WNCC women's basketball ready to open the season

                [11/1/2012] Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball coach Dave Harnish will begin his 25^th season as head coach of the Cougars when the team tips off Saturday against the Nebraska All-stars.

                And, as much as the Cougar players are anxious to get things started at 2 p.m., Harnish is also excited for this coming season.

                “We {the coaches] have been very pleased with the growth and dedication that they put in the weight room and everything that has been required of them,” Harnish said. “I am excited to see this group play. I think we will be fun to watch, I think this will be a team that will compete night in and night out. We are going to defend very well and play the game the right way. I am excited about them and the kids are excited to get the season started.”

                WNCC was slated to open against Buckley Air Force Base, but when Buckley canceled, Harnish put together the all-star team consisting of former Cougars as well as high school stars from around the area.

                Last season, the Cougars finished with a 21-9 record, but were hobbled by the injury bug. This season, there is plenty of depth and talent to go around making the outlook for this season could be one similar to his Region IX championship teams of the 1990s and mid early 2000 years where the team was one of the top defensive teams in the nation.

                “You never know what your strengths will be offensively until you play some games, but I hope we will shot the ball pretty well this year,” Harnish said. “We are not tall based on having five or six kids over six-foot, but we are tall in other positions. I really do believe defensively, we have the capabilities of being one of the better defensive teams I have ever had here. We do a very good job in both the half court and full court, and we rebound the ball very well. I would say right know our strength will be our defense and we will find out where our strength is offensively.”

                The Cougars enter the season with plenty of youth with just three players back from a year ago.

The returners back include Jessica Aratani, a 5-foot-10 forward/guard from Morrill; 5-8 Kelsey Doddridge of Windsor, Colo., and Idil Ozbayrak, a 5-8 guard from Ankara, Turkey. Ozbayrak is coming off an ACL tear that happened last February.

                A big addition to the team is sophomore transfer Gritt Ryder of Rungsted Kyst, Denmark. Ryder earned GNAC Conference Freshman of the Year honors while playing for the University of Alaska Anchorage where she averaged 5.7 points, 2.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists a game in helping the Seawolves to their third straight NCAA Division II Elite Eight appearance in five seasons.

                The rest of the roster is all comprised of freshmen, including two Wyo-Braska standouts in Ashley Stevens, the 5-9 forward from Bridgeport, and Mikayla Brower, the 5-7 guard from Torrington, Wyo., who was named the top female athlete in Wyoming with the Milward-Simpson Award in July.

                The big addition to the team this year is Evgenia-Jess Samorodova. Samorodova is a 6-3 center from Russia, who can shoot form inside and outside.

                Other newcomers to the team include 5-4 Lauren Rivera, 5-10 Michelle Brassard, and 5-9 Shalisa Moffit of Colorado Springs, Colo., 5-6 Katie Kerkhoff of Parker, Colo., 5-6 Maurissa Ortega of Lafayette, Colo., 5-3 Simone Evans of Aurora, Colo., 5-9 Alyssa Yates of Spokane, wash., and 6-0 Jenna Lindquist of Ft. Collins, Colo.

                Harnish is pleased with the progress of the freshmen both on the court, the weight room and in the classroom so far this season. Harnish said he is looking for plenty of success this season.

                “I honestly can say that this team will be tough to beat whether at home or on the road because we defend well, and you have to defend well when you to on the road. I think we are that,” Harnish said. “I am really excited and I think we will be fun to watch. I hope people come and watch us play because they will see a great work ethic, and they will see the game the way it is supposed to be played, the blue-collar way. I am excited to show this team to the public and watch them play.”

2012 Schedule

November

3 – Nebraska All-stars; 9-10 -- @ Colby Classic, Colby, Kan.; 13 – Colorado Christian J.V.; 16-17 – Central Wyoming Classic, Riverton, Wyo.; 20 – Casper College; 29-30 – Air Force Prep Tourney, Colorado Springs, Colo.

