WNCC soccer teams prepare for regional playoffs Friday, Sunday

The Western Nebraska Community College men’s and women’s soccer teams will enter the post-season with optimism of winning at Region IX title after finishing the regular season strong the last couple of weeks.

The Region IX playoffs begin Friday when the WNCC men play a semi-final contest against Western Wyoming Community College at 3 p.m. at the Landers Soccer Complex. The winner advances to the finals against Laramie County Community College at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Soccer Complex.

The Cougar women, in the meantime, will have a one-match playoff with No. 8-ranked Laramie County Community College for the right to move on to the district playoffs. The women’s title match is slated for noon on Sunday at the Landers Soccer Complex.

Soccer coach Todd Rasnic said both teams have the potential to win the regional title, but it will take playing at the top of their game to achieve the goal.

“I think both men and women have a very real shot at winning the Region IX Playoff,” he said. “The men have a big task; they have to win the next two games to advance. We are going to take that one game at a time. We are completely focused on Western Wyoming.”

Both Cougar teams will have stiff paths to the title. The men must win two matches for the title. First, they must get by a Western Wyoming squad that comes into the match with an 8-8-2 record, while WNCC comes in at 7-9. The two squads split contests this season with the Mustangs earning a 1-0 win in Rock Springs before the Cougars won 4-1 10 days ago in Scottsbluff.

“We need to continue to play consistent soccer. Over the past three or four games, we certainly have gotten back into our rhythm and we seem to be moving into a direction that is positive,” he said. “I think as long as the guys can maintain the organization and remember to bring the team effort to the field, we will be in good shape.

“We certainly have the ability and talent to beat Western Wyoming, as evident in the last game we played, but we have to play consistent. That has to be achieved by any team that wants to advance to the district playoffs.”

Rasnic said the key to victory is finding the back of the net, something they have struggled at for the majority of the season. As of late, though, they have been connecting on their shots, including a big 2-1 double overtime win over Dodge City Community College on Sunday.

Against Dodge City, Gering’s Chris Thompson and Scottsbluff’s Geoff Critzer scored the winning goals. But, all season long, the Cougars have been getting scoring from a variety of players.

WNCC has received scoring from sophomores Eloy Matos and Renato Segalla, as the two lead the team. Also netting goals on a regular basis include freshmen Lazzaro Torres, Morgan Wall and Antonio Herrera-Young.

“We have been plagued a couple of games in not being able to find the back of the net, and we seem to be getting back on track from that. Hopefully, this weekend will be successful for the gentlemen,” Rasnic said. “They certainly are in a position where they have some momentum right know, and that is a big thing.”

Rasnic said if they get into the Region IX championship match, they can win the title against a LCCC team the team knows they can beat.

“We lost to LCCC twice, once in overtime, and the second time 1-0. It was just two of our bad games during the season and we didn’t play to our full potential,” Rasnic said. “We even had more or just as many opportunities as LCCC to win the game, and we didn’t pull it off. We are on track now and we have the talent and the ability that if we get out of Region IX, can compete well in districts.”

The women team, who are 9-6-2 on the season and winners of their last three matches, are finding success in finding the back of the net. The Cougar women started the winning streak with an 8-0 win over Western Wyoming followed by a 1-0 win over Garden City and then an impressive 3-2 win over Dodge City.

WNCC’s Bre Perkes, who set a school record last season with 26 goals, is starting to find her stride again, after missing several games with injuries and a bad knee. This past weekend, Perkes scored a goal against Garden City and then notched two goals against Dodge City. She now has 10 goals and 23 points on the season.

“The women are playing extremely well. They are very organized,” Rasnic said. “I have been moving players around all year, trying to find the right mix of players to get a little bit more speed on top.”

Other offensive threats for the Cougars include sophomores Paige Achatz, who tied a school record with four goals against Western Wyoming on Oct. 9, Amanda Arrant, Kiwi Wingert and Nancy Boyack. The team is also getting plenty of offensive threats from freshmen Ashley Quintana and Tamika Smith as well. Achatz and Smith each have five goals on the season.

But, for the Cougars to advance to districts, they will have to get past a LCCC team that is 12-2-1 and riding plenty of momentum after knocking off previous No. 1 ranked Young Harris College over the weekend 2-1. One day later, LCCC fell to No. 3 Schoolcraft College 4-3.

“They [LCCC] is a good soccer team. They have a lot of talent,” Rasnic said. “We started off the season with a pretty bright outlook and through some unfortunate key injuries; we were put into a situation where we had to fight through every game. Honestly, we have done very well. The women have a winning record this year and they are in a position where they can win Region IX.

“The first game against LCCC was a 6-2 loss and then we went to a 3-1 loss, but the game was a lot closer. In think having all our players back and healthy could be a big advantage. We are still missing some key players that we lost for the season, but one thing we did in the past, including last season, is fight through difficult situations and give 100 percent in every minute of every game. They have every chance to win as much as LCCC.”

The winners of the regional playoffs will advance to the district playoffs Nov. 2-4. The men’s districts will be held in Overland Park, Kan., while the women’s districts will be held in Salt Lake City.

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.

WNCC softball offering winter pitching and hitting academies

The Western Nebraska Community College softball team will hold winter pitching and hitting academies for girls in grades Kindergarten through the 12 grade this winter.

The academies will be held Nov. 4, 11, 18 and Dec. 9. The cost is $40 per session or $30 if attending two or more sessions. The academies will be held at WNCC’s indoor softball/baseball facility located at 1209 2^nd Avenue in Scottsbluff.

The pitching academy will be held for beginning pitchers from 3-4 p.m. and advanced pitchers from 6-7 p.m. The hitting academy will be held from 4-5 p.m. for beginning hitters and 7-8 p.m. for advanced hitters. There is a limit to the number of participants in each session.

To download a flyer for the winter academies, go to the WNCC athletic website at sports.wncc.net.

WNCC men, women defeat Dodge City in soccer in regular season finale

The Western Nebraska Community College women’s soccer team have won three straight matches after making it a perfect weekend on Sunday by defeating Dodge City Community College 3-2.

The men also found the going positive as they earned a hard-fought win over Dodge City 2-1 in double overtime.

Both Cougar teams will now turn their focus to the Region IX playoffs, which will be played at the Landers Soccer Complex Friday and Sunday. The Cougar men will play a semi-final match Friday at 2 p.m. against Western Wyoming Community College with the winner facing Laramie County Community College at 2 p.m. on Sunday for the championship.

The women will next play Laramie County Community College Sunday at noon for the Region IX title. Both winners on Sunday will advance to the district title.

WNCC coach Todd Rasnic said that his teams are beginning to come around and he feels confident that, if they play like they did this past weekend, they can get to that district playoffs.

“Things are clicking on all cylinders with the women’s team,” he said. “The women are equivalent to 11-6 now and that is up there with the teams that are ranked. We just need to step up our play Sunday [against a team that beat the No. 1 ranked team in the nation]. If we win that one, we can go on to the districts.”

