No. 1 WNCC volleyball team goes to 30-1, wins three matches in Wyo-Braska Shootout

Story is below the photos -- All these photos are of the Seward County game or festivities right before the 8 p.m. contest with the Saints.

The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team utilized a block party in the tune of 21 blocks to finish the second day of the Wyo-Braska Shootout volleyball tournament unbeaten with a 3-game sweep of Seward County Community College.

WNCC, trailing 14-12 in the first game, heated up their blocking and overcame the No. 14 team in the nation 30-20, 30-17, 30-20 in an action packed match. The win helped the Cougars move the top-ranked team in the nation to 29-1 on the season.

WNCC earlier defeated Miles Community College 30-13, 30-11, 30-15 and then disposed of Casper College 30-10, 30-21, 30-13. The Cougars have one match left in the Wyo-Braska Shootout tournament when they face Colby Community College today at 11 a.m. at Cougar Palace.

Eastern Wyoming College finished day two of the shootout 1-1 defeating Trinidad State 30-20, 30-22, 30-23, before falling to Northeastern Colorado 30-15, 30-27, 30-20. The Lancers will have two matches today at Torrington, Wyo. They will face Miles City at 9 a.m. and McCook at 11 a.m.

WNCC, though, continues to roll through the season and Cougar coach Chris Green couldn’t be more pleased with he is season, especially his team rising to the task when they need to step it up.

“I think this team loves to play against good competition. They were excited to come out to play against Casper, which they knew would be a good match,” he said. “They are always excited to play good teams and that is great. And, you are right, we play very well when we have to.”

And, the team’s blocking and defense proved key once against Saturday especially in the Seward County match.

“We blocked pretty well, but that happens when you have a good team swinging hard at you,” Green said. “It was a good blocking game for us. A lot of times the outside players use our rightside players arms, but we adjusted a little bit and get some blocks. We had some big blocks throughout the match and that was one of the keys to our victory.”

WNCC finished with 21 blocks in the match. Fatima Balza had seven blocks followed by Jennifer Eichler with five, Chelsea Lyles with four and Daphine da Silva with three.

The team’s defense also stepped up and Green said there were saves that he was amazed at, which caused a lot of long rallies.

“We had some good defense, and even had some good coverage,” he said. “We were swinging pretty hard at their block pretty good and when the ball came back at us we were able to make a save and keep the ball off the floor for our attackers.”

Nayka Benitez led the team with 15 digs followed by Soriana Pacheco with 10, da Silva with seven, Kendra Schauermann with six and Stacie Meisner with four.

What makes this year’s Cougar team special is they have a knack to step up to the occasion. And, during a crucial mid-point of the third game when the momentum seemed to be turning after an illegal screen was called on the Cougars, WNCC stepped up their game even more.

WNCC was cruising 13-5 before the illegal screen was called. Once that call was made, Seward County made a run cutting the deficit to 15-10. The Cougars righted the ship on two thundering kills by Eichler and then continued to build the lead back on three Benitez kills to push the lead to 23-14.

The Cougars finally put the Saints away on a Aida Bauza kill to earn the victory.

“We had some long rallies and it was some good volleyball,” Green said. “They have a very good team. They have two outside hitters that are very good and they have good ball control. They pass and serve pretty well. But, except for our serving [WNCC had 18 service errors], we also played pretty well.”

In earlier matches for the Cougars, WNCC cruised through Miles flashing their depth with several players standing out. Daphine da Silva finished with eight points, one ace, 13 digs and five kills; Soriana Pacheco had five aces, 10 points, 23 set assists, four digs and four kills; Nayka Benitez had one ace, three points and seven digs; Kendra Schauermann had 12 points, three aces and 12 digs; Stacie Meisner had 13 points, five aces, two digs, six set assists and five kills; Heather Steggs had two points, two aces, two digs and one kill; Fatima Balza had three points, seven kills and four blocks; Chelsea Lyles had three points, two digs and six kills; Aida Bauza had 11 kills; and Cassie Vrooman ahd five set assists.

WNCC was just as impressive in its win against Casper College, in defeating the talented team for the third time in two weeks. The Cougars, once again, had contributions from many players.

Eichler paced the Cougars with 13 kills and four blocks. Also for the No. 1-ranked squad Pacheco had 13 points, 37 set assists and nine digs; Balza had eight points, eight kills and one ace; da Silva had six points, one ace, nine kills and five digs; Benitez had seven points and 20 digs; Schauerman had eight points and nine digs; Meisner had six points and two aces; and Lyles had eight kills and four blocks.

Green expects another tough test against a good Colby team at 11 a.m. today.

“They really gave us fits at Sterling in the first game,” he said. “It was a tough game and were luck to win that first game of the match. They are a good team and talented team that will play up to the level of competition. We expect a big challenge from them tomorrow.”

Other tournament scores from the Scottsbluff site include Northeastern Junior College defeating Sheridan College 17-30, 29-31, 30-26, 30-15, 15-10; Northwest (Wyo.) College beating McCook Community College 24-31, 33-31, 30-28, 24-30, 17-15; Air Force Prep beating McCook 30-17, 30-25, 30-24; Seward County beating Northwest Wyoming 30-16, 30-22, 30-26, Air Force Prep defeating Northwest 30-22, 30-20, 30-21 and Seward County beating Miles City 30-19, 30-21, 30-16.

At Torrington, Friday's scores include Colby Community College beating Laramie County Community College 30-10, 30-26, 30-27; Eastern Wyoming College over Trinidad State Junior College 30-20, 30-22, 30-22; Seward County over Casper College 30-26, 23-30, 30-26, 30-28, Western Wyoming over Colby 30-20, 30-26, 30-19, Sheridan over Trinidad State 30-16, 30-24, 30-21, Western Wyoming over Trinidad State 30-23, 30-23, 38-36, 30-13, and Colby over Sheridan 28-30, 28-30, 30-28, 30-22, 15-13.

