WNCC drops Casper in sophomores last home game on Oct. 20

                [Oct. 20, 2012] The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team capped off an undefeated home campaign (12-0) but topping Casper College 25-10, 23-25, 25-14, 25-15 on Saturday night at Cougar Palace.

                It was the final home game of the six sophomores -- Danika Youngblood, Kat Agson, Megan Johnson, Taylor VanderWerff, Alex Rivera, and Tasha Meyer -- and the six helped the Cougars to their 33rd win of the season against just two defeats. It was also the team's 27th straight victory with one regular season left -- Wednesday night at Northeastern Junior College.

                Youngblood capped off her career of playing at WNCC with an exceptional night. The outside hitter from South Jordan, Utah, tallied a triple-double of 23 kills, 14 digs, 11 points and four aces. The other sophomores also put in quality time with impressive performances in their last time playing in front of the Cougar crowd.

                Johnson finished with 10 points, two aces, three kills, and two blocks; Agson had nine kills and four blocks; Rivera had 14 digs, six set assists, six points, and an ace; VanderWerff had three kills and three blocks including a solo block; and Meyer had 10 digs and three points.

                WNCC started the final home match with authority, jumping out to a9-2 lead after Johnson served four points. The Cougars pushed the lead to 12-3 on two Meyer points and went up 16-5 on three Youngblood points. Youngblood also added two back-row kills during her service run. WNCC went on to win the contest 25-12 on three Johnson service points.

                The second set was a battle. WNCC went ahead 14-9 on a Johnson kill and led 19-15 on a Youngblood kill and Johnson service point. Casper came back to take a 22-21 lead on two Fallyn Griffin points before winning the set 25-23.

                The third set was another dogfight. WNCC took a 9-6 lead before watching Casper tie the game at 9-9 on two Sydney Marchant points. WNCC came back after a Yoro Tovar kill and four Muiza Martins points for a 14-9 lead. The Cougars pushed the lead to 17-11 on a Youngblood kill and two service points. WNCC captured the third set as Lauren Knox hit a kill and then Priscila Mendes served four points with Youngblood tallying three kills for the 25-14 win.

                The fourth set was all WNCC as the Cougars vaulted to a 8-2 lead and led 15-5 on three Rivera service points, aided by two Youngblood kills. WNCC led 22-9 at one time before Casper tried a late comeback with two Stanka Panic points, but the Cougars would prevail as VanderWerff finished off the match with a kill.

                Besides the sophomores outstanding performances in their last home match, the Cougars also received outstanding performances from everyone that played. Mendes finished with seven kills and 14 digs; Martins 48 set assists, 15 digs, nine points, and an ace; Tovar had seven kills, seven points, and three blocks, and Knox had five kills and five blocks.

               

WNCC soccer teams fall to Otero on Oct. 20

                 [Oct. 20, 2012] The Western Nebraska men’s and women soccer teams were blanked by Otero Junior College on Saturday at the Landers Soccer Complex in the team’s final regular season contests.

                The Cougar women ended their season with a 6-0 loss to No. 11 Otero, who entered the contest with a 13-1 record after suffering its first defeat on Friday to Laramie County Community College 3-1.

                The Cougar men played without many starters because of yellow card infractions and suffered a 4-0 setback to the Rattlers. The Cougar men will enter the Region IX playoffs with a road game on Tuesday against Northwest College.

                WNCC women’s sophomore Laura James said this was a tough season for the ladies, but what she saw from the season was they always fought hard, despite not being able to score goals.

“There was no point in the season where we just gave up, we at least kept trying and telling ourselves to keep our heads up,” James said. “It [the season] didn’t end up the way we wanted, but sometimes that happens and we have to keep going. That is what we tried to do.”

                Saturday, playing in their final match of the season, the Cougars gave it all against an Otero team that came in with just one loss on the season and ranked No. 11 in the country. The Cougars fought to the end despite the score on the scoreboard.

                “I definitely can say we played pretty tough but the game didn’t end up the way we wanted,” she said. “The one good thing is every one tried their hardest and we definitely got a lot of yellow cards. We definitely didn’t give up in the matches this season so that was good.”

                Otero took a 4-0 lead at halftime as they netted two scores early. The first came off the foot of Susanna Abundiz, while the second was scored by Tori Slattery off an assist from Abundiz. The Rattlers added two more first-half goals as Abundiz scored her second of the game, before Baylee Lindsley scored in the 15^th minutes.

