[10/31/2012] The
Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team is focused as they head into
this weekend’s Region IX tournament in McCook as the NJCAA second-ranked
Cougars will vie for their 14th straight trip to the national
tournament.
WNCC,
34-2, earned a first-round bye by capturing the south sub-region with a 10-0
mark and the No. 1 seed. The Cougars will open play Friday at 11 a.m. against
Thursday’s winner between Lamar Community College and Trinidad State Junior
College.
Northeastern
Junior College earned the other first-round bye and they will play Friday at 9
a.m. against the winner of Thursday’s match between Otero Junior College and
McCook Community College. The championship is slated for Saturday at 1 p.m with
the winner advancing to the national tournament Nov. 15-17 in West Plains, Mo.
Megan
Johnson, sophomore middle hitter from Sandy, Utah, said the team is focused on
the task at hand.
“We
just need to play together to win regionals,” Johnson said. “We are trying to
work really hard this week as playing as a team and not getting frustrated and
just playing really hard as a team.”
WNCC,
at one time, won 42 straight sets. That streak, however, was snapped when they
dropped a set on Oct. 19 against Northeastern Junior College and then again on
Oct. 20 against Casper College – both at home. Johnson said those losses, in
turn, will help the team going into regionals.
“I
think it was almost a good thing for us to lose some sets,” she said. “We now
know what it is like to lose some games. It helped us to become better as a
team.”
Johnson
said it is hard to enter a tournament and stay focused when everyone is talking
about nationals and some already have reservations made for West Plains, Mo.
That talk around town, however, has the team even more focused on their game,
knowing that they definitely have a target on their backs.
“There
is pressure to win because everyone is saying that you will win regionals
easy,” she said. “But we still need to work hard to win. It is not going to be
a walk. We still need to work hard.”
It
definitely will not be easy. WNCC might have finished the south sub-region with
a perfect 10-0 record, while winning 30 of 31 sets against the other south
teams, but the other teams have proven to be capable of playing anyone tough.
Take Northeastern Colorado for instance. The Plainswomen finished the
sub-region with a 7-3 mark after falling to Otero during the regular season.
NJC even went five against Trinidad. The Trojans even defeated NJC in September
at Sterling, Colo., during the Pizza Hut Classic.
That
is why the players realize that they can be beat and they are taking it match
by match.
“We
have to stay focused and not go in there thinking we got it,” Johnson said. “If
we stay focused, it shouldn’t be hard to win if we play our best. We have done
pretty good all season. If we play good, we should be fine.”
The
Cougars only losses this season came in the opening two tournaments of the
season. WNCC lost 3-0 to Iowa Western Community College on Aug. 24 and then
lost 3-1 to North Idaho College on Sept. 1. Since then, they have been perfect,
evening dropping then-ranked No. 1 College of Southern Idaho as well as Salt
Lake Community College.
And,
if the Cougars can put together at least three straight wins, they will bring
back their 14th Region IX title and berth to the national
tournament. At nationals, the Cougars have not finished lower than fourth in
eight straight years. They won the national titles in 2007 and 2010 and
finished runner-up in 2006.
Johnson
said their goal all season was making a run at a national title.
“That
is our goal to make nationals,” she said. “I mean that is what we have been
working for all season, so it would be really great to make a return trip once
again.”
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