Wyo-Braska Shootout tourney in full bloom; WNCC women open with 3-game win over Sheridan

For more action photos of the tournament, check out the WNCC Athletic Photo Album at wncccougars.albumpost.com

Defense wins contests and the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team continue to showcase a defense that is exciting Chris Green after the first day of the Wyo-Braska Shootout tournament.

“Defensively, we are doing some pretty nice things,” WNCC coach Chris Green said. “We are a pretty good offense team, but I think our defense as really improved throughout the year and even more then our offense. We have become a better defensive team in the last month or so, and that helps us win a lot of points.”

Eastern Wyoming Coach Verl Petsch, who’s team went 1-2 in the tournament, also praised his team’s defensive effort.

“All day we had a real good defensive effort. We just had trouble hanging with the big kids,” he said. “Our defense was really good today and our middle game is starting to come around then it was early in the year.”

The Cougars finished the first day 3-0 opening the tournament with a 30-27, 30-20, 30-10 win over a talented Sheridan College squad. They then defeated Northwest College 30-14, 30-15, 30-14, before taking down Western Wyoming 30-13, 30-12, 30-20.

EWC went 1-2 falling to Seward County Community College 30-24, 30-19, 30-24, and Colby Community College 30-25, 30-27, 30-26. They then bounced back and defeated Air Force Prep in five games 29-31, 22-30, 30-19, 30-25, 15-12.

In deed both EWC and WNCC had impressive defensive shows on Thursday with both teams having strong games in their final matches on the day.

For WNCC, it was their defensive hustle that stood out on the day, especially in the Western Wyoming Community College match where Nayka Benitez finished with a season-high 21 digs and while Soriana Pacheco popped in 24 points. The strong defensive play, which included plenty of hustling saves and pancakes, helped No. 1-ranked Cougar women sweep three matches in the first day of the tournament.

“I think we played pretty well this last match of the day against a pretty good Western Wyoming team,” Green said. “We started out slow against Sheridan but after we woke up, I think we played pretty well. I think we played some pretty good volleyball on our side.

“Western Wyoming has good ball control and they are a great defensive team,” Green said. “We had a lot of long rallies and they played great defense. We had to work for our points against this team. We like to have those kind of matches.”

Eastern Wyoming also turned in several solid performances in the Air Force Prep match. Lora Hill finished with a triple-double with 21 points, 24 set assists and 10 digs. Also, Sara Gipfert had 12 digs and 20 kills, wile Jackie Onigheit and Andrea Hockley teamed up with seven and five blocks respectively.

It doesn’t’ get any easier for either team today. The Lancers will have Trinidad State at 9 a.m. before taking on Northeastern Colorado at 4 p.m. The Cougars will have three matches today, opening up with Miles Community College at 9 a.m. followed by contests with Casper College at 4 p.m. and then No. 14 Seward County Community College at 8 p.m.

“We played them [Seward County] once and I think they are hungry to play us again. I don’t think they played as well as they could when we played them in Sterling,” Green said. “I think they are looking forward to meeting us tomorrow night.”

WNCC, after being pushed to the limit in game one against Sheridan, came out and won the rest of the games in workmanlike fashion. And, it wasn’t any one person that stood out in the matches.

Against Sheridan, the Cougars had a balanced scoring attack led by Pacheco’s 23 points and six aces. Benitez also tossed in 13 points followed by Fatima Balza and Kendra Schaauermann with nine points and Daphine da Silva with six.

The Cougars were just as potent with their offense as sophomore Jennifer Eichler finished with 14 kills and two blocks. Aida Bauza finished with nine kills and four blocks, while Chelsea Lyles had five kills and five blocks.

WNCC win, though, wasn’t easy as Sheridan jumped on top 60 behind the serving Sara Malmlov. The Generals kept frustrating the top-ranked Cougars for much of the game leading 13-8 and 18-15.

WNCC didn’t take their first lead until a Pacheco ace to make it 20-19. But it was short-lived as Sheridan led 24-22 on a Katie Degal kill.

That was when Eichler stepped up with a huge kill and then Benitez served up four points behind two strong kills by Eichler to push the lead to 27-24. Sheridan sliced the lead to 28-27, only to see WNCC come back on a Bauza kill to grab game one.

WNCC used strong serving and excellent defense to claim games two and three against Sheridan, who came into the tournament at 17-4 and received votes in the latest NJCAA national polls. The second game was highlighted by four service points each by da Silva and Benitez.

Game three was all WNCC as they jumped out to a 7-1 lead and 21-6. During that span, Pacheco had nine points and four ace serves to help the Cougars to the win.

WNCC continued to flex its depth and talent in its next two matches against Northwest and Western Wyoming. Against Norhwest, the Cougar’s da Silva stepped up with a double-double, finishing with 19 points and 13 digs. The freshman from Brazil also had six kills and one ace.

Also for WNCC, Pacheco finished with 14 points, four aces and 21 set assists; Balza had six points, two aces, three kills and five blocks; Benitez had eight points, seven aces, five digs and five kills; Schauermann had three points and five digs; Eichler had three blocks and 11 kills; and Stacie Meisner had three points and eight digs.

As much as WNCC was heating up in the first two matches, they really stormed the court against Western Wyoming, where the team combined for 47 kills, 56 points and 60 digs. Pacheco paced the team with 24 points, four aces, eight digs, six kills and 33 set assists.

Also for the Cougars, Lyles had three kills, four digs, four blocks and two solo blocks; Eichler had nine kills and four digs; Balza had 12 kills, eight points and three digs; da Silva had three kills, nine points, two aces and nine digs; Benitez had seven points, three aces and 21 digs; Schauermann had eight points and three digs; and Meisner had three kills and eight digs.

