Gering's Roth headed to play volleyball at WNCC

Western Nebraska Community College volleyball coach Chris Green is already loading up for a next year to try to win a second straight NJCAA national championship. With six sophomores departing, there are some holes to fill on the court.

Green didn’t have to look far to sign his first player as Gering’s 6-foot-1 middle hitter Whitney Roth decided to join the Cougar volleyball program. Roth said it was an easy choice after seeing them win the national title a couple weeks ago.

“WNCC is a great place and it is close to home. It feels great to be going there,” she said. “With their success, it is a great place to be and Chris [Green] has them going in the right direction. He really knows what he is doing so I felt it was a great place to go.”

Gering coach Craig Schadwinkel couldn’t be more pleased to see another Gering player play for Chris Green. Since Green has taken over, five Gering players have donned the Blue and Gold of WNCC – Sara Mayo and Heidi Harms (2000-2001), Nicole Gonzalez (2001-2002), Jenny Quicke (2003-2004) and Stacie Meisner (2006-2007).

“I couldn’t think of a better place for her to move up to and play for especially after their recent success,” Schadwinkel said. “What a great honor for her.”

Roth had a standout senior season for the Bulldogs helping them to an 18-10 mark. Gering won 11 of their first 12 matches of the season. Roth also led or was among the team’s leader in many categories.

The area that stood out, though, was her presence on the offensive side of the ball. Roth led the team in kills 178 and also hitting percentage with a whopping .560 percentage. She was also second in solo blocks.

Green said that Roth will fit in to his style of play for the next two years.

“I think her height and her court vision is there,” he said. “What Craig and Gering High School has done with her in the program will make her an effective middle blocker. She might not be right away an explosive-type player, but she is going to be effective for us. She knows the court and she knows where the holes are on the court. She does a great job of getting things done, getting a kill when a team needs a kill.”

Green said that she will have competition at the middle blocker spot. The Cougars return NJCAA all-tournament team member Fatima Balza back. Also, Chelsea Lyles has an option to return if she doesn’t sign someplace else for basketball.

“Whitney will have some competition in the middle already with freshman coming back,” he said. “I think her height and the skills she has learned here at Gering High School will allow her to contribute and be a great player with the Cougar volleyball team. We are excited to have her and we are excited to having her join our team as early as next month.”

Roth, who announced the decision with her parents, Rhonda and Ted, alongside, is a bit nervous stepping onto the court with the national champions. But she is ready for the challenges to get better as a player.

“I am nervous but I practiced with them a few times and it is so totally different then high school ball. The speed of the game is so much faster and I have to get used to that,” she said. “[Them winning the national title] makes it so much better to be joining a team that is the best in the country right now at their level.”

Roth started to take an interest in WNCC when she was watching them play her freshman year in high school. Then, former Gering player and WNCC Cougar Stacie Meisner talked to her about the program here and there, telling her what it is like at the college level. Roth also played club volleyball for Green’s Panhandle Volleyball Club.

Roth’s plans are to study Radiology or business marketing and then transfer to a four-year school to play volleyball.

“Hopefully, I want to transfer on to somewhere and if that happens it will be great,” she said. “Gering is a good place to be and there are a lot of memories here.”

Pacheco, Eichler sign with Division I schools, Schauermann heads to Metro State

Soriana Pacheco, Jennifer Eichler and Kendra Schauermann had a whirlwind past week after helping the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team capture its first national championship in school history.

Two days after capturing that first place trophy, the three officially inked with four-year colleges to continue their playing days. Pacheco signed with Kansas State University out of the Big 12, while Eichler inked with Division I Tulsa University. Schauermann is headed a little closer to home, putting her signature on the Metro State University letter of intent Monday afternoon.

All three capped their Cougar careers in style and are looking to add another chapter in their memory book.

“I think I have improved a lot here,” Eichler, the Rapid City Stevens graduate, said. “I think it helped me prepare a lot of Tulsa. It is DI and when I see that, it looks a little bit tougher.

“I went to visit there a couple months ago and I love everything about the campus, the girls are amazing and the coach seems to know what he is talking about. Their record is amazing and I just want to play for them.”

Eichler led the team in kills this season and had two break-out matches in the first two rounds of the national tournament last week, tallying 63 kills in four matches. She led the team with 16 kills against Hillsborough Community College in the opening round, and then tallied 15 kills against the University of Arkansas-Ft. Smith in the quarter-finals.

Eichler also earned all-region and all-tournament honors at the Region IX tournament this year.

Green said Eichler improved a ton since she got here three seasons ago. Eichler red-shirted her first year year because of a stomach virus.

“She is someone that didn’t play club volleyball in high school and she kept improving her athletic ability since when she first got here,” he said. “We are going to miss her a lot on the rightside.”

Pacheco will be another player that will missed next season. Green said that his 5-foot-10 setter was the quarterback of the team. In her two seasons at WNCC, Pacheco made the national tournament all-tournament team two straight years, was a first-team NJCAA all-American her freshman year, and was all-Region IX both years.

“Soriana will be competing in the Big 12 and we don’t want to root against Nebraska too often, but when she is playing against Nebraska, we might have to change to purple and white,” he said. “We are hoping Soriana does a good job down there.”

Pacheco said that she has many ties to this area and loved her two years at WNCC. Now, she is ready for the next step.

“I went to Kansas State and I really liked the campus and I am going there because my coach told me it was very good,” she said. “I really loved it here and I am going to miss a lot of the girls and the coaches.”

While Eichler and Pacheco are headed to the Division I level, Schauermann signed with a Division II school. In fact, Schauermann said this is the school she has always wanted to attend.

“I have wanted to go to Metro State since I was younger because they have the major I want to go into of meteorology,” she said. “I went on a visit there my senior year of high school and I have beenn planning on going there for a while. I am excited to be close to my family. All my brothers go to CU Boulder, so I will be closer to them in the Metro area.”

Schauermann, along with Eichler, will be graduating in December. Schauermann said that she loved her 1 ½ years at WNCC.

“I loved it here. The community was awesome and going to a smaller school right away was definitely the right choice,” she said. “Obviously we had a really good team, so that helped me get prepared for the next level of volleyball.”

Green said that Schauermann should help out the Roadrunner volleyball program at the libero position.

“Kendra was already a pretty polished player when she got here and she has done some great things here,” he said. “I think she has improved her passing and I think she will do some great things at Metro State probably as their libero.”

Green said these three players will do well at the next level. “It will be a big step up for these three young ladies,” he said. “But, I think they are prepared for it.”

Green said that Stacie Meisner, a Gering graduate, and Shawntell Jones are also expected to sign to play at the next level later on.

College, community celebrate national title with Cougars

Almost immediately after Western Nebraska Community College captured the NJCAA National Tournament championship Saturday, Kendra Schauermann began thinking about her grandfather, Bill Honaker.

Specifically, she remembered what he told her before he passed away in September: get a national championship ring.

Needless to say, Schauermann was both emotional and elated when the Cougars put the finishing touches on their amazing season with Saturday's four-game victory over Miami Dade in the national tournament final at Council Bluffs, Iowa.

“I don’t think there is anything that can top this feeling,” she said. “I did this all for my Grandpa. Before he passed away, he told me to get a ring for him. That was the first thing I thought of.”

Schauermann said that a week before he passed away, her grandpa was just laying there and then woke up asking to call all his grandkids. When he talked to Schauermann, she said he told her to get a big championship ring like he won in 1995 as a pitcher for the Silver Streaks out of Denver during the Senior World Series in slow-pitch softball. He was 67 when he won the championship.

Twelve year’s later, Schauermann gave her grandpa his wish of a national championship ring. And the team, including 12 players, two student managers, two coaches and the trainer, can remember this season as earning WNCC’s first national tournament title. Even the fans will remember this win for years to come.

