WNCC volleyball opens national tourney with sweep over Wallace State

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – Western Nebraska Community College’s kaleinani Kabalis and Kathryn Stock combined for 24 kills and the Cougars opened the NJCAA national tournament with a sweep of Wallace State-Hanceville Thursday at the Mid-America Center.

The Cougars topped the Lady Lions 25-21, 25-20, 25-14 ro advance into the quarterfinals today at 5:30 (CST). The Cougars will face Frank Phillips who registered a dramatic five-set win against San Jacinto College 25-22, 17-25, 17-25, 25-17, 19-17.

It took a while for the Cougars to get warmed up against the No. 15 seeded Wallace State. The Lady Lions held a 10-8 lead in the first set and were tied with the Alabama squad 17-17 on a Raegen Key ace serve. WNCC fought back on kills by Paulina Piegza and Stock to take a 24-21 lead. Kabalis finished off the first set with a service point.

Wallace State started set two off with a bang, grabbing a 6-0 lead behind the serving of Cassie Daniels. WNCC fought back to tie the set at 11 on a Sabina Piegza kill. WNCC pushed the lead to 16-14 only to watch the Lady Lions come back to tied the set on back-to-back ace serves by Jessica Wilburn.

Stock hammered home a kill to stop the bleeding and then Ariel Austin hammered home a kill to make it 20-18. Stock hammered home two kills and then served the final three points to give the Cougars the second set 25-20.

Kabalis hammered home two early kills and two points to give the Cougars to a 7-4 third set win. WNCC pushed the lead to 9-5 on two Paulina Piegza service points and two Kabalis kills. The Cougars continued playing well as Sabina Piegza had three points and then Cami Weimer served up two points for a 17-9 lead. WNCC put the game away as Tania Torres had two of the final three kills for points, including the match winner.

Stock finished with a double-double of 10 kills and 11 digs. Stock also had four points. Kabalis finished with 14 kills, nine points and eight digs; while Paulina Piegza had nine kills and four points.

Also for the Cougars, Austin had seven kills and three blocks; Torres with five kills; Sabina Piegza with four kills, four digs and 29 set assists; Cami weimer had six digs; and Kuulei Kabalis had 11 set assists.

In other scores from the national tournament, Missouri State-West Plains topped Northwest (Wyo.) College 18-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-23, and Iowa Western Community College topped Temple College 25-19, 21-25, 25-16, 23-25, 15-8.