As for the Lancers, Gipfert paced the team with 10 kills against Seward County, while Sarah Blausey had 15 set assists and 12 digs. Hockley finished with five blocks and Josey Peterson had three points.

Against Colby, Hill led the team with 10 points and 18 set assists, followed by Gipfert with 10 kills and 13 digs, and Peterson with 17 digs.

In the Lancers’ win against Air Force, Tricia Dorshorst had 15 kills while Peterson had 10 digs.

In other action in the tournament at Cougar Palace, McCook Community College defeated Miles Community College 30-21, 30-28, 36-30, 30-20; Northeastern Junior College beat Western Wyoming 19-30, 30-23, 26-30, 30-24, 15-10; Sheridan needed five to get by McCook 30-24, 26-30, 30-19, 17-30, 9-15; Northeastern Colorado defeated Miles 30-10, 30-10, 30-28; Northeastern Colorado downed Northwest Wyoming 30-21, 30-24, 30-16; and Western Wyoming defeated McCook 30-20, 30-19, 31-29.

In other action at Torrington, Casper College defeated Colby Community College 21-30, 30-27, 30-16, 30-24; Laramie County Community College beat Trinidad State 24-30, 30-26, 30-24, 30-22; Casper over Air Force Prep 30-15, 30-15, 33-31; Seward County over Laramie County 30-23, 30-19, 30-22; Casper over Trinidad State 30-25, 30-14, 30-12.; and Laramie County over Air Force Prep 30-20, 30-28, 30-21.

Friday’s Schedule
At Scottsbluff
9 a.m. – WNCC vs. Miles City, and NE Colorado vs. Sheridan; 11 a.m. – McCook vs. NW Wyoming; 2 p.m. McCook vs. Air Force, and NW Wyoming vs. Seward County; 4 p.m. – WNCC vs. Casper, and Miles City vs. Seward County; 6 p.m. – Miles City vs. Air Force; 8 p.m. – WNCC vs. Seward County, and NW Wyoming vs. Air Force.
At Torrington
9 a.m. – EWC vs. Trinidad State, and Casper vs. Seward County; 11 a.m. – Laramie County vs. Colby; 2 p.m. – Western Wyoming vs. Trinidad State; 4 p.m. – Eastern Wyoming vs. NE Colorado; 6 p.m. – Western Wyoming vs. Colby, and Sheridan vs. Trinidad State; 8 p.m. – Sheridan vs. Colby, and NE Colorado vs. Laramie County.

WNCC's Pacheco named NJCAA Setter of the Week

Western Nebraska Community College sophomore setter Soriana Pacheco continues to pick up honors this season. This time, the 5-foot-10 Pacheco was named the NJCAA Setter of the Week for her performance last week at the Pizza Hut Invite in Sterling, Colo.

Pacheco averaged 10.4 assists, 2.0 kills, 2.3 digs and 1.0 service aces over 15 games last week. She had double-digit assists in all five games, including 33 assists in a win over No. 14 Seward County Community College. In the final match of the week against Garden City, Pacheco had her most well-rounded match with 34 assists, 14 digs, eight aces and five kills.

The NJCAA Hitter of the Week went to Rosa Medrano of Miami Dade College. Medrano averaged 4.4 kills, 3.9 digs, 0.3 assists and 1.3 service aces and had a .570 attack percentage over 13 games last week. Medrano recorded four double-doubles on the week, including a 12 kill, 10 dig performance in a win over No. 12 Hutchinson and a 14 kill, 11 dig performance in a win over No. 8 MSU-West Plains.

WNCC soccer teams fall to CU’s top Gold squads

The Western Nebraska Community College men’s and women’s soccer teams fell to the University of Colorado Gold squads Wednesday evening.

The Cougar women dropped a 6-0 match while the men fell 3-1. The Gold Club teams are the universities top programs, and WNCC coach Todd Rasnic said both teams are top-notch.

“Both Gold teams are very talented,” he said. “They were playing the ball around on one touches, which should help us in our one-touch game.”

The men played the top 4-year team the closest as the teams were knotted at 1-1 at halftime. WNCC scored first 5 ½ minutes into the match as Lazzaro Torres delivered a pass to Eloy Matos for the score.

The Gold came right back and tied the contest at the 10 minute mark. Both teams remained scoreless until CU scored in the 55^th and 75^th minute for the final score.

Both teams had five shots on goal and goalkeeper Cesar Bazana had three saves. Rasnic said this team is better then anything in junior college.

“They are the best team we have played all year,” he said. “They are better then San Jacinto, the No. 1 team in junior college [who WNCC lost to in the season-opener]. Our record does not indicate our good our team is. It will start showing now.”

On the women’s side, the Cougars were still hobbled by injuries, but still played CU tough. The Buffs held a 3-0 lead at halftime before scoring three in the second half. WNCC managed just two shots on goal against a stellar defensive. WNCC goalkeeper Terri Huntington had five saves in net.

Rasnic said this team was very good.

“We did fine today,” he said. “They played to the end and with a lot of heart. That is what I like about this year’s teams. We love setting these type of games up because it helps us to get our speed up to where we need it in a game.”

The Cougar women will be back in action Saturday when they host the University of Colorado White team at 3 p.m. at the Lander’s Soccer Complex. The men’s game with the CU White team has been cancelled.

WNCC, EWC set to host 14-team Wyo-Braska Shootout

Western Nebraska Community College’s Nayaka Benitez and Eastern Wyoming College’s Sarah Blausey and Sara Gipfert are taking different approaches to this weekend’s Wyo-Braska Shootout volleyball tournament which begins today.