“It will be something to remember for a long time,” sophomore Jennifer Eichler said Monday after the team was honored with a presentation in the gym. “The ring will show it. The pictures will show it. I am sure we will have to look back at the pictures and remember it later in life.”

The team had a short celebration Saturday evening at Ruby Tuesday’s in Council Bluffs, where the team presented Tournament Coach of the Year Chris Green a signed Cougar flag, before heading home Sunday morning.

On the way home, the Cougars were greeted by about 25 fans in Bridgeport, before being escorted back into town on Sunday by the Scottsbluff police department and about 25 cars that followed the bus back to the campus.

Monday, the team was formally recognized at a ceremony in Cougar Palace in front of students, staff, family and community members. They even received a limo ride around Scottsbluff in honor of their championship.

Green said the limo ride was unexpected by fun. “I don’t know if too many people in Scottsbluff knew what was going on, but it was fun to showoff and take some time to celebrate a great achievement like this,” he said.

Athletic director Jennifer Pedersen said that winning a national championship is what every one works for and this is something that the college will take pride in during the celebration.

"Winning a national title is something that every student-athlete dreams of. It is something that every kid thinks about when they start playing sports and it is the highest goal that every athlete wants to achieve,” she said. “So I think that the WNCC women’s volleyball team winning the national title is the epitome of what every athlete wants to do, and they definitely set the example for the other athletes at WNCC, as well as Region IX.”

Pedersen said that her room Saturday night in Colorado Springs where the basketball teams were playing was packed with players and coaches listening to the game.

“We had about 11 of our kids and coach Harnish and myself in the hotel room listening to the game,” she said. “The volume was pretty low so all of us were huddled pretty close around the computer. I think pretty much everyone of us got goose bumps when they announced that we won the title.”

Eicher said the last couple of days shows just how much this championship means to them as well as the community.

“We didn’t know about the Bridgeport greeting until we were a couple minutes away,” she said. “It [the greetings] were amazing and I like the fact that everyone supports us including Bridgeport. It is nice everybody supports us and is willing to come out and show it.”

Green said this national trophy is not only for the team and school, but it is for the community.

“We stopped at the corner in Bridgeport and several people stopped to show their support and made signs for us,” he said. “The bank had their flashing sign going across honoring us. It was cool that not only people in Scottsbluff honoring us, but people in Bridgeport that pay attention to WNCC athletics. It is neat to not only represent Scottsbluff, but the entire western side of Nebraska.”

In fact, with the fan support they received at the national tournament, especially in the wild semi-final match against, Salt Lake Community College, this trophy would not be sitting here at WNCC.

“One thing I didn’t mention at today’s celebration was during the Salt Lake game, I think really the crowd and the fans that came down to cheer us on in the semi-final match definitely had a part us winning against Salt Lake. We have to give them a little bit of credit because they helped us to keep positive and to keep fighting. Every little bit was necessary.”

The Cougars championship run was spectacular in deed. The Cougars had their backs to the ropes in the semi-final match against Salt Lake Community College. Many people were preparing themselves for a defeat. But, the players had other ideas and defeated the No. 1 team in the country in five games to move into the finals.

Sophomore Shawntell Jones said after the Salt Lake win that the team kept believing that they can be national champs.

“That was a big win because we knew we had to come out and fight,” she said. “Losing that first game was pretty intense. We knew that it wasn’t going to be easy and it was going to be a pretty intense match. We knew we had to work for it. Then, we knew we needed the second game and we pulled through [even being down 18-10]. Everybody did their part. We couldn’t have done it without anybody on the team. We needed everybody on the bench, everybody on the court, and everybody did their part.”

In the championship match, the Cougars came in as the underdogs and quickly took control of the match, claiming the first two games against unbeaten Miami Dade. And they did it with a fierce defense that kept balls in play all night to give the Cougar hitters an opportunity at swings at the net.

“It all starts with the pass and without Nayka, Daphine, Stacie and I, our hitters can’t do anything,” she said. “We have to get our balls to our amazing setter. Defense is definitely key, especially against good hitters and I think we did awesome.”

Stacie Meisner, a sophomore from Gering who saw state experience during her high school days, said this tops everything.

“We had everything it took this year to win a national title,” she said. “This is so amazing and it is such an amazing feeling. We will probably be on a high for the next month or two. This is a really good tournament and all the support that we had made it just that more special and memorable.”

Meisner said one of the advantages the Cougars had in the title contest was of their opponents they had to endure not only at the tournament, but all season long.

“You look at the number of games we played and we played twice as many games as Miami Dade did in a season,” she said. “I think that benefited us because every time we go out on the court that is our chance to get better against an opponent instead of spending time in the gym.

“Another advantage we had was we were in this game last year and we knew what it was going to take. We knew we had to come out strong. We knew we were the underdog because Miami Dade came in without any losses and we were the No. 5 seed. We knew we were the underdog and we had to come out and start fast and finish strong and really push. We had to do everything on our side of the court to make sure that we got that win.”

The Cougars finished the regular season with a 54-2 mark and were ranked No. 1 in the country for half of the season. WNCC lost only to Salt Lake Community College and Frank Phillips, who also made the semi-finals falling to Miami Dade and WNCC. Salt Lake claimed third place at nationals with a four-game win over Frank Phillips.

WNCC then finished off the tournament with the four-game win over Miami Dade, in which Green said was a pleasant win against a national power team. In fact, WNCC has never beaten Miami Dade at Nationals, going 0-3, including two years ago in the Final Four.

“We are ecstatic to win,” Green said Saturday night. “We watched film on Miami Dade and people saw them warm up, and they have some amazing hitters. We faced them two years ago in the Final Four and we kind of got wiped off the court. [Saturday] we played better then two years ago and did a great job. We almost played a perfect game.”

Schauermann, who played the tournament with a heavy heart, said she is proud to be part of school history.

“I am glad that I have been a part of that team,” she said. “We have just amazing girls this year. Every one was best friends and every one loved every one. We did everything together and we loved each other and we had amazing chemistry. This is the best feeling in my life. After coming off of last year and coming off that feeling when we lost, this is indescribable.”

National champs!!!!!!

National Champs!

Yes, the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team brought home the championship trophy with a thundering win over Miami Dade College Saturday evening in the finals and they did it in dominating fashion.

The Cougars registered a 30-27, 30-26, 21-30, 30-22 win to earn the college’s first national championship. The win was especially sweat since the Cougars lost in last year’s national title contest.

“I can’t think of words right now. This is unbelievable,” sophomore Stacie Meisner said. “For the sophomores on the team, we worked two years for this after we didn’t win last year. Coming into this year, we need what it would take to get here and to get to this game. We worked so hard. We had a good group of freshman come in and they worked their butts off, too, along with us, because they wanted it as bad as we did. We had everything it took this year. This is such a great feeling right now. I probably will be on this high for about a month or so. This is really exciting and a really good tournament. All the support that we had made this win that much more special and that much more memorable."

For nine-year head coach Chris Green, who was smiling from ear to ear, it was a relieve.

“I am a little relieved. I am very proud of the players and proud of how we played tonight,” he said. “I am proud of our defense. Soriana did an excellent job, Our hitters, especially Aida Bauza, was on fire tonight. Jennifer Eichler has contributed so much these last two years. We got our back row players that played great defense again tonight and kept their big hitters becoming too dominant. That is all I can say. I am just proud of what these girls did tonight.”

What makes this win special is it is the first national title in school history.

“We are happy to represent Scottsbluff and bring a national championship back home,” Green said.

The Cougars will return home today and will be escorted into town with a police escort sometime in the afternoon. Also, there will be a celebration at the College gym Monday morning at 9:50 a.m. to welcome home the national champions.

But, the win was definitely was a team win for the Cougars as the Cougars provided plenty of kills, blocks and defensive digs in the win. In fact, for the second straight night, it was the Cougars defensive that proved golden. It was also the Cougars best performance in the tournament, and they saved it for last.

