The No. 5-ranked Cougar volleyball started the Salt Lake Invite off with a bang Friday by running their record to a perfect 9-0 with four victories.
The Cougars opened the tournament by breezing past Yavapai College 30-19, 30-17. Soriana Pacheco had seven kills and 21 assists, while Jennifer Eichler had seven kills and Kendra Schauermann eight points. Stacie Meisner finished with five digs, two blocks and four aces, while Chelsea Lyles and Fatima Balza each had two blocks.
WNCC then snuck past Snow College 30-28, 30-18. In the first game, the Cougars missed a lot of serves to make the game close. Still, the Cougars ahd plenty of individual success. Pacheco had another double-double with 20 assists and 13 points. She also added three aces. Eichler finished with six kills, while Shawntell Jones had five blocks.
The third match of the day against North Idaho College, a team that made the national tournament a year ago, was pushed to a third game on the Cougars. WNCC, though, came out on top winning 30-16, 27-30, 15-12. Eichler led the way with 10 kills, while Nayka Benitez had five aces, eight points and 12 digs. Pachero had nine points, 24 assists and three blocks, while Benitez had 13 digs and five aces. Jones added three blocks.
WNCC finished up day one by downing the College of Southern Idaho 30-18, 30-23. In that contest Eichler finishe with 11 kills with a hitting percentage of 84.6 percent. Soriana Pacheco finished with a double-double of 26 set assists, 11 points, five aces.
WNCC finishes pool play Saturday at 10:15 a.m. against Salt Lake Community College. After that will be bracket play. Last season, WNCC won the tournament.
Showing posts with label volleyball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label volleyball. Show all posts
Friday, August 31, 2007
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Cougars finish South Sub-region tournament unbeaten with wins over Trinidad, Otero, NJC
Scores and photos from the second day of the South Sub-region tournamentOtero over McCook -- 30-26, 28-30, 15-10
Lamar over Trinidad State -- 30-22, 20-30, 15-12
Western Nebraska over Trinidad State -- 30-12, 30-16, 15-12
Northeastern Colorado over McCook -- 30-16, 30-22, 15-6
Western Nebraska over Otero -- 30-15, 30-19, 15-8
Northeastern Colorado over Lamar -- 30-13, 30-14, 15-4
Otero over Lamar -- 23-30, 30-24, 15-9
Trinidad State over McCook -- 30-28, 30-32, 15-7
Western Nebraska over Northeastern Colorado -- 30-12, 30-17, 15-6
The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball started the season 5-0 as they swept through the South Sub-region tournament with an unblemished record. The Cougars have yet to drop a match in the sub-region tournament in the nine years head coach Chris Green has been at the helm.
The Cougars finished the tournament in impressive style defeated last year's No. 16 team in the nation Northeastern Junior College 30-12, 30-17, 15-6 behind a balanced offensive attack. Jennifer Eichler, who is headed to Tulsa University next year, paced the team with eight kills, five points and three blocks. The left-handed Eichler finished Saturday's play with 27 kills in three matches.
The Cougars also defeated Trinidad State 30-12, 30-16, 15-12 and Otero Junior College 30-15, 30-19, 15-8.
Eichler was just part of the hitting story for the Cougars as sophomore Kansas State recruit Soriana Pacheco finished with nine kills along with freshman Fatima Balza. Aida Bauza chipped in eight kills as well.
As much as the Cougars were sizzling with their hitting, they were also stellar on defense and serving. Nayka Benitez led the team with nine digs as well as five service points. Pacheco added eight digs along with eight points, two aces and 29 set assists.
WNCC took control of game one early on behind power hitting by Eichler to forge ahead 10-5. From there, the Cougars serving took over as freshman Daphine da Silva served up three straight points to go ahead 13-5. Benitez and Pacheco each combined for five points for a 21-8 lead.
NJC sliced the lead to 10 points late, 22-12, but a missed serve put the ball into Shawntell Jones' hands and she served out the game with seven points for the win.
The second game was back and fourth with neither team going up more than two points through the first half of the game. With the score tied at 10, Pacheco opened up some breathing room for the Cougars with four service points, including a power kill by Eichler for a 15-10 lead. The Plainswomen kept battling, slicing the lead to 19-14 on a Jessica Tjaden service point, but NJC couldn't maintain a service run through the game, and the Cougars swept to the win 30-17.