In fact, the Cougar women tallied three goals in the second half to earn the win. After trailing 1-0 at halftime, sophomore Bre Perkes nailed a penalty kick to tie the match. It wasn’t too much long that Perkes recorded her second goal of the match, taking a pass from Ashley Quintana for a 2-1 lead.

WNCC added an insurance goal as Gering’s Nancy Boyack found Quintana for the goal and the 3-1 lead.

Dodge City scored a late goal which didn’t have an effect on the contest. Both teams had four shots on goal. Dodge City had more corner kicks then WNCC, 6-4. WNCC’s Terri Huntington picked up the win in net with three saves.

Rasnic said that he was especially proud of his women’s team as they found the will to win against a very physical Dodge City team.

“It was the most physical match that we played all year,” Rasnic said. “We stuck with it and the they girls said they were tired of being pushed around and did a good job of taking control in the second half.

The women came through in the 35 mph winds and it carried over to the men’s team. Rasnic said his men’s team not only controlled play, but they kept their composure in another very physical match.

“It was the most physical match that we have played all year,” he said. “The guys played really good. They [Dodge City] did everything they could do to get us frustrated and our guys stepped up and played a complete game without losing their control. It was a rough contest, but the right team won.”

WNCC scored first in the contest as Scottsbluff’s Geoff Critzer took a deflection off a defender and buried into the back of the net at the 36^th minute of the first half.

Dodge City tied the match six minutes later on a shot as both teams went into intermission at 1-1. Neither team scored in the second half, forcing overtime.

Just four minutes into the first overtime, Scottsbluff’s Shayne Tower delivered a pass to Gering’s Chris Thompson for the go-ahead goal. The Cougars then got defensive as they shutout Dodge City the rest of the 16 minutes of overtime for the win.

WNCC had just three shots on goal in the 35 mph winds. WNCC’s Cesar Bazana picked up the win in net with six saves.

Frank Phillips snaps WNCC volleyball team's winning streak; No. 1 Cougars rebound with win over Arizona Western

Submitted by Jeremy Woznick, Star-Herald Sports Reporter

LIBERAL, Kan. - The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team had its 32-match winning streak snapped Saturday at the Seward County Invite in Liberal, Kan.

In a battle of top 10 teams, the No. 1 Cougars dropped a 30-27, 28-30, 15-12 setback to No. 7 Frank Phillips College. It was the first loss for the Cougars since Sept. 1 at the Salt Lake Invite.

It didn't take long for WNCC to get back on the winning track though as the Cougars posted a 30-17, 33-31 win over Arizona Western in their final match of the tournament. The victory pushed WNCC's overall record to 42-2 heading into Tuesday's home finale against Laramie County Community College.

WNCC coach Chris Green said his team struggled matching up with Frank Phillips' hitters in the loss.

"We just couldn't stop their two hitters," Green said. "They just played very well against us and we had a hard time slowing them down. It was a tough match. We just didn't do a very good job of blocking their hitters."

Aida Bauza led the Cougars in hitting against Frank Phillips with 16 kills. Jennifer Eichler added 15 kills and three blocks and Nayka Benitez had six points and 12 digs. Soriana Pacheco registered 40 set assists from her setter's position and Shawntell Jones finished with six digs and three blocks. Also in the match for WNCC, Stacie Meisner served six points and Fatima Balza had three blocks.

In the win over Arizona Western, Pacheco tallied a double-double of 10 kills and 24 assists. She also served two aces. Benitez led the team from the service line with 10 points, while Kendra Schauermann led the way defensively with five digs. Jones totaled five blocks.

Tuesday's home finale will also be featured by sophomore and parents night for the Cougar players. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Cougar Palace. It will be the last home match for the six sophomors -- Soriana Pacheco, Jennifer Eichler, Shawntell Jones, Kendra Schauermann, Stacie Meisner and Cassie Vrooman.

WNCC will finish its regular-season schedule with a four-match road swing through Colorado against Trinidad State, Otero, Lamar and Northeastern.

WNCC women's soccer downs Garden City, men fall to Broncbusters

The Western Nebraska Community College men’s and women’s soccer teams split a pair of matches Saturday against Garden City Community College. The Cougar women won their second straight match in downing the Broncbusters 1-0. The men, on the other hand, suffered a heart-breaking 2-1 loss to the Garden City squad.

“The women played really strong,” WNCC coach Todd Rasnic said. “We totally dominated.”

Even though they dominated play, the Cougar women had trouble finding the back of the net. The team had seven shots on goal. Both teams settled for a 0-0 tie at intermission. Finally, the Cougars found the back of the net as freshman Tamika Smith found Bre Perkes who deposited the ball in the back of the net at the 60^th minute.

"They [Garden City] had a strong defense,” Rasnic said. “It took us a little while to figure it out. Then, when we did, we scored. It was a good team effort.”

WNCC’s Terri Huntington picked up the win in goal getting three saves.

The men didn’t have as much luck, suffering the 2-1 loss, despite controlling the pace of the match.

“We completely controlled and dominated play,” Rasnic said about his men’s team. “It was very physical. We just couldn’t find the goal.”

The Broncbusters scored first at the seven minute on a corner kick goal. The Cougars had zero shots on goal, and two shots attempted in the first half as Garden City took the 1-0 lead into halftime.

Things were different for the Cougar men in the second half as they had eight shots of which two were on goal. WNCC tied the game at the 60^th minute as Eloy Matos delivered the ball to Renato Segalla who found the back of the net.

WNCC couldn’t hold the lead as Garden City came back and scored the go-ahead goal five minutes later and held on to the 2-1 lead.

The Cougar’s Cesar Bazana recorded three saves in net in getting the loss.

Rasnic said the Garden City men weren’t a bad team and is hoping his men rebound today when they face Dodge City Community College. The women will also face Dodge City today, and Rasnic said that the Dodge City women are not a bad team, having beat Garden City twice this season.

WNCC volleyball at Seward County Invite

The Western Nebraska Community College won its 40th and 41st matches of the season with sweeps over No. 14 Hutchinson Community College Blue Dragons and No. 9 Barton County Community College Friday in the first day of the Seward County Invite in Liberal, Kan.

The Cougars won 30-26, 30-15 over Hutchinson and then disposed of Barton County 30-19, 30-15 in play on Friday. WNCC will be back in action Saturday when they face another ranked team in Frank Phillips at 7 a.m. (MST) on Saturday.

Other scores in the tournament so far include Frank Phillips over Barton County 30-21, 26-30, 15-12; Arizona Western over Midland College 30-20, 19-30, 15-13; and Northeastern Colorado over Seward County 31-29, 30-28.