“We did play very well. The first two matches of this tournament didn’t look too well for us. Then the last two matches against Salt Lake and Miami Dade, we had to play better and we stepped it up when we did. You can’t say enough about the girls. They were working for every point and I am very proud for that.. Every single point they worked hard for.

“We had some great digs again and we had people in the right places. Those four players again including Daphine, Kendra and Nayka had great digs. There were people in the front row that had some great saves. We covered up ou4 hitters well. So, when we did get blocked, we were able to cover and set it up again and get another swing at their huge block. Our back row defense,”

The Cougars placed four players with double-digit digs, led by Nayka Benitez, the tournament’s top server award, with 17 kills. Daphine Da Silva tallied 13 digs, followed by Sorana Pacheco and Kendra Schauermann with 10 digs each.

Most of the damage, though, was provided by Aida Bauza, who collected 29 kills on the evening. Bauza also earned the tournament MVP award. Bauza said that she wasn’t expecting the individual honors.

“I can’t explain how I feel right now. I feel very happy, Bauza said. “I didn’t expect this. I am very excited about it. I played with just the heart but this is very important to me. I wanted to win the championship and I put all my heart into the match all the time.”

WNCC The Cougars put three players on the all-tournament team -- Bauza, Pacheco and Fatima Balza. Balza finished the championship with eight blocks and 13 kills. Pacheco had another super match finishing with 10 kills, 10 digs and 57 set assists.

The Cougars also were led by Chelsea Lyles with seven kills, Jennier Eichler with 16 kills, Shawntell Jones with three kills, four blocks and six points, Bauza with five digs to go with her her 29 kills.

Schauermann, who was a part of the Cougars’ superb defensive effort for a second straight night, said there is nothing that will top this feeling.

“This is amazing. This is the best feeling in my life,” the sophomore from Windsor, Colo., said. “After coming off of last year and that feeling that we lost, this is unbelievable. It is indescribable. I don’t think anything can top this feeling right. I did this all for my Grandpa. Before he passed away, he told me to get a ring for him. That is the first thing I though of.”

Well, Schauermann got that ring for her grandpa and for the rest of the team. In fact, the way the Cougars played Saturday night, there was no denying the Cougars of the championship.

The first game was a back and forth affair with WNCC taking an 8-5 lead early on a Eichler kill. After that, both teams went back and forth until Benitez served the final point for the first game win.

The second game was all WNCC from start to finish. WNCC raced to a 5-1 lead behind four points from Benitez. The Cougars kept their foot to the pedal as they accelerated to an 18-10 lead behind two Schauermann service points.

Miami Dade, who entered the championship tilt with a 33-0 record, tried coming back as they sliced the lead to 25-21. WNCC, though, was too tough. After a missed serve, Eichler hammered home two kills and then Da Silva served the final two points for the win.

Miami Dade came out a different team in the third game rolling to a 12-7 and then a 18-12 lead. WNCC fought back slicing the lead to 20-17 on three Jones’ service points and a Eichler kill. But, that was as close as the Cougars got before succumbing to the Sharks 30-21.

The fourth game was a battle between two good ball clubs. WNCC started things as Benitez served three points to put the Cougars up 4-1. Miami Dade rebounded taking a 10-8. Soon after, the Cougars regained the lead on seven Benitez service points for a 17-11 lead. During the scoring spree, Bauza lit up the Miami Dade defense with three of her match-high 29 kills.

The Sharks came back andn sliced the lead to 20-19, but never did regain the lead as Lyles hammered home a kill to stop the rally and then Da Silva served two points for a 26-21 lead. WNCC finished off their first national title as Benitez served the final three points and Bauza got the winning kill sending the nearly 200 Cougar fans storming the floor with jubilation.

“It is amazing to be a part of school history and to be a part of such a great team and part of such amazing girls this year,: Schauermann said. “Everybody was best friends and everyone loved everyone. We did everything together and we loved each other. We had amazing chemistry this year.

“I think what helped win the title was the harder tournament schedule and the fact that we had a lower seed from last year, really gave us some fire underneath us,” she said. “But, coming off of last year’s loss, though, really gave us the drive and the confidence to come out and win a national championship.”

WNCC volleyball in championship match; defeated No. 1 Salt Lake in five tough games.

For more photos of the match go to wncccougars.albumpost.com

Western Nebraska Community College coach Chris Green couldn’t say enough about his defense Friday night against No. 1 Salt Lake Community College.

In fart, it was the back row that tallied the Cougars into the NJCAA championship match with a thrilling five game win over the Bruins, 30-19, 31-29, 21-30, 30-24, 15-12. The win sends the Cougars into their second straight title match against No. 2 seed Miami Dade today at 6 p.m. Miami Dade swept past Frank Phillips College 30-18, 30-22, 30-27.

“We have one happy group down there [on the floor],” Green said. “Hopefully we can get some sleep tonight and hopefully they will relax and get ready to play probably one of the most athletic team that I have seen in a while here. Miami Dade is incredible. We will have to play one heck of a game [today]."

But, if the Cougars play defense like they did against Salt Lake Friday, the Cougars should do just fine. Green couldn’t say enough positives about a defense that rose to the occasion when the Cougar’s backs were against the wall.

“Salt Lake was an amazing team. They had some great hitters in outside hitters Cinthia Silva and Samantha Richard and Talita Santo was amazing, in the middle. Those three players are incredible. But, our defense in the backrow was great,” Green said. “I just want to compliment our back row defense. Kwndra, Nayka, Daphine, Stacie; those four players had so many digs from those hard hits and we saved so many balls in digging those balls nice and high. It was that great defense that helped us win.”

“They don’t get a lot of credit a lot of times. Tonight, it was their night. They played great defense. We will have to do that even more so tomorrow against Miami Dade.

The Cougars defense, especially in the fourth and fifth game, stepped up their play big time. WNCC had four players register double-figure digs led by Nayka Benitez with 24, Daphine Da Silva with 17, Kendra Schauermann with 14 and Soriana Pacheco with 12.

But, as much as the defense played, it was the heart and drive of the Cougar ladies that persevered in a match that Salt Lake had the momentum early.

“It was a great win and having to come back in the second game was really exciting,” Green said. “I have said this four or five times already, but that was the key. Coming from behind and not giving up in that second game. We got beat pretty bad in the first game, got way behind in the second,, and we kept fighting and fighting and we were able to win that second game.”

Green said the second game win was crucial, especially since the Cougars trailed 18-11 in the game and came back to win 31-29 WNCC accomplished that win by pure dedication. First it was three service points from Gering’s Stacie Meisner to slice the lead 19-16. Then, after Salt Lake went up 26-21 and seemed to have the Cougars on the rope, Jennifer Eichler and Soriana Pacheco teamed up on a block.

Schauermann followed with three points to cut the lead to 26-25. Moments later, Eichler, who is making a cause for tournament MVP, heated up on the attack with a thundering kill. WNCC then had their backs on the ropes once again at 29-28. This time, Pacheco found the floor on a setter’s dink. Da Silva finished off the Bruins with two service points as Pacheco hammered home the game winning kill from the rightside.

Salt Lake rebounded in the third game finding holes in the Cougars defense left and right. The Bruins won 30-21 and seemed in control of the match.

No one told the Cougar players that as WNCC did to the Bruins what they did to them. WNCC came out in the fourth game and took control of the momentum. Meisner started things off on a hot note giving WNCC a 5-1 lead before three Benitez points, two of which were aces, pushed the lead to 10-3.

WNCC widened the lead to 20-12 on two Pacheco points and a huge Eichler kill. But, Salt Lake fought back slicing the lead to 24-22 on five points from Tela Burnett. WNCC came back as Chelsea Lyles hammered home a kill followed by three Da Silva service points for a 28-22 lead. After a missed serve, Aida Bauza came back with a kill to help WNCC force a game five.