December

1 – Air Force Prep Tourney, Colorado Springs, Colo, 6-8 – Lady Cougar Holiday Classic.

January

7 -- @ Northwest Kansas Technical College, Goodland, Kan.; 8 -- @ Lamar Community College, Lamar, Colo.; 11 – McCook Community College; 18 – Trinidad State Junior College; 19 – Otero Junior College;  22 – Eastern Wyoming College; 26 -- @ Casper College, Casper, Wyo.; 29 -- @ Northeastern Junior College, Sterling, Colo.

February

8 – Lamar Community College; 9 – Northeastern Junior College; 15 -- @ Otero Junior College, LaJunta, Colo.; 16 -- @ Trinidad State Junior College, Trinidad, Colo.; 19 -- @ McCook Community College, McCook, Neb.; 21 -- @ Eastern Wyoming College, Torrington, Wyo. 27 – Northwest Kansas Technical College.

2012 Roster

No.           Player                                                 Ht.            Pos.           Class          Hometown

4                Mikayla Brower                              5-7            G                 Fresh         Torrington, Wyo.

5                Lauren Rivera                                  5-4            G                 Fresh         Colorado Springs, Colo.

10             Kelsey Doddridge                          5-8            G                 Soph          Windsor, Colo.

11             Gritt Ryder                                        5-10         W                Soph          Rungsted Kyst, Denmark

13             Shalisa Moffit                                  5-9            G                 Fresh         Colorado Springs, Colo.

21             Katie Kerkhoff                                 5-6            G                 Fresh         Parker, Colo.

22             Maurissa Ortega                             5-6            G                 Fresh         Lafeyette, Colo.

23             Simone Evans                                  5-3            G                 Fresh         Aurora, Colo.

24             Idil Ozbayrak                                    5-8            G                 Soph          Ankara, Turkey

32             Michelle Brassard                          5-10         F                  Fresh         Colorado Springs, Colo.

33             Alyssa Yates                                     5-9            W                Fresh         Spokane, Washington

34             Ashley Stevens                               5-10         F                  Fresh         Bridgeport, Neb.

40             Jessica Aratani                                 5-10         F                  Soph          Morrill, Neb.

42             Jenna Lindquist                               6-0            F                  Fresh         Ft. Collins, Colo.

50             Jess Samorodova                           6-3            C                 Fresh         Russia

Cougar volleyball team ready to open regional tournamanet at McCoon on Nov. 2

               [10/31/2012] The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team is focused as they head into this weekend’s Region IX tournament in McCook as the NJCAA second-ranked Cougars will vie for their 14^th straight trip to the national tournament.

                WNCC, 34-2, earned a first-round bye by capturing the south sub-region with a 10-0 mark and the No. 1 seed. The Cougars will open play Friday at 11 a.m. against Thursday’s winner between Lamar Community College and Trinidad State Junior College.

                Northeastern Junior College earned the other first-round bye and they will play Friday at 9 a.m. against the winner of Thursday’s match between Otero Junior College and McCook Community College. The championship is slated for Saturday at 1 p.m with the winner advancing to the national tournament Nov. 15-17 in West Plains, Mo.

                Megan Johnson, sophomore middle hitter from Sandy, Utah, said the team is focused on the task at hand.

                “We just need to play together to win regionals,” Johnson said. “We are trying to work really hard this week as playing as a team and not getting frustrated and just playing really hard as a team.”

                WNCC, at one time, won 42 straight sets. That streak, however, was snapped when they dropped a set on Oct. 19 against Northeastern Junior College and then again on Oct. 20 against Casper College – both at home. Johnson said those losses, in turn, will help the team going into regionals.

                “I think it was almost a good thing for us to lose some sets,” she said. “We now know what it is like to lose some games. It helped us to become better as a team.”