                Otero added two more goals in the second half, the first coming just 13 minutes into the half as Erin Cortvriendt scored off a rebound. The final goal came with just six minutes left off the foot of Stephanie House.

                Otero outshot the Cougars 14-2 and held a 6-2 advantage on corner kicks. Patty Sylvester had six saves in net for the Cougars.

                James said playing her last soccer match for WNCC is bittersweet, but is hoping to continue playing at the next level.

                It is definitely bittersweet but I am excited to see if I can play someplace else,” she said. “I will definitely miss it here. I will miss Coach [Todd] Rasnic, the team, and all the friends that I have made. I was kind of sad on walking on the field for the last time but you have to move on because that is life.”

                The men’s contest didn’t go WNCC’s way either. The Cougar men were outshot 30-3. Otero went on top 2-0 at halftime as Danny Mibtelu score in the 31^st minutes. Then, five minutes later, Santiago Alegjandro scored off an assist from Ramino Ceja.

                The Rattlers added two more goals in the second half, the first coming off a penalty kick off the foot of Noki Le just nine minutes into the half. The final goal of the contest was scored by Jacob Gonzales with 16 minutes to go.

                The Cougars Joey Rasnic and Justin Becerra split time in the net, each recording seven saves in net.

WNCC volleyball defeats NJC at home on Oct. 19

               [Oct. 19, 2012]  Kat Agson pounded home 17 kills and the second-ranked Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team wrapped up the No. 1 seed for the Region IX South Volleyball tournament with a four-set win over Northeastern Junior College.

                The Cougars, playing in front an estimate 1,000-plus fans including Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman, topped the Plainswomen 24-26, 25-10, 25-15, 25-21 for their 26^th straight victory. Friday’s night was also Think Pink night in recognition of breast cancer awareness.

                Agson, who added eight digs to go with her 17 kills, said the team played well after that first set hiccup.

                “We just had to make some adjustments on our side because we were making too many errors,” Agson said. “The first set we had like 13 errors and in the second set we had just four. So, it was just a matter of us taking care of our side of the net.”

                The first set loss snapped a 45-set winning streak but the loss might do the team more good than harm.

                “I think it is a good thing because when it comes to regionals, everyone will try to come and play hard,” Agson said. “We can’t rely on our laurels anymore because we know it will be high pressure coming at regionals.”

                The first set was a dandy as both teams battled from start to finish. After WNCC lost that first set, they had to refocus, and refocus they did.

                “[The difference between the first and second set] was just minimizing our errors and playing our game,” Agson said. “If we didn’t have the set that we wanted, we just gave them the ball and let them make their own errors.”

                The Cougars played totally different in the final three sets. They won the second and third set with ease at 25-10 and 25-15. The fourth set was close at the beginning before the Cougars made a move to push the lead to around six or seven points on a strong front play from Agson, Danika Youngblood, Allora Tanner and Taylor VanderWerff for the win. VanderWerff got the final kill on the night for the team’s 32^nd win.

                The Cougars finished the match with a total of 54 kills and 11 blocks. Youngblood finished with a double-double of 14 kills and 20 digs, while Yoro Tovar had eight kills, two aces and three digs. Also for the Cougars, Priscila Mendes had three kills and four digs; Luiza Martins had three kills, 38 set assists, and 12 digs; Lauren Knox had three kills and 12 digs; VanderWerff had two kills and three blocks; Tanner had four kills; Alex Rivera had 22 digs and four set assists; Morgan Broussard had 13 set assists; and Tasha Meyer had nine digs.

                The Cougars, 32-2, will wrap up the home portion of their schedule tomorrow (Saturday) when they entertain Casper College at 7 p.m. This will also be sophomore appreciation as the six sophomores – Agson, Youngblood, Rivera, Meyer, VanderWerff, and Megan Johnson, play their final game at Cougar Palace.

WNCC soccer teams fall to Trinidad State

                 [Oct. 19, 2012] The Western Nebraska Community College men’s and women’s soccer teams played well, but couldn’t muster enough goals to pick up the wins against Trinidad State Junior College Friday afternoon at the Landers Soccer Complex.

                The Cougar women scored its first goal since Sept. 29, but it wasn’t enough as Trinidad State won the contest 2-1. On the men’s side, the Cougar men fell to the Trojans 3-1.