Game five was all Cougars. In fact, Salt lake led just once at 1-0. After that, WNCC took contorl grabbing a 9-6 lead on three Benitez points, two of which were aces. Salt Lake fought back slicing the lead to 12-11 on a kill from Talita Santos. It didn’t matter, though, as WNCC’s Eichler became money in the bank with other kill to put WNCC up 13-11. After a Salt Lake timeout, Fatima Balza rattled home a kill to move WNCC to 14-11 before WNCC won the game on a hitting error by Salt Lake.

Eichler, who finished the game with 17 kills and five blocks said it turned out that they wanted it more then the Bruin players.

“This win was huge. It was very big and we are so excited to have won it,” she said. “We won this game because we wanted to and there is a national championship on the line. We came into the gym expecting to be going five games with them. Now, we are in the championship match again.”

Eichler said they will need to play just has hard against Miami Dade, who has won four national titles since 1999.

“We know what they are made of. They are Miami Dade,” she said. “They have a huge block, big arms and they are tall girls. We just have to play our best.”

Eichler said, however, they probably wouldn’t mind of playing Miami Dade right away Friday night after the blockbuster win in the semi-finals.

“There is probably enough adrenalin that we probably could if we needed to,” she said. “The other thing is that we probably wouldn’t because we a little tired, but we could if we needed to.”

Same with freshman Aida Bauza, who led the team with 22 kills. She said this team showed plenty of heart to move into the championship match.

“I think the key to the win was to play hard. We were down and then we got motivated and said to keep playing hard,” she said. “That was the key. “

WNCC also received eight kills and eight blccks from Fatima Balza, three blocks and four points from Shawntell Jones, eight points, four aces and 24 digs from Benitez, six digs and seven kills from Chelsea Lyles, nine kills and 54 set assists from Pacheco, seven points and 14 digs from Schaerermann, and eight points and five digs from Stacie Meisner.

wncc volleyball ready to open national tournament

View more photos of the national tournament at http://wncccougars.albumpost.com/

When Western Nebraska Community College’s Aida Bauza steps on the court today for the National Junior College Athletic Association volleyball tournament, she will be seeing a familier face across the net.

The Cougars will faace Hillsborough Community College today at 3 p.m. in the first round and that will pit Bauza against the Hawks’ Emily Calderon-Reyes. Both are from Puerto Rico and have faced each other on the court many times.

“They have a Puerto Rican girl that I played with that is very good. They set her a lot so we practiced on blocking her,” Bauza said. “But they have one girl that is really good [and we have have many].”

Calderon-Reyes leads the Hawks with 638 kills on the season (5.15 per game). The freshman from Cayey, Puerto Rico, also has 364 digs and 50.5 blocks per season. Calderon-Reyes is just one of three Puerto Ricans on the team. The Hawks also feature 5-foot-6 sophomore setter Yamari Padilla-Collazo., who is averaging 12.71 set assusts a game. Padilla-Collazo also has 231 digsm 68 aces and 125,

Hillsboro also feature 5-10 freshman Nallelis Sanfeliz-Ramieriz of Puerot Rico, 5-7 freshman Le’Derrianne Golden of Ft. Pierce, Fla., and 6-0 Jasmine Chriss of Tampa, Fla,

WNCC coach Chris Green said Hillsborough is in ways similar to his, but according to what he can tell on paper and through the Internet, it seems the Hawks strength is their outside hitters.

“All I know about Hillsborough is what I got from the NJCAA statistics,” he said. “They have one outside hitter that is good and I don’t think they rely on their middle hitters as much as we do.”

Green said, however, that Hillsborough is dangerous having almost beat perrenial national power and currently 30-0 Miami-Dade College. Hillsborough fell to Miami-Dade in the state finals 30-25, 30-27, 27-30, 27-30. Hillsborough is 0-3 against national tournament teams, falling twice to Miami Dade and then losing to Missouri-West Plains in five games 25-30, 30-24, 30-28, 26-30, 15-12.

WNCC, on the other hand, is 8-2 against national participant teams, falling only to Frank Phillips and Salt Lake. The Cougars have defeated Casper College, Barton County, Salt Lake Community College and College of Southern Idaho.

While there are several areas that the two teams have in common, the Cougars have a more balanced attack. Leading he list is setter Soriana Pacheco, who is averaging 11 set assists a game. The 5-10 sophomore also holds the career record for points served with 960 and the single season ace recford with 142. She also has tallied 259 kills and 95 blocks.

Pacheco, though, has plenty of weapons to set to. Bauza is one of those weapons. The 5-10 freshman is second on the team in kills with 412. She also has 50 blocks on the season.

The other hitters for the Cougars include sophomore Jennifer Eichler, who has netted 502 kills this season, while blocking 141 shots. Other weapons include 6-3 Fatima Balza, the team leader in blocking with 177, 6-0 Shawntell Jones, 6-0 Chelsea Lyles.

The Cougars also feature a strong serving and defensive corp. Leading the list are freshman nayka Benitez and sophomore Stacie Meisner. Meisner, a Gering graduate, has been razor sharp from the service line serving up 83 aces and xxx points, while Benitez, who missed the regional tournament after being hospitalized with an infection, has 125 aces and 476 digs.

The Cougars have also received stellar defensive play from sophomore Kendra Schauermann and freshman Daphine Da Silva. Schauermann, who filled in admiredly for Benitez at the libero position during regionals, had 301 digs on the season. Da Silva has also chipped in 256 digs, while also providing a lift from the service and hitting lines.

Green said that one of the things that should be in their favor is a big arena, even bigger then the one at West Plains, Mo.

“The gym is similar to West Plains except that it is bigger and there is more room to jump serve,” he said. “That should help our jump servers, Sori and Nayka, during the tournament.”

Bauza agrees that this year’s team has the right feel to make some noise at the national tournament.

“I think the unit that we have and the coaches that we have are good,” she said. “We trust everybody and that helps a lot. Also, Soriana helps us a lot because the setting is very good. Then the passing is good, also. We are playing really good right now. We just have to play hard every game, every point.”

The Cougars went through a practice session early Wednesday and Green said that the last half of the session went really well. He is hoping his team comes ready to play this afternoon.

“The last 10 minutes went really well,” he said. “the first part we had way too many hitting errors and that is something that we will need to avoid in the tournament.”

WNCC enters today’s match with a 50-2 record, was ranked No. 1 in the country for most of the season. That was, of course, until they were upended by Frank Phillips College at the Seward Invitational. Bauza said in the long run, that loss might be a blessing since it refocused the team.

“I think that loss helped us a lot to see what we need to work on and work for to get to nationals and get better,” she said. “This team is very good. We have the good passers. We have good hitters. We have the setting with Sori. I think it is a good team. We would like to be ranked No. 1 going in, but that is OK.”

If the Cougars win their opening match, they will play Thursday evening at 7:30 p.m. against the winner of the University of Arkansas-Ft. Smith and Temple College. If they should falter, they will fall to the consolation bracket and play at 11 a.m. Friday against the loser of UA-Ft. Smith and Temple.

Bauza, though, doesn’t want to fall into the consolation bracket and can’t wait to compete in one of the biggest tournaments that she has played in when the tournament tips off today.

“I am very excited for nationals. I want to win and I want to play good. I think all the ladies will play good,” she said. “We just need to play good on both sides of the net. We are going to make it. If we play well all the time, I know that we can, we will bring home a national title. I am very excited and I want to play already.”

Eichler excited to be going to national tournament again

Submitted By JEREMY WOZNICK, Star-Herald Sports Reporter

After three years as a member of the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team, Jennifer Eichler still finds it hard to believe she only has a couple more matches left in a Cougar uniform before her career at WNCC comes to an end.

But there's no place she'd rather end her extended stay at WNCC than at the NJCAA national tournament, which kicks off Thursday in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

"It's hard to believe my career here is almost over, but I'm glad I get to end it at the national tournament," Eichler said. "I'm glad that we're going there again, and it's a bonus that I'm a sophomore and this is the last time I get to play for Coach [Chris] Green and WNCC."