                Johnson said it is hard to enter a tournament and stay focused when everyone is talking about nationals and some already have reservations made for West Plains, Mo. That talk around town, however, has the team even more focused on their game, knowing that they definitely have a target on their backs.

                “There is pressure to win because everyone is saying that you will win regionals easy,” she said. “But we still need to work hard to win. It is not going to be a walk. We still need to work hard.”

                It definitely will not be easy. WNCC might have finished the south sub-region with a perfect 10-0 record, while winning 30 of 31 sets against the other south teams, but the other teams have proven to be capable of playing anyone tough. Take Northeastern Colorado for instance. The Plainswomen finished the sub-region with a 7-3 mark after falling to Otero during the regular season. NJC even went five against Trinidad. The Trojans even defeated NJC in September at Sterling, Colo., during the Pizza Hut Classic.

                That is why the players realize that they can be beat and they are taking it match by match.

                “We have to stay focused and not go in there thinking we got it,” Johnson said. “If we stay focused, it shouldn’t be hard to win if we play our best. We have done pretty good all season. If we play good, we should be fine.”

                The Cougars only losses this season came in the opening two tournaments of the season. WNCC lost 3-0 to Iowa Western Community College on Aug. 24 and then lost 3-1 to North Idaho College on Sept. 1. Since then, they have been perfect, evening dropping then-ranked No. 1 College of Southern Idaho as well as Salt Lake Community College.

                And, if the Cougars can put together at least three straight wins, they will bring back their 14^th Region IX title and berth to the national tournament. At nationals, the Cougars have not finished lower than fourth in eight straight years. They won the national titles in 2007 and 2010 and finished runner-up in 2006.

                Johnson said their goal all season was making a run at a national title.

                “That is our goal to make nationals,” she said. “I mean that is what we have been working for all season, so it would be really great to make a return trip once again.”

WNCC men's basketball team ready to open season

               [Oct. 31, 2012] The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team has one goal in mind for this season and that is to win a regional championship.

                To accomplish that the team realizes that it will be a slow journey considering the Cougar men have a young team this year. The Cougars have just two players that played on last year’s 26-7 record that lost in the semi-finals of the Region IX tournament.

                WNCC coach Russ Beck realizes that he has a young team but is hoping the early rigorous schedule will pay dividends come second semester.

                “We are relatively young but we have a lot of talent,” Beck said. “We are still trying to pull it together in defining our roles and comprehend what we want to accomplish. I think as soon as we tie it together, we will be really good. The important thing is we are good at the right time. Right now we are learning, growing, and building, and we want to be the best team we can in March.”

                There is no doubt that the Cougars are a young team with just Tahir Little and Sebastian Sebastian Suarez back from last year. Both players started off and on for the Cougars last season. Also back from a year ago are red-shirt players Cody Johnson, 6-foot-10 center from Salt Lake City, Utah, and Charles Ward, 6-2 guard from Phoenix, Ariz.

                WNCC has one other sophomore on the team in Chad Calcalerra, a 6-10 center. Calcalerra transferred in from Colorado State University.

                The Cougars also have plenty of firepower with the freshmen class, including the trio from Scottsbluff High School in Rich Williams, Isaiah Castellaw and Zach Clemens. The three former Bearcats won the Class B state championship last season.

                Also making a return trip to the west it Trey Moore, a 6-0 guard from Papillion-La Vista High School near Omaha. Moore played at North Platte before transferring to Papillion. He also has relatives that live in the valley.

                Other newcomers include Quante Cooley (6-3) and Willie Mangum (6-1) of Richmond, Virg., and  Doudou Gueye (6-8) and Youssoupha Kane (6-10) of Dakar, Senegal.

                Beck said this team has the potential to be really good once they get through the growing stages of the season.

                “The positive on the team is we have really good depth. There are a lot of interchangeable parts,” he said. “When we substitute, we really don’t drop off. This team also has a really good chance to be good defensively and to do some things we haven’t seen in the past three years in terms of our full-court pressure. I think they have a chance to be a special defensive team.”