The complete schedule from the Seward County athletic website:

Frank Phillips def. Barton W. Nebraska def. Hutchinson Arizona Western def. Midland SCCC lost to N.E. Colorado Frank Phillips vs. Hutchinson W. Nebraska vs. Barton N.E. Colorado vs. Midland SCCC vs. Ariz. Western	30-21, 26-30, 15-12 30-26, 30-15 30-20, 19-30, 15-13 29-31, 28-30 2:00 pm 3:30 pm 5:00 pm 6:30 pm
Oct. 13 Sat.	W. Neb. vs. Frank Phillips Arizona West. vs. N.E. Colo. Barton vs. Hutchinson SCCC vs. Midland 7th Place Match (A4 vs. B4) 5th Place Match (A3 vs. B3) 3rd Place Match (A2 vs. B2) Championship Match (A1 vs. B1)	Liberal, Kan.	8:00 am 9:30 am 11:00 am 12:30 pm 2:00 pm 3:30 pm 5:00 pm 6:30 pm

WNCC sweeps McCook on Thursday for 30th win

The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball won its 30th straight contest, a sub-region match against McCook Community College on Thursday 30-11, 30-11, 30-16.

Several players stood out, including Soriana Pacheco, who had a triple-double with 23 points, we assists and 16 digs. She also had five aces.

Also for WNCC, Jennifer Eichler had 12 kills; Chelsea Lyles had five blocks; Nayka Benetiz has 12 digs; and Shawntell Jones had 10 blocks, four aces, 11 points, 14 kills and 10 digs.

Top-ranked WNCC volleyball topples NJC, runs record to 38-1

The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team finished with three players with double figure kills and played stellar defense in rolling over Northeastern Junior College in three games Tuesday at Cougar Palace.

The Cougars, 38-1 and winners of their last 29 straight matches, earned an impressive 30-24, 30-23, 30-20 win over the Plainswomen.

“Aida did some nice things, had some nice sets, and went one-on-one with their blockers quite a bit. That accounts for her 16 kills,” WNCC coach Chris Green said. “We really need to get Jennifer Eichler involved more in the offense, swinging more then tonight.”

Green said that their defense was also key against a good NJC team, that is ranked No. 17 in the country.

“They really served tough. They had two or three jump servers and that kind of kept us out of our offense as much as we liked,” he said. “But we have been playing good defense here in October and the end of September. They had good hitters, but we blocked them well at times. I don’t think they played as well as they can and capable of either. I think they had a lot of hitting errors, too. I expect when we go to NJC to play them, we will have to play better then this to beat them.”

Still, Green said they will need to play better this weekend at the Seward County Invite.

"Statistically, I don’t; think this was a real good game for us,” he said. “We had way too many serving errors [16], some hitting errors that we shouldn’t have had and we are still trying to get used to this new line-up [with Shawntell Jones back]. So we struggled with that. This weekend when we go down and play some Top 10 teams, we are not going to get away with that many missed serves.

“We were fired up and I think we were too fired up and a little anxious to play this match and that may explain some of the serving errors. Serving is our Achilles heel and we had too many errors tonight and it happened too often.”

Tuesday night, a day after serving 21 aces against Eastern Wyoming, the Cougars had just five aces against NJC. And, while their serving was down, the Cougars flexed their hitting and defensive stamina in front of a loud crowd, who were dressed in black and pink in honor of Black Out Night and Breast Cancer Awareness Night. Aida Bauza did the most damage along the frontline, pounding home 17 kills, including seven in the third game.

Fatima Balza and Jennifer Eichler also finished with double-digit kills. Balza had 14 kills, six of which came in the opening game. Eichler finished with 10 kills, including the game winner in the second set.

NJC had just one player with double-figure kills, as Addi Radke finished with 10. Three others had six kills each. Suyan Leilpelt led the Plainswomen with 12 digs.

WNCC, on the other hand, played solid defense saving balls all over the court. Pacheco led the team with nine digs followed by Kendra Schauermann with seven, and Stacie Meisner, Chelsea Lyles and Daphine Da Silva with five each.

In fact it was that defense that carried the Cougars to the win. After winning the first game 30-24, including jumping out to a 6-0 lead, WNCC had to fight tooth and nail with the Plainswomen in the final two games.

NJC’s only leads of the night were in the second game, including leading 10-9 on a Jessica Tjaden kill. After that, the Cougars came alive pushing the lead to 17-12 on two pancake saves. NJC came back slicing the lead to 24-21 on a Alexis Eliades and Brittany Larson block.

It didn’t last as Bauza came right back and hammered home a kill. WNCC kept their hitting going as Eichler finished game two with two more kills, and Bauza and Jones each had a kill for the win.

Game three also saw some stellar defensive plays. This time, though, WNCC led start to finish, but had to fight off NJC on several occasions of a comeback. They managed it with, again, good defense and two four-point service runs by Meisner and Nayka Benitez that pushed the lead to 20-9.

NJC fought back as Tamy Leipelt served up four points to cut the lead to 23-17, but a Eichler soft tip right over the blockers stopped the momentum. After that, Meisner served up two points and the Cougars cruised to the 30-20 win.

Bauza, besides finishing with 16 kills, also had two blocks for the Cougars. Also for WNCC, Pacheco had 42 set assists, four kills, six points and nine digs; Benitez had two aces, 10 points and four digs; Da Silva had seven points and five digs; Jones had five points and five kills; Schauermann had five points and seven kills; and Meisner had 10 points, three aces and five kills.

WNCC will return to action Thursday when they face McCook Community College on the road. They then will face Barton County and Hutchinson on Friday, and then Frank Phillips on Saturday in the Seward County Invite, with a fourth opponent to be determined by pool play.

WNCC volleyball takes down EWC in three straight behind 21 ace serves

The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team served up 21 aces and literally served Eastern Wyoming College off the court Monday night in posting a 30-9, 30-16, 30-13 wins at Cougar Palace.

The top-rated Cougars, 37-1, recorded 11 of those ace serves in the first game, four straight from Nayka Benitez to open the game and then seven of nine points by Soriana Pacheco to close the game, for the first-game win.

“Our serving, even when we didn’t have ace serves, kept them out of their offense most of the night,” WNCC coach Chris Green said. “Soriana and Nayka had some nice jump serves, but even our float servers, Stacie and Daphine, both pretty well. Our servers kept their passers from getting the ball to their setter and that is a big key in winning a volleyball match.”

EWC coach Verl Petsch said his team didn’t have an answer to the Cougars serving and overall talent on the other side of the net.

“They are an outstanding ball club. It was a situation where we had to play way above our heads to beat them with not only the experience they have but their physical size,” he said. “We got served off the court basically. From what I show they had 26 ace serves and that is a situation that you can’t compete. They just took us out of the match early. Fortunately that is part of the game.”

Petsch is hoping his team takes something positive from Monday’s game heading into a home stand this weekend against Western Wyoming Community College and Central Wyoming College.

“I am hopeful that they can learn from this. We are going to try to build from this because we have seven matches left and we would like to take something from this in terms of challenging ourselves and elevating our game to a level that we can compete with some of the other teams we have coming up. We obviously won’t be on the court with any talent of this nature the rest of this year. You have to give the Cougars credit for taking us out of our execution.”