The Cougars open play in the national tournament on Thursday at 3 p.m. against Hillsborough Community College out of Tampa, Fla. WNCC advanced all the way to the championship match in last year's tournament before finishing runner-up to Iowa Western.

For Eichler, her junior college career was lengthened an extra year after she was awarded a medical redshirt as a freshman in 2005. Prior to that season, Eichler was diagnosed with a condition known as hyperthyroidism. Hyperthyroidism is a hereditary condition in which an overactive thyroid gland produces an excessive amount of thyroid hormones that circulate in the blood. The condition gave Eichler a number of problems during preseason practices before her freshman year including muscle weakness, fatigue, heart palpitations and an increased heart rate.

Eichler ended up sitting out that season and was rewarded with an extra year of eligibility. "It's all under control," Eichler said of the condition. "I just have to take a pill every day and have my blood checked once a year to make sure the medicine is doing what it's supposed to be doing."

Eichler had the opportunity to move on to a bigger school following last year's historic season.

However, she said returning to WNCC for an extra season was an easy decision for her to make.

"It wasn't a tough decision for me at all," Eichler said. "I knew after last year that I would be coming back. I didn't want to play anywhere else knowing I had one more semester here."

In her final season in a Cougar uniform, Eichler has flourished as a rightside hitter for a WNCC team that won its ninth straight regional championship and currently owns a record of 50-2 entering national tournament play. Her powerful southpaw hitting style has rendered most teams helpless at the net defensively. She leads the Cougars with a whopping 502 kills in 140 games. She also leads the team in serving accuracy at .948 and has the second-most blocks on the team with 141.

Her strong season has been noticed by plenty of coaches from around the nation as she earned both all-Region IX honors and all-tournament honors at the Region IX's South-Sub Region Tournament.

"I think I've had a good season," Eichler said humbly. "Coach has come up to me a lot and told me I've been doing a good job. Everyone on the team just tries to do their part and I think I've been doing my part as the rightside hitter. I've been getting a lot more sets and hits this year and I think I've improved a lot."

Her stellar play this season has also made her into one of the team leaders. That leadership role has been one she's embraced and has thrived in.

"I love having that role of being a leader in hitting out on the court," Eichler said. "A lot of times last year I really didn't feel like that because we had Leticia [Kuhn] and she was our big hitter. This year the ball's been split up between hitters and it's not always set to the same person every time. I think that has really helped me, and the rest of the hitters, because teams can't just focus on one of us all the time.

"I like having Coach and the other players counting on me. I like having the pressure put on me knowing that I can get the point. I like that role a lot."

This year's trip to the national tournament will be the third for Eichler. She was a student manager for the team in 2005 before helping the Cougars to the national championship match last year. Although the Cougars reached the title match a year ago, Eichler said it was a disappointing finish to the tournament because the team didn't play up to its potential in the final. She's hoping if this year's team is back in that position again, the finish will be a better one.

"We didn't play well as a team and it was disappointing," Eichler said about last year's final match. "We're so excited that we get another chance to go for No. 1. I think we have a really good chance of making it into the final again. It really depends on if we can bring it all together this year, unlike last year."

Although Eichler's playing career at WNCC will end at the completion of the national tournament, her collegiate career will continue at the Division I level next year as she'll be playing at the University of Tulsa in Tulsa, Okla. She'll join the team on scholarship in January. Tulsa began showing interest in her last year and has been in contact with her ever since.

"I'm so excited to get down there," Eichler said. "It's a bigger school and I'm ready to experience something like that."

Eichler is a secondary education major with aspirations of being a teacher and a volleyball coach.
She is the second member of this year's WNCC team to sign to play with a Division I school next year. Setter Soriana Pacheco will be continuing her career at Kansas State University.

Pacheco ready to lead Cougars at national tournament

In two years at Western Nebraska Community College, Soriana Pacheco has quietly emerged as one of the top setters in school history. But, it almost didn’t happen.

There was a point before her freshman season that she was pretty close of going back home to Venezuela.

“I was confused when I came here. I came here in July [2006] and started taking ESL classes in basic reading and basic writing,” she said. “After those classes I wanted to go home because I was so confused because I didn’t know any English and I was scared. I was thinking I want to go home and be with my family,” Pacheco said. “But several people let me know it is good to stay here, to learn English and play volleyball and be on a good team. Sometimes I feel homesick because I don’t have my family and friends here, but at the same time it is good because I can study here, graduate in May and play volleyball. It is OK now.”

Thank goodness that Pacheco stayed at WNCC last season because Pacheco has emerged as one of the top setters ever at WNCC. In two seasons, she has led the Cougars to a 106-4 record. Come Thursday, Pacheco will try to put another exclamation point on her career when the Cougars head to the national tournament in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

WNCC coach Chris Green said that Pacheco possibly could be one of the best setters to play at WNCC. Pacheco packs many weapons in her arsenal from being one of the top hitters on the team, the school record holder in ace serves, as well as someone that can play defense and block. Oh, by the way, she is one dandy setter as well.

“Every great team has to have a great setter and Soriana really does a great job for us. She is the quarterback and she makes the team run,” he said. “She is able to get the ball quickly to the hitters, which makes it very hard to stop. When we pass well and she has three options, our offense is very hard to stop. She is very deceptive as a setter and she also gets the ball to the hitter very quick, where the opposing team’s blockers have a hard time determining where the ball will go.”

Green said you won’t hear much from Pacheco on the court, she just goes about her business.

“She is not a very vocal person; she just quietly gets the job done,” he said. “She is very competitive and sometimes you don’t see that from her. She hates to lose and that is what you like to see in a setter.”

It is that quiet, deceptive play that Pacheco possesses that makes Green wonder if she isn’t the best setter to come through WNCC.

“Physically, I think she is one of the best to have come through here. She is not as vocal as we like, such as what Giovani [Melo] was or maybe not as much of a leader on the court as some of the other setters, but physically, she is 5-10 and she jumps well. She is able to attack. She is very versatile; maybe more versatile than any setter that we have had. She is also one of our better hitters on the team. We haven’t had that in a setter before. She really is a great athlete and physically one of the best that we have had.”

But one of the things that sets Pacheco apart this season is the talent that she is surrounded with.

“She led us to the runner-up finish last year and this year she has some great hitters around her so it is really hard to compare her to some of the other setters,” he said. “Offensively, I think we are more explosive then we have been in the past and she has a lot more hitters to work with.”

Pacheco’s volleyball success has already landed her a college scholarship at the next level at Kansas State University. Pacheco dreamed of playing at a Division I college before coming to the states.

“I never thought that I could play at a Division I school before coming here,” she said. “I am excited but at the same time scared to go to Kansas State because it is a change from here. I will go there after graduation in May and play with them in the summer.”

Green believes that Pacheco will be a good fit for the Kansas State system. In fact, she is the second Cougar to play for the Wildcats following in the footsteps of former WNCC player Agata Rezende.

“I think she will be asked to do more things for them then she was doing here, maybe being a little bit more vocal,” he said. “I think she will do a great job for them. One of their main goals is to beat Nebraska. She definitely is a player that has a lot of experience. She knows where to set the ball and that is very important in Division I.”

Pacheco, though, doesn’t think too much about individual success; she has one goal in mind and that is to bring home a national title. After last season’s disappointing finish at the national tournament where they finished second in the nation and Pacheco was named a first-team NJCAA all-American, both Green and Pacheco aren’t looking for individual honors, they have one big team honor in mind – a national title.

“I don’t know if she thinks about those kind of things [individual honors and records]; she just goes about her business and gets the job done,” Green said. “She really didn’t have an idea of what was going to happen as a freshman. Now, as a sophomore, I think she has a better idea and I think that will be a big advantage for us at the national tournament. She has been there one year already and she knows what it takes. She definitely will be the person that will help us win matches this weekend.”