For Benitez and the WNCC Cougars, they are hoping to pick up seven wins, improve their match winning streak to 22, and stay No. 1 in the country. Blausey and Gipfert are looking to help the Lancers gain some momentum and confidence heading into the second half of the season.

Action in the tournament begins at noon at both sites. The Cougars, who are the top-ranked team for the second straight week, will face 17-4 Sheridan College, while the Lancers will tangle with No. 14 Seward County Community College. Sheridan did received votes in this weeks’ volleyball poll.

“I hope we can keep winning,” Benitez said. “We want to win nationals and I am aiming for that. Right now the team is playing good and we need to keep working hard to keep winning.”

The Lancers, in the meantime are also starting to turn their season around.

“We won a few games this past weekend and that brought our morale up,” Blausey said. “If we just get the little things ironed out, I think we can play real well.

The Lancers went 2-2 last weekend at the Pizza Hut tournament defeating Lamar Community College and Trinidad State Junior College. They are hoping they can keep playing that type of a game this weekend.

“We started the season playing like we know we could and our record is not good. We were hoping for a better record. But since is the halfway mark, we are hoping to turn the season around. If we can do that, pick up some wins this weekend, it will give confidence to us and the coaches.”

Gipfert realizes this weekend won’t be easy.

“We play Seward, Colby and Air Force (Thursday) and they are a few good teams in this tournament,” the Potter native said. “This will be the third time we played Colby and we keep getting better. The last time we played them, we should have won.”

One of Eastern’s biggest problems this season is letting teams get big runs on them, which makes it more difficult to come back. Gipfert said this past weekend they took a huge step in correcting that problem.

“We have a problem that we don’t come out very strong at the beginning and let them get up big on us. If we can come out strong, we will be up there with them,” Gipfert said. “It has taken us a little bit to get going, but the last tournament we were at, we played together and we took big steps as a team.”

Blausey is excited for the second half of the season, which begins this weekend with the Wyo-Braska tournament.

“We are a young team. We only have four sophomores and at the beginning, we had a slow start,” she said. “But now we are starting to mesh now.”

EWC, who sports a 3-17 record, will have two matches Thursday after the Seward County match. The Lancers will face Colby Community College at 4 p.m. and Air Force Prep at 6 p.m.

EWC will play two more matches on Friday, 9 a.m. against Trinidad State Junior College and 4 p.m. against Northeastern Junior College, and then two matches on Saturday against Miles Community College at 9 a.m. and McCook Community College at 11 a.m.

WNCC will also have three matches today. After their opener against a good Sheridan squad, they will face Northwest (Wyo.) College at 4 p.m. and Western Wyoming Community College at 6 p.m.

WNCC will play three matches on Friday against Miles City at 9 a.m., Casper College at 4 p.m. and Seward County at 8 p.m. The Cougars will have one match on Saturday against Colby at 11 a.m.

Benitez said it will be another stiff test for their team, who enter with a 15-match winning streak. Benitez said she is excited to be playing at home again after 20 matches on the road, flashing to the crowd her dazzling serving.

Benitez is currently leads Region IX in aces served averaging 1.12 a game. She already has 73 on the season. She also ranks 6^th in the nation in aces served just ahead of teammate Soriana Pacheco, who is 7th. Pacheco has served 60 aces for a 1.1 per game average. Benitez has served 21 points and 11 aces in a match earlier this season against Cloud County Community College.

One of the main reasons Benitez has been sizzling from the service line is a fierce jump serve. Benitez, who started jump serving when she was 14-years-old, said that is one the best parts of volleyball.

“Every time I serve, I always think about the other team and winning. I never think about me [and how many points or aces served]. I play for a team and I just want to win.”

Benitez, who came to Scottsbluff from San Juan, Puerto Rico, said it wasn’t easy at first playing volleyball in America.

“It was not easy coming over here from Puerto Rico because the practices are hard and everything has changed for me,” for she said. “I know it is hard but now I am OK.”

Tournament Schedule
Thursday’s Schedule
At Scottsbluff
Noon – WNCC vs. Sheridan; 2 p.m. – McCook vs. Miles City, and NE Colorado vs. Western Wyoming; 4 p.m. – WNCC vs. Northwest Wyoming, and McCook vs. Sheridan; 6 p.m. – WNCC vs. Western Wyoming, and NE Colorado vs. Miles City; 8 p.m. – McCook vs. Western Wyoming, and NE Colorado vs. NW Wyoming.
At Torrington
Noon – EWC vs. Seward County, and Casper vs. Colby; 2 p.m. – Laramie County vs. Trinidad State, and Casper vs. Air Force; 4 p.m. EWC vs. Colby, and Laramie County vs. Seward County; 6 p.m. – Eastern Wyoming vs. Air Force, and Casper vs. Trinidad State; 8 p.m. – Laramie County vs. Air Force.
Friday’s Schedule
At Scottsbluff
9 a.m. – WNCC vs. Miles City, and NE Colorado vs. Sheridan; 11 a.m. – McCook vs. NW Wyoming; 2 p.m. McCook vs. Air Force, and NW Wyoming vs. Seward County; 4 p.m. – WNCC vs. Casper, and Miles City vs. Seward County; 6 p.m. – Miles City vs. Air Force; 8 p.m. – WNCC vs. Seward County, and NW Wyoming vs. Air Force.
At Torrington
9 a.m. – EWC vs. Trinidad State, and Casper vs. Seward County; 11 a.m. – Laramie County vs. Colby; 2 p.m. – Western Wyoming vs. Trinidad State; 4 p.m. – Eastern Wyoming vs. NE Colorado; 6 p.m. – Western Wyoming vs. Colby, and Sheridan vs. Trinidad State; 8 p.m. – Sheridan vs. Colby, and NE Colorado vs. Laramie County.
Saturday’s Schedule
At Scottsbluff
9 a.m. – NE Colorado vs. Casper; 11 a.m. – WNCC vs. Colby, and NW Wyoming vs. Trinidad State; 1 p.m. – Miles City vs. Colby.
At Torrington
9 a.m. – EWC vs. Miles City; 11 a.m. – EWC vs. McCook, and Western Wyoming vs. Air Force; 1 p.m. – McCook vs. Laramie County, and Sheridan vs. Seward County.