The Cougars definitely rose to the occasion Monday night, and they needed to with plenty of big matches coming up this week. The biggest one, though, is tonight when they face No. 17 Northeastern Junior College at Cougar Palace in what is billed as “Black Out Night” and Breast Cancer Awareness Night.”

“We are excited about the week and the players were very excited to play EWC. I think we came out and played with some intensity,” Green said. “It has been a little while since we did that at home, but having a team like EWC come in who is just across the border, they brought out the best in us.”

Plus, the crowd made a huge factor in the contest with its enthusiasm for the No. 1 team in the nation.

“We had a big crowd because of the high school game before hand and the crowd was really into it,” Green said. “I think as far as intensity and enthusiasm, we will have that [today]. We need to have that enthusiasm every time we step onto the court. We did tonight and hopefully we can do that the rest of the season.”

WNCC quickly took EWC out of the game in the opening set. Benitez served made it 5-0 on four ace serves followed by Daphine Da Silva with three points for an 18-7 lead. A few rotations later, Pacheco finished off the first game with a nine point service run, including seven ace serves.

WNCC kept its enthusiasm going in the second game running to a 10-2 lead on three Benitez points. EWC came back on a Sara Gipfert kill and then two Josey Peterson service points, aided by a block and kill by Kelsey Stout, for a 16-7 deficit.

Peterson’s run, though, didn’t last long as Fatima Balza had four straight points, including four ace serves for a 19-7 lead. WNCC kept playing strong throughout the lineup with timely killing and nice serving for the 30-16 win.

The final game was close at the start as the Lancers trailed 3-2. That was until two different 4-point service runs by Shawntell Jones and Stacie Meisner opened up the game at 12-3. The Lancers did mount a late run on two nice kills by Tricia Dorshorst and two service points by Cassidy Carlisle, but it wasn’t enough as a Benitez ace served finished off the match.

Pacheco led the Cougars with 20 points, eight aces, three blocks, four kills and 27 set assists. Also for WNCC, Balza had four points, three aces, five blocks and eight kills; Eichler had five blocks and seven kills; Chelsea Lyles had for kills and one block; Da Silva had three blocks, 11 points and six digs; Jones had five blocks, five points and three kills; Benitez had 10 points, six aces and seven digs; Bauza had two blocks and seven kills; Meisner had nine points and Kendra Schauermann had four digs and three points.

The Lancers were paced by Stout with three kills and two blocks, followed by Gipfert with five blocks; Dorshorst with three kills and seven digs; Andrea Hockley with two blocks; Peterson with four points; Lora Hill with eight set assists and Sarah Blausey with six set assists.

WNCC soccer teams host Western Wyoming in regular-season home finale

The Western Nebraska Community College men’s and women’s soccer teams are looking to gain some momentum Tuesday when they host Western Wyoming Community College at the Landers Soccer Complex.

The women kick things off at 12:30 p.m. followed by the men at 2:30. The contests will be the team’s regular-season home finales, before they host the Region IX playoffs Oct. 19 and 21.

“We are pretty excited that we get to go against Western Wyoming in our last home game [before regionals],” women’s soccer player Paige Achatz said. “We are starting to get a little more healthy. The game with Coffeyville hurt us a lot. They were a tough team and took three of our players out at one time. Mara [Crouch] is still hurt and we don’t Jess [Aragon], one of our stronger players in the back, who tore her ACL.”

Achatz said that the women’s team is looking to perform better then they did the first time they played the Mustangs back in September. In that contest, the Cougars held a slim 2-0 halftime lead, before opening up the scoring for a 10-0 win.

“We have to come out stronger then last game since the score at the last game was 2-0,” the sophomore said. “We really need to come out a lot stronger and play harder as a team and work more combinations up top. We controlled the ball [the first match], we just weren’t get shots off as much as we needed to.

“We are hoping to get more shots off and build our confidence a lot more and prepare for this weekend against Dodge and Garden City.”

The Cougar men weren’t as fortunate in their first encounter with Western Wyoming, falling to the Mustangs in double overtime 4-3 in a game they controlled possession 70 percent of the time, hitting the cross bar 14 times.

“The guys lost to Western Wyoming in double overtime, and hopefully they can come out with a win this game,” she said.

Both teams are coming off of losses last week to Laramie County Community College, the men falling 1-0 and the women 3-1. Both teams are looking to gain some momentum heading into the final weeks of their seasons.

“We are fighting hard to beat LCCC this year,” Achatz said. “Hopefully the next three games will help us prepare for that [regional playoffs].”

After Tuesday’s contest, both teams will wrap up the regular season on the road when they travel to Garden City Community College and Dodge City Community College this weekend.

The Cougar men will then open the Region IX playoffs on Oct. 19 with a first-round contest. The men’s championship game is slated for Oct. 21 in the afternoon. The women will face Laramie County Community College on Oct. 21 at noon for the right to advance to the district playoffs.

WNCC volleyball sweeps Trinidad,runs record to 36-1

For more photos of the match, visit the Cougar Photo Album at wncccougars.albumpost.com

Western Nebraska Community College used strong serving in derailing Trinidad State Junior College in straight games 30-11, 30-11, 30-24 Saturday afternoon at Cougar Palace.

The Cougars put three players in double-digit scoring en route to their 27^th straight win. Stacie Meisner led the attack with 18 points, including 7-straight in the first game and eight straight in the third game, followed by Daphine Da Silva with 11 and Jennifer Eichler with 10.

WNCC also received eight points and three aces from Soriana Pacheco, seven points and three aces from Fatima Balza, and three aces from Meisner in the win.

“We had a lot or runs and that is how you get those serving points is not allowing the other team to sideout,” WNCC coach Chris Green said. “Stacie served the ball well tonight and she has been serving well lately. We really need her to keep doing that when we play stiffer competition.”

What pleased Green the most, though, was how his team rebounded from a so-so performance Friday against Otero Junior College.

“We had less errors [then last night]. We had only four hitting errors in the entire match, which is pretty amazing,” Green said. “We still had 10 serving errors, but that was less then last night. Those two parts of the game we played better. I also think defensively we had some nice digs.”

In deed WNCC looked like the Cougars of old, with a workmanlike effort that saw WNCC pull away in the first and second games. And, it was their serving and defense that paved the way.

WNCC held a slim 6-5 lead in the opening game until a Trinidad State missed served and Meisner’s 7-point service run opened up the contest to 14-5. WNCC continued serving tough as Balza served up four straight points and then Pacheco had five points, including two aces, for a 28-9 lead.

Game two was just as stellar for the Cougars. Da Silva started the Cougars off with a 3-0 lead, before both teams traded rotations one after the other. That was until Eichler stepped to the service line. The 6-foot left-handed hitter served nine straight points to put WNCC up 25-9. Balza finished of the Trojans with two service points, including an ace on the final point.