What makes Pacheco special is her vast volleyball talent. She already smashed the school season record for ace serves with 142, breaking the record set last season by Letica Kuhn of 136. She also has connected on 1,758 set assists, 484 points, 266 kills, 279 digs and 97 blocks. Besides the season ace kill record, Pacheco also holds the career service points record. She has served up 960 points in her two years, topping the record of 890 set by Brittany Isakson in 2003-04.

Pacheco’s volleyball skills started developing at a young age back in her home country of Venezuela. Pacheco played volleyball constantly and was on the Venezuelan national team. After high school, she had a chance to play professionally in Europe, but decided an education was more important.

In fact, it was by coincidence that Green called Pacheco in the spring of 2006. Green learned of Pacheco from Cougar baseball player Lanny Hernandez, who is also from Venezuela. Hernandez’s girlfriend [Maileth Maldonado] was Pacheco’s best friend, and from that initial contact, Pacheco landed at WNCC.

“I told my parents and they said it is your decision. If you want to go, go ahead,” Pacheco said. “Coach then sent me the paperwork such as the I20. I had three months to get a visa, passport and all the paperwork. I studied a course for two months for basic English in Venezuela.

“I have learned a lot of English in one year and I am not scared of the English language anymore. Right now I am so busy because my classes are getting hard. I have one more semester here and I am going crazy in my classes, and volleyball is almost over and I want to bring back the national championship. And, right now, I am going to do the best that I can and we want to bring back the national championship.”

Cougar volleyball send off Tuesday at 10:45 a.m. in the commons

The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team will leave Tuesday afternoon for the NJCAA national volleyball tournament in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and the college will honor the team with a send-off Tuesday morning at 10:45 a.m. in the commons area of the college.

The public is invited to send-off the team in their trek to a national title. There will be speeches and other presentations during the 15-minute send-off, as well as refreshments.

The Cougars will open the national tournament at 3 p.m. (MST) on Thursday against Hillsborough Community College. Action for the national tournament can be head on the Internet at www.kozy1013.com. Also, photos and stories of the event can be seen from the Cougar Athletic Blog at http://wncccougarathletics.blogspot.com, as well as the Cougar Athletic Photo Album at http://wncccougars.albumpost.com.

WNCC volleyball to face Hillsborough Community College in first-round at national tournament

The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team’s road to the National Junior College Athletic Association national title won’t be a cake walk by any means.

The Cougars, who won their ninth straight regional title and finished last year as national tournament runner-ups, enter next week’s national tournament as the No. 5 seed and will face No. 12-seed Hillsborough Community College (32-6) out of Tampa, Fla. The game is slated for Thursday at 3 p.m. (MST) in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The tournament runs Nov. 15-17.

WNCC coach Chris Green, who earned Region IX Coach of the Year honors last week, said he doesn’t know a lot about Hillsborough except they battled undefeated and perennial national power Miami Dade College this season.

“They [Hillsborough] have one outside hitter that is pretty good from Puerto Rico and they almost beat Miami-Dade in the Florida championship, so they must be pretty good,” Green said. “They haven’t played a lot of matches outside of Florida so it is hard to gage their strength."

WNCC’s second-round match will be against either the University of Arkansas-Ft. Smith (38-4) or Temple College (22-13). The winner’s will face off Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The losing teams will meet Friday at 11 a.m.

“The first round is going to be tough for us. I think the top 10, 11 and 12 teams are very good, and unfortunately we have to play one of the better teams in the first round,” Green said. “Then [if we win] I am thinking we will play Arkansas-Ft. Smith. We played them last year in the Liberal, Kan., tournament, but of course they have different players now. They are very good and ranked ahead of us. They beat Frank Phillips, who we lost to.”

Green said the entire tournament will be difficult.

“Just to get to the semi-finals will be tough,” he said. “We will have two tough matches just to get to the semi-finals. Obviously, we will be an underdog if we get to that second round. Hopefully we can keep improving the next week and come out and be at the top of our game.”

The rest of the first-round match-ups include No. 3 Frank Phillips College (40-1) against No. 14 Casper College (30-17) and No. 6 Iowa Western Community College (56-3) against No. 11 Missouri State-West Plains (30-12) at 9 a.m.; No. 7 Barton County Community College (37-7) against No. 10 San Jacinto-Central (30-17) and No. 2 Miami Dade College (30-0) against No. 15 Spartanburg Methodist College (25-2) at 11 a.m.; and No. 1 Salt Lake Community College (40-1) against No. 16 Northwest Shoals Community College (35-9) and No. 8 College of Southern Idaho (37-11) against No. 9 Blinn College (32-3) at 1 p.m.

If WNCC reaches the semi-finals, they could have a match-up with No. 1 Salt Lake Community College, who handed the Cougars a defeat back on Sept. 1. WNCC’s other loss on the season came to Frank Phillips.

The Cougars have faced six of the other teams in the tournament field this season, recording an 8-2 record. WNCC met up with Casper College (4-0), Salt Lake (1-1), Frank Phillips (0-1), Barton County (1-0), Iowa Western (1-0) and Southern Idaho (1-0).

Green said while the road to the tourney title looks tough, his team has been putting in some quality time in the gym leading up to the national tournament.

“Our hitters have been doing some nice things in practice and we are trying to work on getting our outside hitters to be able to hit around blockers and be even more consistent and use different shots,” he said. “So, we have been working really hard with our outside hitters with Jennifer on the rightside and then our two outside hitters. Hopefully all that that work in practice will pay off.”

WNCC is slated to depart for Council Bluffs Tuesday at noon for their ninth-straight national tourney. The college will have a send-off for the team at 10:45 a.m. in the commons area of the college that morning with speeches and refreshments to wish the team good luck at the tournament. The send-off is open to the public.

VOLLEYBALL TEAM REGION IX CHAMPS

The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team captured its ninth straight regional title and earned a berth in the NJCAA national tournament Nov. 15-17 in Council Bluffs, Iowa, with a sweep of Northeastern Junior College 30-17, 30-28, 30-23.

WNCC went through the tournament without dropping a game, defeating Lamar Community College 30-7, 30-18, 30-20 and then NJC 30-22, 30-23, 30-27 on Friday to earn a berth in the title contest.

“Defensively, we did really well. Our block and our backrow defense was the key,” Region IX coach of the year Chris Green said. “We had to work very hard. NJC pushed us hard. Even though it was a sweep, it was very good volleyball with good rallies. We had to fight hard and we had to be scrappy to get the win. This win is more gratifying that we had to work for it, and we definitely had to work for it.”

The Cougars were led in the contest by Region IX Setter of the Year Soriana Pacheco. Pacheco finished with 34 set assists, four blocks and 12 digs.

Another sophomore that stood out was Jennifer Eichler. Eichler finished with 11 kills, three aces, eight points, eight digs and four blocks, and Green said she stepped up nicely in the title contest.

“Jennifer Eichler had to come in and serve receive and she was passing five out of the six rotations, which she hasn’t done throughout the year, and she did a good job," he said. "They [NJC] was picking on her. She hung in there and did a good job in the place of where Nayka would have been.”

But the win was a team effort as many players helped punch the Cougars’ ticket to the national tournament. Daphine Da Silva finished with two aces, 15 points and 13 digs; Shawntell Jones had one ace, 10 points and five blocks; Stacie Meisner had two aces, eight points and 10 digs; Fatima Balza had 10 kills and seven blocks; Chelsea Lyles had nine kills; Aida Bauza had eighth kills and three blocks; and Kendra Schauermann had 14 digs.

Several Cougars also garnered post-tournament honors. Besides Pacheco earning setter of the year honors in Region IX, other regional honors went to Eichler, Fatima Balza, and Nayka Benitez. Balza was tabbed the Freshman of the Year, while Benitez was named the Libero of the Year. Benitez, however, didn’t make the trip to regionals after being hospitalized Wednesday night with an illness.