WNCC softball team wins North Platte Fall Classic

The Western Nebraska Community College softball team put together a stellar defense en route to winning the North Platte Fall Classic tournament Sunday. The Cougars, in getting the tournament title, defeated Lamar Community College 6-3, the University of Nebraska-Kearney 2-0 and then Chadron State College in the championship 4-2.

“We played really well,” Cougar coach Maria Winn-Ratliff said. “We had timely hitting and played good defense. The pitchers really stepped up their game.”

WNCC, who went 2-1 in pool play on Saturday, opened the upper bracket play with a 6-3 win over Lamar. The Cougars trailed 3-2 after one inning after giving up a 3-run home run. But, they didn’t fold tying the game with a single run in the second and then adding two runs in the fourth and one run in the fifth for the win.

Sophomore Natasha Dypchey earned the win in the circle, scattering five hits. The right-handed thrower from Surrey, British Columbia, also struck out four and walked three.

Amanda Torimaru paced the Cougars with a huge game from the plate. The sophomore from Ft. Collins, Colo., went 3-for-3 with three RBIs, a run scored and a double. Lauryn Smith chipped in a 2-for-3 performance with runs scored. Lauren Mills went 2-for-2 with two runs scored.

WNCC then faced UNK, who defeated the Cougars 9-2 on Saturday, in the semi-finals. This time, freshman pitcher Kelsey Garner of Regina Saskatchewan, threw a strong game, scattering six hits while striking out six and not walking a batter.

The Cougars scored all the runs they needed in the first inning on RBI hits by Torimaru and Kara Ryman. Torimaru finished the contest with a 2-for-3 performance.

WNCC finished off the tournament with a 4-2 win against Chadron State. Freshman pitcher Allie Griffin picked up the win scattering seven hits, while Garner picked up the save getting the final out of the game. Chadron’s Casey Williams took the loss.

The Cougars scored first getting two runs in the fifth inning before scoring two more in the seventh inning. In the seventh, it was singles by Smith and Jessie McNabb collected run-scoring singles to score the runs for a 4-0 lead.

Chadron State came back and scored two runs in the seventh and the tying run at the plate before Garner came in for the final out.

McNabb, who had a eye-popping seventh-inning catch, led the team with a 2-for-4 day including three RBIs and a run scored. Griffin went 1-for-1 with a walk, sacrifice and a run scored.

The Cougars, 8-3 during the fall season, will return to action Friday when they face the University of Northern Colorado in a doubleheader in Greeley, Colo.

WNCC men's soccer team defeats Great Falls 4-0, Castillo scores two goals

For more photos of Sunday's soccer match, go to the WNCC Athletic Photo Album at
wncccougars.albumpost.com

The Western Nebraska Community College men’s soccer team received two goals from freshman David Castillo and dominated from start to finish in recording a 4-0 win Sunday over the University of Great Falls.

WNCC assistant coach Nate Rock said his team executed the game plan to perfection.

“They played extremely well to day,” Rock said. “They played to my expectations and every single player gave me everything they had and that was the difference.”

The Cougars dominance started from the get-go with WNCC getting their first shot on goal just three minutes into the contest by Lazzaro Torres. Despite the shot going in, that intensity remained throughout the contest.

“I just asked them to come out and play without any reservations,” Rock said. “They controlled the pace of the game in every aspect.”

WNCC’s first goal, though, was an own-goal as one of the Great Falls’ players knocked the ball into their own goal to give the Cougars an early 1-0 lead just 10 minutes into the game.

The Cougars kept the pressure on with three good scoring opportunities from Chris Thompson, Aaron Oesterle and Torres, but all came up short.

As much as WNCC was controlling the pace, Great Falls had their first prime scoring opportunity with 11 minutes to play in the opening half, but WNCC’s freshman goalkeeper Cesar Bazana came up golden. For the match, Bazana recorded seven saves in the shutout win.

The Cougars tacked on an extra goal just before half. Renato Segalla and Geoff Critzer teamed up with perfection passes to deliver a perfect ball to Diego Campoverde, who made a running horizontal header into the back of the net for the 2-0 halftime lead.

WNCC kept applying the pressure in the second half, netting two more goals. David Castillo, the backup goalkeeper, provided the excitement with both scores. Castillo’s first goal came with 34:24 to play as he scored off an assist from Antonio Herrera-Young.

Castillo’s second goal came with 13:22 to play in the match as Torres feed Castillo with a perfect pass that he rocketed into the back of the net.

“David played extremely well. He is someone that stepped in to give the forwards a break,” Rock said. “He had a lot of scoring opportunities and he really stepped up.”

The win over Great Falls, who fell to Laramie County on Saturday 1-0, was against a good team. WNCC is now hoping to ride the momentum into Wednesday when they travel to Boulder, Colo., to face the University of Colorado Gold Club team before returning home on Saturday to face the University of Colorado White Club team.

WNCC softball team wins two at North Platte tourney

The Western Nebraska Community College softball team hit three home runs in winning two of three games during the first day of the North Platte tournament Saturday.

The Cougars opened by dropping a 9-2 decision to the University of Nebraska-Kearney. They bounced back by blanking Barton County Community College 13-0 and then defeating Garden City Community College 6-3.