The win over NJC was dramatic after the team won earlier matches against Trinidad State and Otero Junior College. The Cougars started the day downing Trinidad State 30-12, 30-16, 15-12. In the first game, the Cougars strong serving was key as the team combined for eight ace serves. Nayka Benitez started things with six straight points, including three aces, to jumpstart the Cougar offense to a 7-1 lead. Pacheco added five points on two aces, Schauermann had two points and Jones had four points and two aces to run the lead to 21-5. Benitez finished off the Trojans with an ace serve.
Trinidad State played the Cougars tougher in game two, trailing 14-10 at one time, but strong serving at the end helped the Cougars to the win. In game three, Cassie Vrooman had eight service points, including an ace to help the Cougars to the 15-12 win.
Benitez finished with 14 points, six aces and seven digs, followed by Pacheco with 10 points, five aces, and 19 set assists. Eichler led the team in hitting with nine kills and three blocks, while Chelsea Lyles and Aida Bauza each had six kills.
In the second match of the day against Otero, Eichler continued her hitting ways collecting 10 kills to lead the team. She also had three blocks. But, once again, it was the team's serving that proved key as Schauermann led the way with 10 points and Jones had nine points with four aces. Jones also chipped in six blocks, while Fatima Balza had seven kills.
Monday, August 06, 2007
WNCC volleyball team opens practice in defense of their Region IX title
Fundamentals were the rule of the day for the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team as begin defense of their Region IX championship last fall. And, for the Cougar volleyball team who have won eight straight Region IX titles and finished runner-up at last year’s national tournament, Monda
y’s fundamental sessions were just routine. In fact, this year’s team is more like reloading then rebuilding, as 12 players, including six sophomores, took to the court for the first time this morning at 6 a.m. to begin practicing for the upcoming season.
“The first day is all the basic fundamentals, making sure everyone is on the same page with the basic skills,” sophomore Stacie Meisner of Gering, said. “If you don’t have the basics down, there is no need to do the more advanced stuff. We are doing our basics of passing and serving right now.”
The biggest focus in practice during the first day of practice was passing, especially to find someone to replace all-American libero Bianca Rivera, who now is at Creighton University.
“We just did some ball control drills (Monday) and I think losing Bianca will be kind of tough, but we have some people that can step in and take over where she left off,” WNCC nine-year head coach Chris Green said. “Statistically, she was one of our best passers, but I think we have both freshmen and sophomores that can step into her roll and contribute as far as ball control. That first contact is so important in the game of volleyball. I think we have good players that will do a good job in getting the ball to the setter.”
The Cougars opened practice with 12 players -- six from last year’s 56-2 team. Returning players include 5-foot-10 setter Soriana Pacheco, 6-0 rightside hitter Jennifer Eichler, 6-0 middle blocker Shawntell Jones, 5-8 outside hitter/defensive specialist Kendra Schauermann, 5-9 setter Cassie Vrooman, and 5-9 defensive specialist/outside hitter Stacie Meisner.
The freshman class is just as talented, including 6-3 middle hitter Fatima Balza, 5-10 outside hitter Daphine da Silva, 5-6 outside hitter/defensive specialist Nayka Benitez, 5-10 Aida Bauza and 5-9 outside hitter Heather Steggs. Steggs, who started at Alliance High School a couple of years ago, joined the team this weekend after Jazmuhn Carlson of Cheyenne left the team.
Meisner said she is excited for the coming season with all the talent this team possesses. “I think it is looking really good. We are really optimistic about this season and we know we have great potential for this team,” she said. “I have been excited for the season since last season got over. I am ready to go.”
The Cougars will have two weeks of two-a-days before their first competition Aug. 18 with the Alumni Scrimmage. After that they will host the South Sub-region tournament on Aug. 24-25. After that, they will compete in the Salt Lake tourney the next weekend, which they won last season.
For Green, he has the recipe to success down to a tee in preparing teams for the regular season. Green needs just one win to notch career win number 400, and his main focus is priming his team for that first competition. And, it all begins with fundamentals.