                With the tough first semester schedule, which includes a road trip to play defending NJCAA national Champion South Plains College on Nov. 6, along with games against Salt Lake Community College and the College of Southern Idaho at the Casper Classic on Nov. 16-17, Beck knows they could drop some games. He is hoping, however, that those early season hiccups pays off down the stretch.

                “We will take some bumps and bruises early, but that will help us build character and toughness that we want,” he said. “I think if we can learn something from every game, win or lose, then we will be in the hunt for a Region IX championship.”

                Beck believes that this year’s team has plenty of talent to rival what last year’s team did.

                “This team is a little bit different from last year’s team,” he said. “I think we can be every bit as potent offensively but we are going to score in different ways than last year’s team. We have a nice sophomore leadership once we get through this growth phase.

                “We had a heck of a team last year where we sent five guys to Division I, we got ranked, and we were third in the nation offensively. There were a lot of positives things, but it is like we peaked too early. We were playing our best basketball in January and we went to these jamborees last year and played really, really well. We have been up and down in the jamborees so far this year, but if we stay humble and stay hungry, then we will be where we need to be in the end.”

                The Cougars open the season Nov. 2 and 3 at the Gillette Classic in Gillette, Wyo. The Cougar’s first home game will be Tues., Nov. 20 when they host Western Wyoming Community College.

               

WNCC volleyball team wraps up regular season with win over JNJC on Oct. 24

[Oct. 24, 2012] STERLING, Colo. — The NJCAA No. 2-rated Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team capped its regular season Wednesday with an impressive 3-0 sweep (25-15, 25-20, 25-21) over Northeastern Junior College.

WNCC coach Giovana Melo, whose team won for the 34th time this season, said the Cougars played well overall but still have lots of room to improve before the regional tournament kicks off Nov. 1 in McCook.

"I think we are getting better, but we are still making some unforced errors that we should not be making," Melo said. "We need to focus on getting a little bit better for regionals."

Melo is satisfied with where the Cougars are at right now, and especially pleased to see her players buying into her system.

“We have done pretty good with the group that we have," she said. "I thought we were pretty young, and I thought it would be hard [for the players] to make changes and adjust to them. It’s a different system, but I thought we did a pretty good job of getting into that system.”

The Cougars enjoyed a balanced attack against NJC. Danika Youngblood finished with nine kills and seven kills, and Kat Agson had nine kills and two blocks. Priscila Mendes finished with seven kills and 11 digs; Yoro Tovar had five kills and two aces; Allora Tanner had four kills; and Megan Johnson and Taylor VanderWerff each had two kills.

The biggest difference in the match was service errors. WNCC had 10 and NJC had eight, but NJC's miscues came at crucial moments.

The Cougars played exceptionally well in the opening set, committing just one service error while forging ahead 14-6. Alex Rivera had three service points during WNCC’s early run.

The second set was a barn-burner as WNCC tied the set at 7-7 and again at 16-16, each on Tasha Meyer points. Meyer followed the second tie with two more points to give the Cougars their first lead of the set, and they went on to win, helped by a big Youngblood kill and thee service points by Luiza Martins.

The third set was close early. The teams were tied at 10-10 before a Tovar kill turned the momentum in WNCC’s favor. Martins then served two points to give the Cougars a 13-10 lead. NJC cut the deficit to 18-17, before a Tanner kill stopped NJC’s rally. Tanner then served two points to put the Cougars up 20-17. Agson finished off the match with a solid block.

Melo was pleased to see her players keep their composure and respond well in the final two sets.

"We’re good at coming back and playing from behind," Melo said. "But we have to be focused on the present moment and maybe not make as many errors as we did tonight. We pulled it out, but I thought we made way too many errors."

Martins finished the match with 34 assists and eight digs; Rivera had two aces, 14 digs and four points; and Meyer had three digs, two aces, and five points.