead on three Kabalis service points, including two aces and later led 14-9 on a Alvarez kill. NJC's Martinez quickly brought the Plainswomen back into the contest with three service points at 14-13.

NJC finally took the lead at 17-16 on a Alexis Eliades point and took control of the contest, leading 22-17 on four points by Einspahr. WNCC fought back, cutting the lead to 23-22 on three points by Benitez, but they couldn't get game three as the Cougars dropped their first game since Sept. 7 when Iowa Western toppled the Cougars.

Flinders said the game three loss might have been a little wake up call for the team.

"We knew we just had to shake it off and win the next game," she said. "That is all you can do. We needed to come out and play hard."

What a fourth game it was, too. NJC moved out to an 8-4 lead only to watch the Cougars come storming back behind the serving of Flinders. Flinders proceeded to serve four straight points, including to monster kills by Piegza brought the Cougars back in front 9-8.

Things stayed tight as each team was playing like two ranked volleyball teams. WNCC couldn't get more than a two-point lead the rest of the way. The turning point in the match came with the score knotted at 18-18. That was when the two teams' defenses stepped up some pancake saves and plenty of hustle in saving balls. WNCC finished off the rally as Kabalis hammered home a kill for the winner.

WNCC couldn't celebrate too long, as Einspahr came right back with a kill to tie the game at 19-19. Things changed momentarily as Piegza had a kill and Benitez served two points for a 22-19 lead. NJC, however, fought back tying the game at 23-23 on two points by Leipelt.

After a WNCC timeout, Alvarez had a key block and then Quinones served the final point as Balza recorded the match-winning kill.

The Cougars, winners of 25 straight matches, will have a week off before they host Casper College next Tuesday in the team's final home match of the year. After that, they will compete in the Jefferson College Invite, where they will face more ranked teams, including Miami Dade College. Miami Dade is the team the Cougars defeated last year for the national title.