“We want everyone on the same page, so we take it pretty slow and make sure everyone is doing those fundamental skills right,” he said. “(Monday afternoon) we will play a little bit and play some doubles, and we will continue with passing.”
Even though the team had a light workout of going over basics, Meisner said practices will start to pick up in intensity.
“So far we haven’t did a whole lot, but I think everyone is excited to get going and working hard to see what we all can do,” she said. “Today was more about just getting out on the court and playing some ball. We didn’t get to do that at all last week, it was all conditioning, so everyone is excited today to play some volleyball.”
y’s fundamental sessions were just routine. In fact, this year’s team is more like reloading then rebuilding, as 12 players, including six sophomores, took to the court for the first time this morning at 6 a.m. to begin practicing for the upcoming season.“The first day is all the basic fundamentals, making sure everyone is on the same page with the basic skills,” sophomore Stacie Meisner of Gering, said. “If you don’t have the basics down, there is no need to do the more advanced stuff. We are doing our basics of passing and serving right now.”
The biggest focus in practice during the first day of practice was passing, especially to find someone to replace all-American libero Bianca Rivera, who now is at Creighton University.
“We just did some ball control drills (Monday) and I think losing Bianca will be kind of tough, but we have some people that can step in and take over where she left off,” WNCC nine-year head coach Chris Green said. “Statistically, she was one of our best passers, but I think we have both freshmen and sophomores that can step into her roll and contribute as far as ball control. That first contact is so important in the game of volleyball. I think we have good players that will do a good job in getting the ball to the setter.”
The Cougars opened practice with 12 players -- six from last year’s 56-2 team. Returning players include 5-foot-10 setter Soriana Pacheco, 6-0 rightside hitter Jennifer Eichler, 6-0 middle blocker Shawntell Jones, 5-8 outside hitter/defensive specialist Kendra Schauermann, 5-9 setter Cassie Vrooman, and 5-9 defensive specialist/outside hitter Stacie Meisner.
The freshman class is just as talented, including 6-3 middle hitter Fatima Balza, 5-10 outside hitter Daphine da Silva, 5-6 outside hitter/defensive specialist Nayka Benitez, 5-10 Aida Bauza and 5-9 outside hitter Heather Steggs. Steggs, who started at Alliance High School a couple of years ago, joined the team this weekend after Jazmuhn Carlson of Cheyenne left the team.
Meisner said she is excited for the coming season with all the talent this team possesses. “I think it is looking really good. We are really optimistic about this season and we know we have great potential for this team,” she said. “I have been excited for the season since last season got over. I am ready to go.”
The Cougars will have two weeks of two-a-days before their first competition Aug. 18 with the Alumni Scrimmage. After that they will host the South Sub-region tournament on Aug. 24-25. After that, they will compete in the Salt Lake tourney the next weekend, which they won last season.
For Green, he has the recipe to success down to a tee in preparing teams for the regular season. Green needs just one win to notch career win number 400, and his main focus is priming his team for that first competition. And, it all begins with fundamentals.
“We want everyone on the same page, so we take it pretty slow and make sure everyone is doing those fundamental skills right,” he said. “(Monday afternoon) we will play a little bit and play some doubles, and we will continue with passing.”
Even though the team had a light workout of going over basics, Meisner said practices will start to pick up in intensity.
“So far we haven’t did a whole lot, but I think everyone is excited to get going and working hard to see what we all can do,” she said. “Today was more about just getting out on the court and playing some ball. We didn’t get to do that at all last week, it was all conditioning, so everyone is excited today to play some volleyball.”
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
WNCC volleyball youth camp date changed, other camps still have openings
Green changed the dates of the young girl’s skills camp to June 21-22 so it doesn’t run on a weekend. This camp is for girls in grades fourth through sixth grades. The camp will have an afternoon session on June 21 and then two sessions, morning and afternoon, on June 22. Cost is $50, and includes a T-shirt.
The other skills camps for the older girls are 2/3 full. The dates of the camps include July 2-3 for middle school grades, and July 5-6 for high school-age girls. Both camps will have two sessions each day and costs $60 and a T-shirt.
The final volleyball camp is a setter/hitter
Camp registration forms can be downloaded from the WNCC athletic website at sports.wncc.net. For more information on the camp, contact Green at 308-635-6028 or at greenc@wncc.net.
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