Other all-region members from the other teams included Addi Radke, Thais Hollerbach, Jessica Tjaden and Tamy Leipelt of NJC; Cheri Lindsay, Rosey Falemka and Alohanui Pekipaki of Otero Junior College; April Sanchez of Lamar Community College; Yadira Jacquez and Lauren Boehmer of Trinidad State; and Cayla Skaritka of McCook Community College.

Lyles, Pacheco, Eichler, Jones and Bauza also earned all-tournament honors, while Green garnered Coach of the year honors.

The Cougars, 50-2, will now head to the national tournament for the ninth straight year.

"Hopefully we can have a good week of practice and then we will head down there next Tuesday.

Cougar volleyball team captures two wins to move into championship match

Submitted by JEREMY WOZNICK, Star-Herald Sports Reporter

TRINIDAD, Colo. - A pair of wins on Friday has the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team back in the championship match of the Region IX South Tournament for a ninth straight year.

The top-seeded Cougars opened the tournament with a 30-7, 30-18, 30-20 thumping of Lamar Community College before sweeping past Northeastern Junior College 30-22, 30-23, 30-27.
With a win today, the 49-2 Cougars will earn their ninth consecutive trip to the national tournament. The Cougars will take on the winner of the NJC-Trinidad State match today at 1 p.m. The winner of that match would have to beat WNCC twice today to knock the Cougars from their perch.

"We really had to work hard for the win tonight," WNCC coach Chris Green said following his team's win over NJC. "Our blocking in the first match was especially good. Against NJC we didn't serve very well, but we really played some scrappy volleyball. We really played well defensively."

The Cougars are playing the tournament without one of their top offensive and defensive players in Nayka Benitez, who didn't make the trip due to an infection. However, the Cougars didn't seem to miss a beat.

Against NJC, three different Cougars finished with double-double performances. Jennifer Eichler totaled 13 points and 10 kills. She also served four aces and collected five blocks. Soriana Pacheco finished with 38 set assists and 13 digs, while Stacie Meisner added 16 points, 11 digs and two aces. Aida Bauza led WNCC in hitting with 13 kills and Kendra Schauermann dug up a team-high 16 digs. Shawntell Jones added five blocks.

WNCC had a much easier time of it in its opening win over Lamar. Eichler paced the Cougars offensively with 15 kills. Eichler, along with Jones, both totaled a whopping eight blocks each. Pacheco totaled 36 assists and Schauermann had 12 digs. Meisner had another good match for the Cougars as she finished with 24 points, 10 digs and five aces.

The Cougars totaled 14 blocks in the win over Lamar.

In WNCC's last eight appearances in the regional tournament under Green, the Cougars have yet to lose a match. The coach said being the only team left in the tournament without a loss is a big advantage for his ball club today.

"Psychologically, it's a big advantage for us against whichever team we play," Green said. "It was good to get these first two matches. I think it's going to make whomever we play force the issue a little bit and sometimes that leads to errors. We're sitting in the best possible position right now."

WNCC wins first match at regionals over Lamar

The WNCC women's volleyball team started the Region IX South Volleyball Tournament off on a good note with a 3-game sweep of Lamar Community College Friday morning. The Cougars won 30-7, 30-18, 30-20.

Stacie Meisner finished with a double-double in the match, finishing with 10 digs and 24 points. She also had five aces. Also for the Cougars, Jennifer Eichler led the way offensively with 15 kills. The 6-foot sophomore also finished with eight blocks.

Also for WNCC, Fatima Balza finished with five blocks, Shawntell Jones had eight blocks, 12 points and two aces, Kendra Schauermann had 12 digs, and Soriana Pacheco had 36 set assists.

WNCC will next take on Northeastern Junior College today at 5 p.m. at Trinidad, Colo., NJC won its first match 30-18, 30-19, 30-22 over Otero Junior College.

WNCC volleyball broadcast via webcast on Internet

The Region IX South tournament in Trinidad, Colo., can be viewed on the Internet via web streaming through the Trinidad State Junior College website.

Action in the tournament started Thursday night with two matches, which were shown on the web -- Otero Junior College against McCook Community College and Trinidad State against Lamar Community College.

WNCC, 47-2, will face the winner of the Trinidad State and Lamar match Friday at 11 a.m. The match may be viewed at www.trinidadstate.edu/sports/volleyball/region/2007region.html.

WNCC volleyball team opens regional tournament on Friday

Everything the WNCC volleyball team has played for during the regular season comes down to one weekend — the Region IX tournament in Trinidad, Colo.

The Cougars, enter the tournament as the favorite after running through the regular season with a 47-2 record, a 10-0 sub-region record and a No. 5 ranking in the nation. The Cougars have also been ranked No. 1 in the country for much of the season until stumbling in one match on Oct. 13 to Frank Phillips College.

WNCC head coach Chris Green said his team is always ready for regionals, and this year will be no different.

“We always prepare hard for the tournament,” he said. “I think NJC will be the team to beat again. They have the hitters and the ball control to give us a challenge.”

WNCC earned a first-round bye because of its domination in regional matches. WNCC will play the winner of the Trinidad State and Lamar contest at 11 a.m. Friday. Trinidad and Lamar will face each other on Thursday. The other side of the bracket has Otero meeting McCook on Thursday with the winner facing Northeastern Colorado Friday at 9 a.m.

“Trinidad has improved a lot since the beginning/middle of the year. They will also be playing on their home court, so I think they will be a challenge,” Green said. “Lamar is a very scrappy team who plays very good defense. Offensively, they keep the ball in play and will let the other team make the mistakes.”

For WNCC, though, they have been the class of Region IX for the past eight years, winning every regional tournament that Green has coached in.

This year, the team has bigger goals and that is to get back to the national tournament and try to revenge last year’s heartbreaking loss in the national title match.

What has been impressive in the way WNCC as controlled its stranglehold on the region is the way they have been winning

Sure, at times they have struggled in wins against the lower teams. But when they have to win, they play to the top level. That is something that has impressed Green.

“I am proud of how we respond to adversity this year,” he said. “Last year we had a different type of attitude when we fell behind or weren’t playing at our best. But this year the players have shown resilliancy when they are down. Hopefully the team rises a step higher this weekend since it is the Region IX tournament.”

WNCC enters the tournament with some of the top players in the region. Sophomore setter Soriana Pacheco has already set a school record for most ace serves in a season with 137, bettering the mark set last season by Leticia Kuhn of 136. Nayka Benitez is also nearing the record. The freshman has 131 aces this season so far. But, the freshman libero will not make the trip after being hospitalized late Wednesday evening.

Pacheco, though, leads Region IX in setting at 11.02 set assists a game as well as No. 1 in aces served (1.1 per game). Pacheco also has three of the top six points served matches in the region.

Other players that are making their mark in the region are sophomore Jennifer Eichler, who has a .401 hitting efficiency. Eichler has hammered home 460 kills so far with a 3.56 per game average. Eichler also is among the region’s top 20 in serving with a serving percentage of 93 percent.

Green said, though, the key to winning the tournament is how they pass and serve.

“If NJC or any team is able to out-pass us or out-serve us, it will be difficult to overcome,” he said. “However, with the powerful offense that we have, if we can pass well, we hopefully will be hard to stop.”

That’s it. The Cougars have 103 games out of 105 since winning the Salt Lake tournament Sept. 1. At regionals, the Cougars have yet to drop a match in the past eight tourneys.

While WNCC is the odds on favorite to win the tournament, Green is weary about the other teams since this is the win or go home part of the season.

“We will definitely have to play better in Trinidad’s gym then we did a couple of weeks ago,” he said. “I think we have a good shot at it if we work hard for every points.”

WNCC defeats NJC, moves record to 47-2

STERLING, Colo. – Western Nebraska Community College’s Aida Bauza powered down 19 kills and the No. 5 ranked Cougars swept Northeastern Junior College Wednesday evening in the team’s regular season finale.