In the loss to Kearney, freshman Lauryn Smith blasted a solo home run among her two hits. Alex Voci also went 2-for-3. Sophomore Jessica Pexton picked up the loss.

WNCC coach Maria Winn-Ratliff said the team had two bad innings, giving up five runs and then a 3-run home run. Otherwise, they would have won 2-1.

The Cougars did, however, rebound with two victories. Freshman Kelsey Garner picked up the win in the shut-out against Barton County. Garner, of Regina, Saskatchewan, struck out four.

Offensively, Lauren Bourdon blasted a 2-run home run. Smith continued her torrid hitting with a 3-for-4 game, including a double, triple, two runs scored and two RBIs. Kara Ryman also went 3-for-3 with two doubles, and Voci went 2-for-3.

WNCC finished the pool play with a 6-3 come-from-behind win over Garden City. The Cougars scored two runs in the fourth inning to grab a 2-1 lead before Garden City went ahead 3-2 in the fifth. WNCC came right back with a four spot in the sixth inning for the win.

Sophomore Natasha Dypchey earned the win with a three strike-out performance. Bourdon blasted her second home run of the day – a 2-run shot. Freshman Mandy Pounds also had a great game with a 1-2 for game, including two walks and a stolen base.

WNCC, 5-3, will enter the bracket portion of the tournament today.

WNCC women's soccer falls to Butler County

The Western Nebraska Community College women’s soccer team might of lost the battle on the scoreboard, but on the field the Cougar women out-played Butler County Community College on a rain-soaked field Saturday in the final day of the Butler County Invite.

In the end, though, it was the Cougar’s inability to hit the back of the net that caused the WNCC women to fall 2-0.

If with the loss, WNCC coach Todd Rasnic was pleased with his team’s effort despite the field conditions.

“We had three inches of rain and played on a wet field. It was the worst field conditions we have ever played in,” he said. “You would kick the ball and it would go so far and stop in the water. But in the first half, we dominated play. We had them on the ropes, getting a lot of penetration.”

WNCC and Butler settled for scoreless first half. Then Butler netted two goals within a six-minute mark, scoring their first at the 54^th minutes and the second at the 60^th second.

The Cougars did score in the 74^th minute on a Amanda Arrant goal, but it was waved off because of an offside call.

“We lost because we couldn’t finish our shots,” Rasnic said. “In the second half, we had eight shots on goal and didn’t score. They had six.”

For the match, WNCC had 10 shots on goal to Butler’s nine. Each team had three corner kicks, while Butler had 11 fouls to the Cougars’ five. Terri Huntington recorded seven goals for the Cougar women.

The Cougar women will be back in action Wednesday when they travel to Boulder, Colo., to face the University of Colorado Gold Club team, which the universities top squad.

The Cougar men, in the meantime, will be back in action today when they host the University of Great Falls at noon at the Lander’s Soccer Complex.

WNCC goes 4-0 at Pizza Hut Classic

Western Nebraska Community College’s Soriana Pacheco put on a serving clinic Saturday at the Pizza Hut Invite in Sterling, Colo.

The 5-foot-10 sophomore setter popped in 29 points and 10 aces in the Cougars two wins over Colby Community College and Garden City Community College to finish the tournament as the only unbeaten team.

“She had incredible matches to today. You can’t say enough about her. She runs our offense, is a second-year player and makes our team go,” WNCC coach Chris Green said. “She is an incredible player. She really played well. She was all over the place making great digs. She has that nice jump serve with a lot of aces. And when she doesn’t serve an ace, many times the pass doesn’t go to their setter so we get a free ball. She really means a lot of points for us. Her setting is incredible, but there is a lot of other parts of her game that is also good.”

Pacheco helped lead the Cougar women to two more wins on the season in impressive style. After opening the tournament Friday with straight-game wins over Seward County Community College and Casper on Friday, WNCC won both matches Saturday in straight games. The Cougars defeated Colby 30-22, 30-20, 30-5 and walked through Garden City 30-22, 30-14, 30-7 to improve to 24-1 on the season.

“Against Garden City we played pretty well throughout the match. We had very few serving errors and 18 aces,” Green said. “We served incredibly well and our passing was OK to run our offense. I think we had a pretty good match to finish the tournament.”

Pacheco, though, wasn’t the only player to stand out on the day. Many players put up eye-popping numbers, which Green said is a testament of how hard they had to fight to win points.

“The stats show that the matches weren’t that easy,” Green said. “There were some long rallies and we had to work hard to get a win. It is good to play teams like this where we have to work hard to get those points. “

Pacheco finished with a triple-double against Garden City. She finished with 14 digs, 19 points, 34 set assists, eight aces and five kills. Nayka Benitez also stepped up finishing with 17 digs, three aces and six points.

Also for the Cougars, Jennifer Eichler had 12 kills and five blocks; Kendra Schauermann had seven digs, and eight points; Fatima Balza had four digs, three kills, four blocks and six points; Daphine da Silva had four digs, three kills, five points and two aces; Stacie Meisner had four aces and 12 points; Chelsea Lyles with seven kills; and Aida Bauza with 14 kills.

In fact, the way the team played against Garden City made Green extremely pleased. After fighting to a 30-22 win in the first game, the Cougars took control early in the second game as Pacheco served up five straight points. Da Silva pushed the lead to 17-4 with four points and two aces and the Cougars never looked back.

In fact, WNCC made quick work of Garden City in the third game, going through just eight rotations in collecting the win. Pacheco started things with four points an dthen Meisner pitched in six points for a 14-3 lead.

WNCC pushed the lead to 25-6 on five Pacheco serves before Schauermannn finiwshed of the Broncbusters with four service points.