                WNCC coach Todd Rasnic said what pleased him about the women’s contest was his team outshot the Trojans, but just couldn’t find the back of the net but once.

                “We had our good moments but the same thing as all year we have struggled with multiple injuries and we did organize well,” Rasnic, who was celebrating his birthday on Friday, said. “We moved the ball well but the same struggle all year, we just can’t finish things. The women managed to get a goal in but we gave up a goal on a corner kick that ended up being the winning goal and we have struggled on defending corners.”

                The same held true for the men, they just couldn’t get the ball in the back of the net.

                “We lost the midfield in the first half, but we came back strong in the second half, changing positions around and the system a little bit,” Rasnic said. “We tightened up the middle and a lot a lot better penetration in the second half. But it was the same thing as the women; we are not finishing the ball well.”

                The Cougar women dominated the Trojans with shots in the first half with a total of 11 shots, but they just couldn’t get one into the net. The Cougars best change for a goal came with under a minute to play as a sliding attempt at goal failed to go in. Trinidad, in transition, went down the field and scored the go-ahead goal with just 35.3 seconds to play in the half off a shot by Zanique Celestin.

                WNCC wasted little time to knot the score. Just 46 seconds into the second half, Kourtney Mitchell took a pass from Ari Herrera and rocketed a fastball into the back of the net to tie things at 1-1. The Cougars had a couple of other chances to take the lead, but the ball either went high or wide.

                In the meantime, Trinidad went ahead with 24:26 to play as Karlee Ann Brundage scored off a corner kick from Celestin to put the Trojans up 2-1. WNCC had a good shot to tie the game with six minutes to play, but a Herrera shot went high.

                WNCC outshot Trinidad 17-6 and Patty Sylvester had four saves in net. Trinidad State controlled the corner kicks 5-1.

                The men’s game was very similar to the women’s contest. The first half was an evenly played contest. Trinidad struck first as Adrian Macias-Guttierrez took a pass from Justin Young in the 25^th minute for the early 1-0 lead. It took WNCC just two minutes to knot the score as Fernando Gutierrez took a pass from Adhemar Lino for the tying score and that is where it stayed until the second half.

                Both teams had about the same amount of shot attempts with the only difference is the Trojans put two in the back of the net. Trinidad’s first goal came in the 23^rd minutes as Miguel Garcia scored. Trinidad’s second goal came with just two minutes to go as Garcia scored again, this time off an assist from Marian Kachelmyer for the 3-1 win.

                Trinidad State outshot WNCC 13-11 and had one more corner kick then the Cougars at 5-4. Joey Rasnic had eight saves in net for the Cougars.

                Both WNCC teams will be back in action Saturday in their final home game of the season against Otero Junior College. The men kick off the day at noon followed by the women at 2 p.m. The Otero women suffered their first loss of the season, falling to Laramie County Community College 3-1 on Friday. The Otero men also fell 3-0 to LCCC on Friday.

WNCC volleyball cruises past McCook

                [Oct. 16, 3012] MCCOOK -- The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team received double-digit kills from Danika Youngblood and Kat Agson as the Cougars swept past McCook Community College 25-13, 25-9, 25-10 on Tuesday night in McCook.

                The second-ranked Cougars won their 25th straight match and their 31st win of the season. The team also extended their set-winning streak to 45 straight sets won.

                Tuesday's win also saw everyone contribute in some fashion. Gering's Morgan Broussard and Youngblood were the only Cougars to have a double-double. Broussard finished with 19 set assists and 12 digs. Broussard also served up four aces in the win. Youngblood added 12 digs to her 12 kills.

                Agson pounded home 10 kills and had two blocks in the win, while Allora Tanner ahd seven kills and two blocks. Also for the Cougars, Priscila Mendes had four kills and two blocks; Megan Johnson had three kills, five blocks, three set assists, and four digs; Taylor VanderWerff had three kills and three blocks; Lyndsay Wehkamp had thee kills; Lauren Knox had three digs; Luiza Martins had 16 set assists and two aces; and Alex Rivera had 15 digs.

                WNCC, 31-2, will next be in action Friday when they host Northeastern Junior College in Think Pink night. Individuals are asked to wear pink in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness month. The Cougars will then have their last home match of the year on Saturday against Casper College, where they will honor the sophomores.