WNCC won in straight games 30-21, 30-25, 30-19 and improves its record to 47-2. The Cougars now turns their focus to the Region IX tournament which begins next week in Trinidad, Colo.

“We need to go down to Trinidad and play better then we did today,” WNCC coach Chris Green said. “Hopefully, we will play better because we really need to improve before the national tournament if we get there. NJC is a tough team and if they are hitting well, they will be a tough team to beat.”

Bauza, though, was just one of a handful of players that sparkled against NJC. Nayka Benitez finished with a double-double collecting 15 points and 15 digs. Benitez also had four aces in the match.

Also collecting double digits in the match was Kendra Schauermann with 10 digs, Daphine Da Silva with 13 points and Soriana Pacheco 40 set assists.

The one thing that impressed Green, though, was the team’s defense as the Cougar defenders saved balls and kept rallies going all night.

“We had some great defensive plays, too, to keep rallies going. NJC had some hard hits that we kept alive by our defensive,” he said. “They served the ball very tough and we didn’t get much of an offense going. We had a lot of one passes and a lot of passes where Sori had to bump set it. That can be contributed to their tough serving.”

As much as the defense was providing strong defensive play, Green said his hitters struggled.

“Aida played very well and had a nice night. She led the team in kills, easily,” he said. “It was nice to see us win with two of our five hitters not doing so well as we normally see.

It was the third game where the Cougars defense stepped up. After the Cougars won the first two games 30-21 and 30-25, the two ranked squads were locked into a battle. Both teams were tied at 3-3, when both teams put back-to-back long rallies, which was highlighted by some eye-popping saves by the Cougars.

Later, WNCC’s Pacheco served up three straight points, which included a Pacheco kill and a Benitez save that opened the NJC fan’s eyes to help WNCC to a 9-5 lead. WNCC couldn’t shake NJC, though, as the Plainswomen came back to slice the lead to 15-13.

That was as close as NJC got as Pacheco recorded a kill and then Benitez’s strong serving pushed the lead to 19-13. WNCC added to the lead as Stacie Meisner served up four points for a 29-19 lead before Fatima Balza tipped the ball over to end the match.

Besides Bauza’s 19 kills, Balza had eight kills and four blocks; Pacheco had seven kills four blocks and six points; Jennifer Eichler and Chelsea Lyles each had six kills; Shawntell Jones had five kills, four blocks and six points; Schauermann had 10 digs and four points; and Meisner had six digs and four points.

“It is likely that we will play them on Friday and Saturday [at regionals next week],” Green said. “We will see them some more and hopefully all of our hitters will have good matches next time we play them.”

WNCC volleyball turns back Trinidad on Friday

The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team picked up a 30-24, 30-17, 30-18 win over Trinidad State Junior College on Friday, raising their record to 44-2 on the season.

The No. 5-ranked Cougars received plenty of support in the win. WNCC was led in hittin gby Fatima Balza with 13 kills. Stacie Meisner served for 15 points, while Soriana Pacheco had five aces and 35 set assists. Defensively, Nayka Benitez had 22 kills.

WNCC volleyball wins final home match, improves to 43-2 on the season

More photos of the match are on the Cougar Athletic photo album under the Volleyball Folder. The address of the album is wncccougars.albumpost.com

For the six Western Nebraska Community College sophomores, Tuesday’s home finale was emotional.

Sophomores Jennifer Eichler, Shawntell Jones, Soriana Pacheco, Kendra Schauermann, Cassie Vrooman and Stacie Meisner put all the emotion aside of their final match in Cougar Palace and helped the Cougars to a 30-13, 30-20, 30-8 win over Laramie County Community College.

"There was a lot of emotion out there. We all are really close these past two years, especially last year with most of the team being freshmen and with us all coming back this year,” Meisner said. “We really enjoyed our two years here, so there was a lot of emotion of happy and sad.

The six sophomores racked up a 99-4 record in two years so far, after Tuesday night’s win over Laramie County. WNCC is now 43-2 on the season and used a balanced attack in getting the win over a decent Laramie County squad.

Meisner said the second game wasn’t pretty, but they finished strong, registering the 30-8 win in game three.

“Our second game was that good, but we came out in the third game and we really wanted to go out on a good note since this was our last game at Cougar Palace. We made sure that third game was really good and we accomplished that.”

Jones and Meisner paced the Cougars from the service line recording 16 and 14 points each. Jones added six ace serves in the win as well as three kills and four blocks. Meisner added three digs in her last match at Cougar Palace.

In fact, all six sophomores contributed. Jennifer Eichler was her typical self finishing with seven kills and two blocks; Schauermann had six points and four digs; Pacheco finished with seven points, three digs, 26 set assists and three kills; and Vrooman had one block.

The first-year players also came up big Tuesday night. Aida Bauza finished with 12 kills and three digs; Fatima Balza had nine kills and six blocks; Chelsea Lyles had seven kills and four blocks; Nayka Benitez had 11 digs and 10 points; and Daphine Da Silva had seven points.

The Cougars, though, started slow as both teams were knotted at six in the first game. Then, the Cougars strong serving came alive as Schauermann added two points, followed by Jones with a 3-point service run and Da Silva with a six points run. Schauermann finished off the Golden Eagles with the final two points.

Game two was a little iffy for the Cougars. LCCC came out and took a 10-6 lead on a Kodi Cartwright ace serve. LCCC kept hanging with WNCC leading 14-13 on a Dayane Souza ace serve.

Finally the Cougars came alive as Pacheco served for four points, followed by Schauermann with three points for a 22-16 lead. Jones continued the strong serving with a 6-point run, before the Cougars won the game on a Golden Eagle missed serve.

The third game was all WNCC. Laramie County did, however, start strong as they trailed 4-3 on a Cougar missed serve. The Cougars rebounded quickly on a Eichler kill and then Jones went to work again from the service line with eight straight points, including three aces, for a 13-3 lead.

Meisner added to the lead moments later with a 12-point serving spree for a commanding 26-4 lead. WNCC finished off the match on a Benitez ace serve for the Cougars 43^rd win of the season.

WNCC will be back in action this weekend when they face Trinidad State on Friday and then Otero and Lamar on Saturday. The Cougars wrap up the regular season Oct. 24 when they travel to Northeastern Junior College.

“We are looking forward to this weekend. Every time we step onto the court, we are hoping to get better and better,” Meisner said. “We are going to use these next four matches to prep for regionals and hopefully get us ready for nationals. Every step of the way we are getting better every match.

“After this past weekend, we realized that there are some things that we still need to work on. That loss might be a good thing to get back into the gym and practice a few days and really fine tune some things, that the loss pointed out that we need to work on before we get down to Council Bluffs.”

WNCC volleyball hosts Laramie County in regular season home finale

The Western Nebraska Community College will be action Tuesday, Oct. 16 in its regular season home finale against Laramie County Community College.

Tuesday’s contest will have plenty of festivities as it will be Parent’s Day, Sophomore Night and also Girl Scout Night.

The Cougar women, 42-2 on the season after suffering their second defeat of the year this past weekend, will be looking to start a new win streak against the Golden Eagles.

Last weekend, the Cougars finished third at the Seward County Invite in Liberal, Kan. After defeating No. 14 Hutchinson Community College and No. 9 Barton County Community College on Friday, the Cougars fell to No. 7 Frank Phillips College 30-27, 28-30, 15-12. WNCC rebounded with a 30-17, 33-31 win over Arizona Western for third place. Frank Phillips went on to win the tournament with a 30-15, 30-24 win over Northeastern Junior College.

After Tuesday’s contest, the Cougars will have four regular season games remaining – all sub-region contests. WNCC will face Trinidad State on the road on Friday followed by contests against Otero Junior College and Lamar Community College on Saturday.

WNCC finishes the regular season Oct. 24 when they travel to Sterling, Colo., to face No. 17 ranked Northeastern Junior College. The Region IX tournament is slated for Nov. 1-3 in Trinidad, Colo.