Meisner and Da Silva combined to give the Cougars a 13-1 lead to start the third game. That was when Trinidad’s Amanda Gardner decided to change the complexion of the game with four service points to slice the lead to 13-6.

Trinidad State continued hanging around in the third game cutting the lead to seven, 25-19, on a Loren Gonzales point. A Balza kill and two Kendra Schauermann service points changed things in a hurry, giving WNCC a 28-19 lead before the Cougars won 30-24.

Eichler continued to put up all-American numbers. Besides her 10 points, she also finished with three blocks and eight kills. Aida Bauza finished the game with seven kills, while Balza had five kills and two blocks.

Also for WNCC, Da Silva had four kills and four digs; Chelsea Lyles had three kills, three blocks and two digs; Pacheco had 13 set assists, two blocks and four digs; Cassie Vrooman had seven set assists; Schauermann had five points and nine digs; and Meisner had three set assists and seven digs.

WNCC, 36-1, will have one day off before returning to action Monday and Tuesday when they host Eastern Wyoming College on Monday and No. 17 Northeastern Junior College on Tuesday. Both have 7 p.m. start times.

“I think Eastern Wyoming has improved a lot since we saw them last and NJC is talented and definitely has a good team, which we will be challenged with,” Green said. “Hopefully we can go into those two matches on a positive note after today’s match, especially the first two games that we played pretty well.”

Both nights will have special events. Monday’s contest will follow the high school volleyball match between Leyton and Lingle-Ft. Laramie. Junior Varsity action for that high school match begins at 4 p.m. with varsity action slated for 5 p.m.

Then, on Tuesday, the Cougars will have “Black Out Night” along with Breast Cancer Awareness Night. The team is asking fans to wear black, while breast cancer survivors can call the college at 635-6151 for free tickets to the match.

Tuesday’s WNCC, NJC volleyball match becomes special for assistant coach Amy Winters

Western Nebraska Community College assistant volleyball coach Amy Winters is helping spread the word about breast cancer.

And, as a survivor herself from the illness, she and the rest of the Cougar volleyball team will be making Tuesday, Oct. 9, evening’s volleyball match with No. 17 Northeastern Junior College Breast Cancer Awareness night.

“October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so we wanted to do something at one of our volleyball matches,” Winters, a 1987 Sidney High School graduate, said. “We will be giving away pink breast cancer bracelets, pink ribbon pins, pink glow sticks, shower hangers with the steps to breast self-examination, bookmarks, breast cancer risk factors screening stickers and information pamphlets.”

Also, breast cancer survivors can call the college at 635-6151 and request tickets for Tuesday contest free of charge.

Winters said not only is it Breast Cancer Awareness night, it is also “Black Out Night,” against one of the Cougars top rivals. Winters is asking everyone to wear black, or paint their faces black, to show support for the No. 1 ranked Cougars, who are 35-1 on the season.

The true meaning of the night, though, is to bring awareness to breast cancer, something that Winters went through herself a couple of years ago.

"This means a lot to me because I was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer two years ago and went through chemotherapy and radiation treatments,” she said. “I think it is important for women to be aware of breast cancer because it is so common. I don't think a lot of women realize how important it is for them to do monthly breast exams. Breast cancer affects women (and men) of all ages. I found the lump myself and ended up going to the doctor. Twenty years ago my mom found a lump as well and went to the doctor right away. She was very lucky that she was doing self exams because she had inflammatory breast cancer and probably wouldn't have survived if she wouldn't have found it.”

While Winters was undergoing radiation and chemotherapy, she was still actively involved with the Cougar volleyball program as an assistant coach. She was also still taking classes through Chadron State College at the same time.

“I just want to help spread the word. It was one of the hardest things I've ever gone through but it was also a very positive, life-changing experience for me,” Winters said. “I have made so many friendships that will last a lifetime.”

Winters said many of the individuals that helped her deal with her surgery and recovery are expected to be in attendance Tuesday night. Winters said she can’t say enough about everyone at the Cancer Treatment Center in Scottsbluff.

“The doctors and chemo nurses are amazing. I dreaded going to my treatments but then I would see Becci [Nuland] or Joe [Salazar] or Jane [DeBrie] with their smiling faces and it made it so much better,” she said. “ Dr. [William] Packard was always so supportive as well.

As for the evening festivities, Winters said many people have worked to make this evening informative for everyone. And, the Cougars will hopefully make the evening an eventful one themselves.

“Becci played a big part in getting everything donated. She will be here at Cougar Palace helping on Tuesday night,” she said. “My friends Pam [Kilpatric] and Kelsey [Kriewald], who are also breast cancer survivors, will also be helping out. Dr. Packard is planning on attending the volleyball match and I am hoping the Dr. [Vincent] Bjorling will be able to make it as well.”

No. 1 WNCC volleyball downs Otero Junior College, improves to 35-1 on the season

To view photos from Friday's game, visit the WNCC Athletic Photo Album at wncccougars.albumpost.com

The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team found just enough pizzazz in their game to earn a sweep of Otero Junior College Friday at Cougar Palace. But, it wasn’t pretty.

WNCC ran its record to 35-1 with a hard-fought win over the Rattlers 30-14, 30-22, 30-20, running their win streak to 26 matches.

“I was disappointed in how we played. We didn’t serve very well and we had a lot of break downs on defense,” WNCC coach Chris Green said. “We had a lot of players not in the right spot making a defensive play when they should have been. We came out flat and that is what happens. Otero is a pretty good team and they have some pretty good hitters and we were lucky enough to come out with a win. We want to get better as the season goes along. Hopefully [Saturday] we will play better then we did today.”

For sure this wasn’t one of the Cougars’ best matches as the team tallied 14 missed services, including many back-to-back misses. The team also failed to put any player in double figures in digging, tallying just 25 digs for the match.

“We had a lot of missed serves and we had a lot of serves where we missed two in a row. That is one thing we really preach about is not having a missed serve followed by another missed serve,” Green said. “We weren’t too happy about the serving performance and I think it is one of the worst serving games that we have had this year. Defensively, I don’t think we played as well as we could have. Our block wasn’t as effective slowing down there middle attack and our back row defense not making the digs that they should have made. There are a lot of little things we need to improve on tomorrow.”

Still, the Cougars survived on pure talent. Fatima Balza paced the team with 12 kills, four points and five blocks. Aida Bauza also smacked home 10 kills, while Jennifer Eichler finished with nine kills.

Stacie Meisner popped in 18 service points, two aces and four digs, while Nayka Benitez had eight points, four aces and eight digs. Daphine Da Silva finished with seven points, four kills, three blocks and five digs; while Soriana Pacheco had six points, four kills, four blocks, five digs and 38 set assists.

Kendra Schauermann finished with four points and three digs, while Chelsea Lyles had four kills and four blocks.

Early on, Otero seemed as if they had the Cougars number, as they were hanging with the No. 1-ranked team in the nation. Both teams were knotted at 10, and the Rattlers even led 8-7 on a Cheri Lindsay kill.

