The University of Arkansas-Ft. Smith Lions had an answer for everything the Western Nebraska Community College offense threw at them in ending the Cougar’s bid 
for back-to-back national championships Friday at the NJCAA national championships in Council Bluffs 25-21, 18-25, 24-26, 19-25. “I thought they fought for the whole game,” first-year coach Giovana Melo said. “Even when they were behind they were fighting. I just think they did a good job.”
The loss was hard to take for a lot of the Cougars, especially for the three sophomores and two – Fatima Balza and Nayka Benitez – who were on last year’s national championship team. Balza, who finished the contest with 12 kills, was disappointed, but remained upbeat even with the loss.
“Fort Smith is a really good team and we played really good. We tried our best and I am really proud of our team,” the sophomore said. “We did the best that we could. Right now the best we can play for is third place and it is for something.”
The Cougars will face Iowa Western Community College, the No. 1 team in the nation, at 3:30 p.m. for third place. Iowa Western lost in three sets to Blinn College 25-20, 25-18, 25-21. Today’s third place contest will be a battler of No. 1 and 2 seeds, while the championship will pit the No. 3 and 4 teams.
Balza said they just need to come out and play tough to finish third and add another win to the team’s record=setting 58-win season.
“We will play for third place against Iowa Western, who beat us twice this years,” she said. “We just need to go out and play and play for everything. We have nothing to lose. I am raelly proud of our team and proud of my coach for the job we did in the season. I am still happy with the job we did at nationals.”
The match just wasn’t the Cougars for the taking as Fort Smith was a step higher then the Cougars in the final three sets. Still, the Cougars were in reach of winning the match.
In the first game, WNCC only trailed once, after the first point. After that, WNCC was in control, moving out ot a 7-3 lead behind three service points from Balza and frontline hitting and blocking form Kaleinani Kabalis.
WNCC continued excelling as Kabalis servied four points behind, including an ace serve in the opposite corner for a 14-7 lead. Fort Smith fouth back, cutting the lead to 18-17. After a WNCC timeout, WHCC moved ahead off a Paulina Piegza kill and then Kablais and Sabina Piegza each had two service points.
WNCC won the game as Paloma Alvarez hammered home the game winner.
The second game was a little different as Lucia Naj selova served up five straight points, including two aces, to push Fort Smith to a 6-1 lead. WNCC kept fighing back, but Fort Smith kept going on long service runs of two or more points.
The difference in the first and second sets was the Cougars’ inability to stop Fort Smith’s hitting, including sophomroe Fabiane Nass, who had a big match with eight kills, five blocks and eight digs. But, Nass was just one of many Lions that were on their game Friday, digging up practically every hit or pass that WNCC tossed at them.
Still, as well as Fort Smith was playing, WNCC was fighting just as hard. Take the third set for example where WNCC fell behind 14-7 after Janie Price served up four points. Then, later, fell behind 19-13 and it looked as if the Lions would coast to the win.
That wasn’t the case as WNCC fought back. Balza started the comeback with a ance serve and then Kabaliz hammered home a kill to slice the lead to 19-17. Moments later, Sabina Piegza went on a five-point service run, including two aces and two Kabalis kills to put WNCC up 23-20.
WNCC couldn’t hold the lead as a dump kill by the Lion’s setter Najselova stopped the run. Then, sophomroe Morgan Banner served up three points to push Fort Smith back into the lead at 24-23. Kabalis stopped the run, tying the game at 24 with a kill.
WNCC then missed a served – they had 10 for the match – which gamve the ball back to Fort Smith along with game point. Heidi Luks finally ended the match with a kill.
The fourth game was another hard fought set as 15-7 at one time. WNCC started battling back, slicing the lead to 16-12 on a Alvarez kill and service point. WNCC couldn’t find an answer for Fort Smith’s defensive intensity and blocking as the Cougars’ couldn’t string together enough points for the win.
Kabalis paced the Cougars with a double-double, finishing with 17 digs and 16 kills. Kabalis also had nine points in the loss. Balza finished with 12 kills, eight points and two blocks; while Alvarez had 1o kills and three digs. Paulina Piegza also had a nice hitting game, finishing with seven kills.
Also for the Cougars, Benitez had 19 digs and three points; Sabina Piegza had 41 set assists, four digs, eight points and three aces; Gregner Quinones had seven digs, eight points and two aces; and Cami Weimer had two digs.
Melo said right now the team is down after losing their bid for a national title, but they will regroup for the third place match.
“They fought with their hearts and they played with their hearts,” she said. “ It is just hard because they kept fighting with their hearts. Losing is not easy, but they did an awesome job with the fight.”
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