The Cougars were just as impressive in the Colby match, where Benitez finished with a double-double recording 12 digs and 14 points. She also collected eight aces. Eichler also had another good match finishing with 12 kills and six points, followed by Pacheco with six kills, 10 points and 27 set assists; da Silva with six points and five digs; Pacheco with 27 set assists, six kills and 10 points; Bauza with eight kills; Meisner with eight kills and five points; Schauermann with six points and eight digs; and Balza with four kills and five blocks.

Green said his team needed that depth against a good Colby squad.

“Colby played very well against us and that happens a lot. When you are ranked high, teams come out and play well. Colby gave us their best shot in the first two games and then I think they ran out of gas,” he said. “They played very well against us. We had some serving and pass errors in the first two games. We didn’t run our offense liked we wanted to and we struggled a little bit in those two games. In the third game we served extremely well and had a lot of aces and we passed a little better, too. We kind of took Colby out of the game and they made their errors that they weren’t making in the first two games.”

WNCC will return to action next week when they host the Wyo-Braska Shootout Thursday-Saturday. Green said they will be pushed again.

“We will see some of these same teams again. We will play Seward and Casper this next weekend in our home tournament,” he said. “There will be some really good teams here. We will have our work cut out for us. There are some good teams coming in. They will force us to work hard and hopefully we will continue to get better.”

Cougar women's soccer team defeats Northern Oklahoma on Friday

The Western Nebraska Community College women’s soccer team got bak on the winning track with a spirited win over Northern Oklahoma Friday 4-3 to open the Butler County tournament.

The Cougars, losers of their last two contests against Barton County and Laramie County, received a balanced offensive output in getting the win.

Northern Oklahoma, though, scored first in the 10th minute. WNCC wasted little time in tying the match. Bre Perkes returned to her scoring ways by opening the scoring in the 15th minute with a goal. LeeAnna Paxton and Amanda Arrant assisted on the goal.

The Cougar women continued to find the back of the net. This time Perkes found Paxton for the second goal at the 31st. WNCC added another goal at the 43rd minutes on a goal by Alicia Ropkin off an assist by Andrea Ardito to take a 3-2 lead into halftime.

WNCC added an insurance goal in the 50th minutes of the second half. Perkes picked up her second assist on the night as she found Ashley Quintana for the goal.

The Cougars, 4-2-1, will return to action today a 1 p.m. when they take on No. 10-ranked Butler County Community College. Butler earned a 2-1 win over Cisco Junior College in the earlier match. Butler and Northern Oklahoma played earlier in the season and tied 1-1.

Cougars are No. 1 in the nation!!!!!!!

The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball players have even more reason to be smiling these days.

After running out to a 20-1 record so far this season, the team as achieved another honor – being ranked No. in the county. And, after the polls were released Wednesday morning, the WNCC coaches and players were filled with excitement.

The Cougars, who have won three straight tournaments, including defeating previously No. 1 and the defending NJCAA national champions Iowa Western Community College, moved up five spots to the top spot with 80 points. Salt Lake Community College, who is the only team to defeat WNCC, is number two followed by Iowa Western, Frank Phillips College and Blinn College.

WNCC coach Chris Green, who is in his ninth year of head coach, said the competition among the top teams is fierce.

“Salt Lake and Iowa Western are definitely very talented teams and we had to play at our best to beat them,” he said. “The good thing is that we have already seen them and hopefully when and if we see either of those teams again, we will be even more prepared.”

The Cougars, though, are used to the national attention. Last season WNCC was No. 1 for eight weeks before finishing runner-up at the national tournament to Iowa Western and finishing the year at 56-2.

“The players have been there before,” WNCC coach Chris Green said. “Last year we were ranked number one for a majority of the season, but what would have made for a better ending would be finishing at number one.”

This year’s team, which boasts plenty of depth, has provided plenty of punch this season. The team swept through the South Sub-region tournament winning all five matches without dropping a game. Then, the Cougars won their second straight Salt Lake Invite by defeating No. 2 ranked Salt Lake Community College in the championship.

Last weekend, the Cougars won the Central Invite in another stellar fashion. WNCC defeated Iowa Western 30-28, 30-24 for the title, which included going through the Invite without dropping a game.

“We have played very well in matches where we have to rise to the occasion,” Green said. “That is a good sign, but we would definitely like to be more consistent against all teams.”

In fact, the Cougars have now won 22 straight games (last time they lost a game was to Salt Lake in the title match of the Salt Lake Invite), have only dropped only four games all season.

“We have always had a target on our backs being the Region IX champs, and being number one may make that target larger but the girls, especially the sophomores, are used to it,” Green said. “Hopefully the team sees it as an honor, and really steps up and tries to perform at a high level each time we step on the court against competition.”

The competition will continue to be fierce for the Cougars. This weekend they will compete in the Pizza Hut Classic in Sterling, Colo. The team will face Seward County Community College and Casper College on Friday, who both received honorable mention status in this week’s polls. Then, on Saturday, the Cougars will take on Colby Community College and Garden City Community College of which Green said both teams feature plenty of international players.

“We have played very well in matches where we have to rise to the occasion,” Green said. “That is a good sign, but we would definitely like to be more consistent against all teams.”

Green is hoping his team continues to build off of this achievement and get the ultimate goal – a national championship.

“Rankings at this time of the year is not as important,” he said, “as obviously as where we are at the end.”

Cougar men, women fall to Laramie County in soccer on Wednesday

The Western Nebraska Community College soccer teams might have lost the battle on the scoreboard to Laramie County Community College Wednesday evening, but Cougar head coach Todd Rasnic saw plenty of positives that made him pleased.

The Cougar men lost a heartbreaking 2-1 overtime contest to the Golden Eagles. The Cougar women, on the other hand, fell 6-2 despite scoring the most goals on the No. 5 team in the country.