Things quickly changed. First, it was Schauermann serving up three points. Then, Stacie Meisner sealed the deal for the Cougars, whipping up 13 straight points, including two aces, to put WNCC up 28-13 and the win.

WNCC played a lot better in game two controlling the pace from the get-go. After both teams were tied at 2-2, Benitez put the Cougars up 8-2. Otero came back and sliced the lead in half on a couple occasions, but the Cougars kept the margin at six or more the rest of the game. Eichler finally finished off the game with a monster kill.

The third game was also a battle between two solid South Sub-region opponents. Oteor held two early leads on two Cougar missed serves. WNCC battled back on three service points by Meisner.

Otero wouldn’t bite, as they clawed themselves back into the contest, slicing the lead to 11-8 and later 15-10. The Cougars will to win kept shining as Eichler nailed a kill followed by three Benitez service points for a 19-11 lead. The lead stayed near double-digits the rest of the way until Eichler ended the match on a kill from the rightside.

WNCC will return to action today when they host Trinidad State Junior College at 1 p.m. at Cougar Palace followed by home matches against Eastern Wyoming on Monday and a big match on Tuesday against Northeastern Junior College. Green is hoping his team puts a better show on the court then they did Friday.

“They [NJC] will be coming in here fired up and ready to play,” he said. “We definitely will need to play better then we did tonight if we are going to come away with a win on Tuesday night. Hopefully we can correct the mistakes we made [Saturday] and on Monday when we play Eastern Wyoming College.”

Also, Tuesday night is a special night. It will be Black Out Night with patrons urged to wear black. Tuesday will also be Breast Cancer Awareness night with information and giveaways dealing with breast cancer. Also, breast cancer survivors can call or request a free ticket to the game.

WNCC Cougars take down Lamar in three games, run record to 34-1

For more photos of the Cougars' match with Lamar, visit the WNCC athletic photo album at wncccougars.albumpost.com

The last time Western Nebraska Community College and Lamar Community College played each other, the Cougars allowed just 20 points in three games. Thursday night, the Cougars had a much tougher contest with the Runnin’ Lopes, but in the end the top-ranked Cougars prevailed in straight games 30-15, 30-11, 30-18.

“When we played them at the first of they year, they struggled,” sophomore Kendra Schauermann said. “Tonight, they didn’t have very many errors and I thought they played pretty good for the most part. We can step it up a lot more and play better. It is hard to play a team at a lower level. We definitely can play a little bit better tougher the next two nights.”

The win was the Cougars 34^th of the season to just one defeat. More importantly, it kept the Cougars unbeaten in sub-region play at 2-0 and pushed the team’s match winning streak to 25 since losing Sept. 1 to Salt Lake Community College, the No. 2 team in the country.

The Cougars might not of played a perfect match, missing 10 serves in the games, what WNCC did do was flex it’s depth once again. Everyone say action and contributed in some fashion in the win.

Sophomore Jennifer Eichler paced the Cougars with another routine contest, finishing with 12 kills, two blocks, five digs and five points. Soriana Pacheco also chipped in 16 points, three aces, two kills, five digs and 25 set assists.

Also for WNCC, Schauermann netted four kills, eight points and seven digs; Stacie Meisner had three kills, six points and five digs; Cassie Vrooman had three kills, two points and eight set assists; Aida Bauza had eight kills; Daphine Da Silva had six kills, six points and eight digs; Fatima Balza had nine kills, four points and two blocks; and Chelsea Lyles had five kills and three blocks.

WNCC started the match as if they were going to run through Lamar quickly as Pacheco served the Cougars to a 7-0 lead. Lamar bounced back, slicing the lead to 15-10 three April Sanchez points. WNCC quickly responded to Lamar’s challenge as Chelsea Lyles hammered home a kill followed by six Pacheco service points for a 22-10. The Cougars never looked back for the 30-15 win.

The Cougars played like a top-ranked team in the second game, jumping out to a 16-4 lead on six service points by Da Silva. Moments later, Balza served up four more points for a 21-5 lead. Schauermann added three service points later on and the Cougars cruised to a 30-11.

WNCC started the third game slow as Lamar tied the game at 3-3. The Runnin’ Lopes kept staying with the No. 1 team in the country, trailing 15-11. Things changed in a heartbeat after that as the Cougars stepped it up as Schauermann recorded two points, one on a kill for a 20-12 lead. Schauermann finished off the Runnin’ Lopes the same way, hammering home a kill and then serving up the final point of the match.

WNCC return to action today when they host Otero Junior College in a 7 p.m. contest. WNCC will then host Trinidad State Junior College at 1 p.m. on Saturday, before hosting Eastern Wyoming College and Northeastern Junior College on Monday and Tuesday.

“Otero had some new recruits this year and they look really good,” Schauermann said. “We faced them in the South Sub-region Tournament and they are a pretty tough team. I hope we come out strong and play hard.

“We also have NJC on Tuesday and we are looking forward to that. Then, next weekend, we have a big tournament where we will play Frank Phillips and Hutch, who are both good teams. Playing the tougher competition the next week will be fun.”

WNCC soccer teams fall to Laramie County CC

The Western Nebraska Community College men’s and women’s soccer teams played tough, but in the end, the Laramie County Community College teams were just a tad stronger, registering wins Wednesday at the soccer field on the campus of the LCCC.

The Cougar men suffered a 1-0 defeat in a contest where they outshot the Golden Eagles 9-8, but fell short on the scoreboard. The women, on the other hand, gave the No. 7 team in the nation fits before succumbing 3-1.

“We were in the [women’s] game until the end and unfortunately we let down a couple times on defense,” WNCC coach Todd Rasnic said. “Honestly, we are suffering from the injury bug this year. Some of the speed that gives us a threat on top is not there and we are missing some speed in the back. Those two things has caused us to lose some close ones. This was a good example of that.

“I was proud of the ladies today. They pulled together and they played hard. We were well into the first half tied 1-1. We scored the first goal. There are a lot of positives that we take from the game.”

Statwise, the Golden Eagles dominated play outshooting the Cougars 33-5. Of those shots, LCCC had 12 shots on goal compared to two for the WNCC. LCCC also had seven corner kicks to WNCC’s one.

In fact, the Cougars struck first in the match with 27:54 left in the first half. Ashley Quintana delivered a pass to Paige Achatz who put the ball into the back of the net. Achatz’s goal was in fact the Cougars first shot on goal for the game.

The lead didn’t last long. Fourteen seconds later, Megan Erickson netted a goal to tie the match at 1-1. LCCC took the lead at the 15 minute mark as Chelsea Eades scored on a nice shot to put the No. 7 team up 2-1.

The score stayed that way until the second half when LCCC scored first just 3 ½ minutes into the half on a goal by Shauna Fuentez.

WNCC didn’t quit. With about 33 minutes left, Tamika Smith rocketed a 25-foot shot from the middle that hit the top of the goal and ricocheted off the bar. WNCC had just one more shot on goal the rest of the half.

