WNCC takes third at national tournament

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team didn’t show any emotional drain in the third-place match Saturday at the National Junior College Athletic Association tournament Saturday.

The Cougars (42-4), who fell in an emotional five-set loss to Missouri State West Plains on Friday, responded with authority to capture third place with a 25-17, 27-25, 23-25, 25-17 win over the tournament’s top seed Salt Lake Community College. It was the second straight year the Cougars have captured third place at nationals.

Kaleinani Kabalis, who was named the tournament’s “Complete Coverage Award” for most digs in the tournament, finished with a double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs. Kabalis was also named to the all-tournament team along with teammate Sabina Piegza.

Piegza finished the contest with 39 set assists and two blocks, while Kabalis alsohad three blocks, eight points and two aces.

Kabalis said it is very uplifting that the team put Friday’s heartbreaking loss behind them come home with some hardware.

“This feels real great especially since we lost [on Friday] and then came back and beat the team that beat us early in the season,” she said. “In every single game we fought tonight. We started a little slow, but we finished strong. That is one thing about us that we always can come back and play no matter what. We have heart to do that.”

WNCC coach Giovana Melo said the main focus wasn’t so much on what Salt Lake would do, it was getting her team mentally ready.

“We didn’t go in much detail about Salt Lake. My biggest concern is getting them to bounce back from Friday,” she said. “What we talked about more was playing more with our hearts. I did talk a little bit about Salt Lake, but I told them not to worry about Friday.”

Melo was extremely pleased with the way they bounced back Saturday facing even more adversity after staring middle hitter Tania Torres went down with an ankle injury.

“We faced a lot of adversity throughout the season and it wasn’t any different tonight,” she said. “They learned a lot about playing through adversity during the season. Anybody that comes in really does a good job.

“I am very happy with this win. I think they worked really hard. They showed that they are a team that fights for everything. They did that all year and they did that today, too.”

WNCC started slow as Salt Lake and the Cougars were tied 8-8 early. WNCC then warmed as Brooke Blomenkamp had two kills and Whitney Roth one kill for a 12-8 lead. The Cougars pushed the lead to 18-12 as Kathryn Stock served up three points. Roth finally sealed the set as the 6-foot-1 middle blocker stuffed home a Bruin hit for the winner.

The second set is where the Cougars’ showed a lot of heart. Salt Lake raced to a 14-8 and 16-11 lead. The Cougars, however, dug deep and came storming back and it started on a Roth and Blomenkamp block to slice the lead to 16-13. Salt Lake rebounded to grab a 22-18 and were facing set point at 24-21.

WNCC came back to tie the set at 24-24 as Sabina Piegza had three service points aided by two Kabalis kills. Both teams were then tied at 25 before Kathryn Stock hammered home a kill followed by a service point by Kabalis to give WNCC the win.

The Cougars almost pulled out game three as Salt lake built a 21-13 lead. WNCC then had plenty of heart to bounce back to tie the score at 23-23 as Paulina Piegza had four service point. Salt Lake, however, scored the next two points to win 25-23.

The fourth set was a dogfight at the start as the lead see-sawed back and forth. WNCC finally took control as Cami Weimer had five straight points to put the Cougars up 15-8. Stock then served up two points for a 18-10 lead. Roth had a monster block to make it 22-16 and then the Cougars got kills from Blomenkamp, Paulina Piegza and Stock to finish off Salt Lake.

Kabalis said that while the national title eluded them, she can’t complain with a third place finish.

“I am happy that we did as good as we did last year, but we could have done better,” she said. “We did as good as we could have and we tried our best.”

Also leading the Cougars Saturday included Paulina Piegza with 11 kills, three blocks, and six points; Stock with six kills, two blocks, eight digs, seven points and two aces; Blomenkamp with 11 kills and two blocks; Roth with one kill and five blocks; and Weimer with six digs and seven points.

The all-tournament team included Anzelika Lukianska of Frank Phillips; Aida Bauza of Hillsborough; Yenifer Calcano of Miami Dade; Catalina Charry and Shelbi Zaldain of Salt Lake; Suzy Ni Xu of Iowa Western; Kaleinani Kabalis and Sabina Piegza of WNCC; Patricia Figueiredo and Kate Stepanova of West Plains; and Samantha Misu, Barbara Alcanta and MVP Jessica Peacok of Southern Idaho.

Besides Kabalis earning the top defensive player (most digs) honor, former WNCC player Aida Bauza earned the top hitter award while playing for Hillsborough. Also, Ogallala graduate Kate Morrell earned the top blocker award while playing for Hutchinson Community College.

Tournament results

Championship

Southern Idaho over Missouri State-West Plains 18-25 , 19-25 , 18-25

Third Place Match
WNCC over Salt Lake Community College 25-17 , 27-25 , 23-25 , 25-17

Fifth Place Match
Miami Dade College over Iowa Western 20-25 , 12-25 , 18-25

Seventh Place Match

Hillsborough defeats Frank Phillips 25-16 , 14-25 , 25-18 , 24-26 , 15-12

Ninth Place Match

Hutchinson over San Jacinto College 25-23 , 26-24 , 25-19