Rasnic said this team did well despite the fact that their sideline looked like a MASH unit missing three key players for the game. The team then lost two more players during the match for minor injuries.

“We have some work to do and we know that. We will continue to work and get better as a team,” Rasnic said. “We are going to hope that when we come out next time we will put a different team on the field for that Region IX playoff. That is what we are looking for in progress each game and I think we are getting there. I think the ladies are figuring how to play with this team and in the long run I think it will pay off.”

The men’s team played tough and was the victim of a late goal off a corner kick with 20 minutes in which Anthony Baldi found Johnny Garcia for the lone score.

“It was a pretty even contest. I felt like we lost most of our momentum because of our mid-field play where we lost the ball in the midfield area,” Rasnic said. “We let them get a stronger orientation then what we had in the second half and, unfortunately on a set piece, we didn’t defend it very well and they got a goal. Not taking anything away from LCCC, that was a good play with good strong players to the ball.”

WNCC did outplay the Golden Eagles in some aspect, but on the offensive side, it was all Golden Eagles. LCCC had 11 shots to WNCC’s 5 of which eight were on goal for LCCC and only three goal for the Cougars. That margin of shooting is starting to worry Rasnic.

"Unfortunately, we have been staying too much one dimensional in the attacking scheme. We have been working to get that changed up and come at teams with different aspects of the game. When we get pressured we seem to go back to that one-dimensional play,” Rasnic said. “We have some work to do and we are going to try to do it, try to figure out how we can make some changes to make us better. I think what you will see is a different team when we come out to play LCCC again on the men’s side.

The Cougar men still had some prime scoring chances in the second half. Renato Segalla had to good shots on goal, one two minutes into the game and the second at the 26 minute mark. Both, though, just missed.

Rasnic said his men’s team will put out a different team when the two meet up again in the Region IX playoffs later this month.

“We are going to keep working and those contests with LCCC, one in overtime and this one 1-0, tells me the games are within reach,” he said. “We are just going to push forward until we get to the Region IX playoffs and hope our guys can figure out their opportunities on top. We had very little pressure on our opponent on top today. That has to change.”

Both teams will be off until Tuesday when they host Western Wyoming Community College at the Landers Soccer Complex. The women’s match will begin at 12:30 p.m. followed by the men’s match at 2:30 p.m. It will also be the team’s last home regular season contest before the regional playoffs.

WNCC volleyball goes to 33-1 with sweep of Casper College

For photos of the WNCC and Casper College match, go to the WNCC athletic photo album at wncccougars.albumpost.com

The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team showcased a ruthless defense that stymied a good Casper College offense attack Tuesday in sweeping the Thunderbirds 30-13, 30-22, 30-11 at Cougar Palace.

“We played good defense and our transition from defense to offense was very good tonight,” WNCC coach Chris Green said. “We like to run the middle attack off of that defensive transition if our dig is good enough. It happened four or five times tonight where we ran a quick attack off a defensive play and that is almost always successful.”

The Cougars forte Tuesday was definitely defense and serving, and they showcased those two strengths to the max. Three Cougars finished with double-digit scoring, led by Gering’s Stacie Meisner with 16 points followed by Fatima Balza with 12 and Soriana Pacheco with 11.

But, as strong at serving the Cougars were, they were just as stellar in the back and along the front rows. The team finished with 25 kills, led by Chelsea Lyles with eight and Pacheco with six.

Defensively, Nayka Benitez finishing with 11 digs followed by Meisner with nine, Daphine DaSilva with eight, and Balza and Pacheco with six each.

In fact, WNCC’s defense was so dominant that the Thunderbird’s leading hitter, Agata Dawidowicz, finished with just eight kills with six coming in the closet game of the match, the second game.

“When we played Casper the first time (at Casper), we didn’t hardly block them at all. I think we had one or two blocks the entire match,” Green said. “They run a very quick offense. They set the ball out to the antenna very quickly and since the first time we played them, we adjusted very well to what they do. Our block did a great job tonight.”

The Cougars made quick work of the Thunderbirds in games one and three. In game one, WNCC ran out to a 14-5 lead behind four service points by Balza. Aida Bauza also put on hitting clinic during that run as the freshman from Puerto Rico hammered home six kills.

Balza finished off the Thunderbirds with five service points with some Lyles collecting three kills for the 30-13 win.

Game two was a battle between the two Region IX rivals. Casper led the No. 1 Cougars 6-5 on a Maja Jechorek kill. The lead was short-lived with WNCC rebounding on three Da Silva service points for a 9-6 lead.

WNCC pushed the lead to 15-8 on three Pacheco points, only to see Casper’s Jodi Williams bring the Thunderbirds back with thee points, including two kills by Vanessa Muir and Agata Dawidowicz at 15-12.

Both teams kept battling back and forth with Casper slicing the lead to two points, 18-16 on two Muir points. Jennifer Eichler came back and took things into her own care and hammered home a kill to stop the run, turning the momentum over to WNCC and the 30-22 win.

Game three was even more lopsided as Pacheco served five points for a 5-0 lead and then Meisner had a 13-point service run for a 23-5 lead. After that, the Cougars never looked back for the 30-11 win.

“Last year we had a stretch where we really struggled at home. And, today I was happy how we came out and played on our home court. I know we are a very good tournament team where after we play a match or two, we are really fired and warmed up. And, to see us come out and play like we did tonight with just one match, it is a good thing that we could be dominate in one match.”

Bauza and Eichler also put up good offense, each finishing with double-digit kills. Bauza had 15 kills, as well as four blocks and three digs, while Eichler had 13 kills and two blocks.

Also for WNCC, Lyles had six kills; Balza had seven kills and three aces; Pacheco had six kills, 45 set assists and two aces; Schauermann had three digs and six points; and Meisner had two aces to go with her 16 points.

WNCC, 33-1, is in a midst of a string of matches where they will see the practice floor just twice – today and a week from Wednesday. In the meantime, they will have five more home matches in a seven day stretch.

“We don’t practice much in the next two weeks,” Green said. “In the next two weeks we do a lot of playing here and hopefully we improved tonight and got better as a team. I think this was a big improvement over our McCook match [on Saturday]. We won’t work too hard in practice [today] to get ready for Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

“Then, next week is a big week too. We only have a Wednesday practice before that big tournament in Kansas. So, we only have two more practices before we go down and play some Top 10 teams [at Liberal, Kan.].”

The Cougars return to action Thursday when they host Lamar Community College in a 7 p.m. contest, followed by contests with Otero Junior College on Friday, Trinidad State on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m., Eastern Wyoming College on Monday and Northeastern Junior College on Tuesday.

WNCC men's basketball opens practice

After just one day of practice for the Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team, first-year coach Brian Joyce loves that enthusiasm and work ethic that he sees with his 17 players.

“No question it [the play of the guys] will be intense. That is what our teams have been known for in the past, and I don’t think that will be no different here,” Joyce said. “There will be natural adjustments that guys will have and everybody has to adjust to the new situation. In terms of the intensity, the effort and the energy, I am very confident that will be seen.”

The Cougar men and women officially started practice Monday in preparation of the coming season. And, for the first day, Joyce was pleasantly pleased with the performance his team put forth.

“I thought practice was great for the first day,” he said. “Obviously, there was a lot of teaching going on because there are not a lot of guys returning or what I am wanting of guys. So, the first day there is a lot of starting and stopping. I don’t like that, but that is the reality of the situation.”

The Cougar men are building for their season- and home-opener on Nov. 2 and 3 when they host the Cougar Tournament. “They are excited for the season,” Joyce said. “I think they are tired, even now, of playing against each other and that is a challenge. When you always go against each other, you start to get frustrated with each other.”

What this year’s team will bring to the court is a passion for the game. Practices have been intense with an up-beat atmosphere. In fact, that is Joyce’s style of game and that style brought Joyce success when he was the assistant and head coach at Northeastern Junior College for seven years helping them to 171 wins, including two regional titles.

Joyce said the components are there to bring WNCC back to the top.

"I know this region from playing in it and I think our pieces are at a level that we need to be at right now to be competitive in the region,” he said. “How we put it together will be the difference in how good we will be.”

Joyce is also instilling plenty of positive goals among his team, such as building off the success of this year’s volleyball team.

“Obviously with volleyball and the fall sports like soccer and fall baseball and softball, I think people get rived up to what is going on here,” he said. “When your program in the fall is No. 1 in the country, how can you not get excited. I know it excites me and I have been talking to our team about that and how proudly we are of what they have accomplished and hopefully we can piggy-back off that in terms of the excitement enthusiasm and make it a team effort for everyone.”

WNCC returns just three players from last year’s team in Doradji Wilson, DaRon Kirkendoll and David Busman, while the rest of the players are all newcomers to the program.

The freshmen include 6-foot-1 Kelvin Franklin of Aurora, Colo.; 6-3 Oscar Cartwright and 6-5 Ivan Johnson of Dallas, Texas; 6-5 Lloyd Hickinson of Chandler, Ariz.; 5-11 Jamie Eisinger and 6-4 Drew Eisinger of Mill Creek, Wash.; 6-1 Bernie Agnew of Columbus, Ohio; 6-3 Terrell Eaddy of Bronx, NY; 6-9 Tearon Hill of Carrollton, Texas; 6-8 Terrell Price of Cedar Hill, Texas; 6-5 Chris Hamblin of St. Paul, Minn.; 6-0 Daniel Smith of Baltimore, Md.; 6-2 Scott Barnforth of Albuquerque, NM; 6-2 Devin West of Phoenix, Ariz.; and 5-10 Greg Hinkle of Scottsbluff.

Joyce said so far the community has embraced him and his players. He fields questions about how good the team will be and he tells them other teams will know who Western Nebraska is.

“A significantly number of people has asked me about the men’s team and that is exciting,” he said. “Obviously, everyone is excited but there are a lot of things that need to work out and that is a long way off to where we are right now. I don’t mind the lofty goals, but the reality is this is a new group, with very few returning, and it takes time to build each piece of the puzzle. I think we will move in the right direction.

“All we can worry about is us and not worry about those rankings, they take care of themselves as time goes on. Once we get going, people will know we are here and now Western Nebraska will be a tough game for them.”

Joyce, who was hired in May as the men’s basketball coach, after spending one year as an assistant at Colorado State University, believes the future is bright for Cougar basketball.

“I am excited to be here and hopefully we will put something out there that will be quality enough that people will want to take ownership in it,” he said. “It may take a little time, but we are putting things in place to try to get us there.”

WNCC softball team finish Triple Crown tourney 2-2-1

For more photos of the softball team at the Triple Crown Classic on Sunday, visit the Cougar Athletic Photo Album at wncccougars.albumpost.com

The Western Nebraska Community College softball team wrapped up its fall season with a nice showing at the Triple Crown Fall College Classic on Sunday.

The Cougars, after going 1-2 on Saturday, finished the tournament Sunday by downing Metro State University 7-4 before tying Regis University 5-5. The Cougars finished the fall season 10-7-1. WNCC was the only junior college team at the 9-team tournament.

Against Metro State, who is coached by former Otero Junior College Jen Fisher, the Cougars used the long ball in defeating Metro State. Metro State led 2-1 heading into the fourth when the Cougars offense shined.

Amanda Torimaru started the power with a 2-run shot over left centerfield to put WNCC up 3-2. Later, after singled by Lauren Bourdon and Mandy Pound, freshman Allie Griffin blasted a shot over the centerfield fence for a 3-run dinger to put WNCC up 6-2.

Metro answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning, slicing the lead to 6-4. WNCC came back and added an insurance run in the fifth. Jessie McNabb was hit by a pitch and scored on a Torimaru sacrifice fly to right field.

Natasha Dypchey picked up the win in the circle striking out seven and scattering seven hits. The sophomore from British Columbia, Canada, walked just one batter.

WNCC pounded out 12 hits to Metro’s 8. Griffin paced the Cougars with a 2-for-3 performance, including a home run, double, three RBIs and a run scored. Also collecting multiple hits was Alec Voci with a 2-for-4 day performance with a double.

In the Regis contest, WNCC left the bases loaded in the first three innings and had to settle for the 5-5 tie, even though they should have picked up the win. Still, the Cougars offensive attack was strong, pounding out 15 hits.

WNCC scored all their runs in the middle innings, adding two runs in the third and three runs in the fourth. McNabb and Amanda Hensley led off the third with singles. Both runners cored on singles by Torimaru and Lauren Bourdon to put WNCC up 2-1.

WNCC went up 5-1 with a 3-spot in the fourth inning. Lauryn Smith led off with a sharp-hit double down the rightfield line. She later scored on a 2-out double by Kara Ryman, after fouling off 10 balls. Torimaru plated the last two runs on a hit error by the first baseman for the 5-1 lead.

Regis came back with single runs in the fifth and sixth, and then tied the game in the seventh. WNCC, though, was primed to pick up the win, but Regis scored two runs with two outs to earn the tie.

Still, freshman Kelsey Garner pitched well scattering 10 hits, striking out three.

WNCC had several players register multiple hits. Smith finished the game 2-for-4 with a run scored and double; Voci was 2-for-4; McNabb was 2-for-3 with a run scored; Hensley was 2-for-3 with two runs scored; Kara Ryman was 2-for-3 with a double, run scored and an RBI; Bourdon was 2-for-4 with a double and RBI; and Torimaru finished with three RBIs.

Game One
WNCC 100 510 – 7 12 2
Metro State 020 200 – 4 8 0
WP – Dypchey; 2B – Voci, Griffin; HR – Torimari, Griffin.

Game Two
WNCC 002 300 0 – 7 15 1
Regis U. 100 011 2 – 7 11 1
WP – Garner; 2B – Smith, Ryman, Bourdon.