“I wasn’t disappointed today. We did some good things,” Rasnic said. “The LCCC women have only been scored upon in one other game. They only had two goals scored on them and it was in a game they lost. Actually, there were a lot of positive things that went on and I am looking forward to moving forward and trying to pick up some victories in the future.”

The Laramie County women came into the contest steamrolling their competition. And, early on, it looked as if they would do the same to the Cougars jumping out to a 2-0 halftime lead. It didn’t take them long to score the opening goal as Heather Myers scored off a pass from Chelsea Eades at the 36 minute mark.

The Golden Eagles added a second goal with nine minutes to play in the half on a Megan Erikson shot from an assist from Megan Koopman. LCCC outshot the Cougars 7-3 in the first half.

The second half was a different story as the Cougar women came out with a different mentality. Early on, the Cougar women had four good shots on goal, including two from Bre Perkes that just missed.

LCCC then got its offense uncorked over a six-minute period rattling off three goals to take a 5-0 lead. Kim Yaccuta scored the first goal with 29:09 left in the half. Three minutes later, Yaccuta fed Koopman with a pass for a 4-0 lead. Koopman added a second goal with 23:35 to play.

WNCC kept battling and made a game of it, avoiding the shutout. The Cougars netted their first goal with 19:45 to play as Perkes delivered a pass to LeAnna Paxton for the score. Three minutes later, WNCC scored again. This time Ashley Quintana threw the ball in to Perkes, who delivered the ball into the back of the net.

Neither team scored again until with under a minute to play when Eades scored the final goal for LCCC.

LCCC finished with 15 shots on goal and eight corner kicks, while the Cougar women had six shots on goal and three corner kicks. WNCC goalkeeper Terri Huntington had nine saves in net.

Rasnic said the difference in the women’s contest was depth. WNCC played without several players who are nursing injuries.

“He [LCCC coach] has a deep bench with seven or eight players, and right now with the plague of injuries that we have, we are sitting here looking at three players on the bench,” Rasnic said. “The depth of a program makes a big difference. As soon as we get some ladies healthy, the more chance we will have in being successful down the road.”

The Cougar men also played well and had a number of opportunities to win the game. They too, though, were playing without two key starters – Eloy Matos and Steven Estrada who are getting ready to play with their Puerto Rican national team against Cuba for a berth in the China Olympics.

“We are certainly hurting without our starting center back and one of our forwards, but they will be back on Sunday when we host the University of Great Falls,” Rasnic said. “Hopefully, we will have more opportunities to put a better game on the field. You will see that happen and see the win/loss ration change a little bit.”

The Cougars, though, just missed winning the game. WNCC wasted little time to score netting their first goal 12 minutes into the match on a Lazzaro Torres goal off an assist from Morgan Wall.

LCCC came back and knotted the score with 22 minutes left in the half on a goal by Jose Arenas for the 1-1 halftime tie. The score stayed that way through the second period despite the Cougars having a number of opportunities to put in a goal, including a missed shot just 30 seconds into the half.

In the overtime period, WNCC had the first prime scoring opportunity but a pass just missed a open Cougar player. Thirty seconds later, the Golden Eagles ended the match on a 35-yard boot from Conrrado Deniz.

WNCC had just five shots on goal and zero corner kicks, compared to nine shots on goal for Laramie County and six corner kicks. WNCC goal keeper Cesar Bazana recorded seven saves for the Cougars.

“We lost a couple games in the last week but you know what, we are playing right there with all of our competition,” Rasnic said. “Things will change and we have a lot of season left for both teams. We had some key players out today [on both teams] and what you will see is things will solidify a little bit more when we get those players back.”

The women’s team will have little time to heal from the Region IX loss as they hit the road for two matches this weekend in the Butler County Community College tournament Friday and Saturday. The men’s team will be back in action Sunday when they host the University of Great Falls at noon at the Landers Soccer Complex.

WNCC and Casper College volleyball scores

WNCC college newspaper member Randy Henry is in Casper College reporting back with results and photos. And, it was a good night for WNCC volleyball as they moved to 20-1 on the season with a three-game sweep of Casper College. The scores were:

First game -- WNCC won 30-28
Second game -- WNCC won 30-17
Third game -- WNCC won 30-24

As for statistics for the WNCC match, several players had good games. But, WNCC coach Chris Green was quite to mention that it wasn't the best of night for his team as far as hitting and blocking. "We didn't hit the ball very well at all," he said. "We had the most hitting errors we have ever had."

Green wasn't happy with the blocking as well. The team had a combined three blocks as Shawntell Jones and Aida Bauza each had two blocks (one solo and one assist each).

Still, there were some highlights. Nayka Benitez finished with 19 digs, 14 points and six aces. Bauza also had 12 kills, while Jennifer Eichler had 10 kills. Soriana Pacheco finished with 35 set assists.

WNCC will next be in action this weekend at the Pizza Hut Invite in Sterling, Colo., in which they will face some tough competition. Friday's action will have the Cougars facing Seward County Community College at 5 p.m. and then Casper College at 8 p.m. Saturday's action will have WNCC facing Colby Community College at 9 a.m. and Garden City at 12:30 p.m. Green said that Colby and Garden City have solid teams with plenty of international athletes.

Bonus coverage of the Gering and Scottsbluff volleyball game. These scores are courtesy of KNEB Radio, while I am staying at the college working on the Region IX volleyball stats. And, it just went final at 9:35 p.m. and the Bulldogs defeated the Bearcats in four games. Here are the scores.

First Game -- Gering won 25-21
Second Game -- Gering won 25-18
Third Game -- Scottsbluff won 25-21
Fourth Game -- Gering won 25-17

These photos of the Cougar women are of the first game. Photos are courtesy of Randy Henry, sports editor of the WNCC college newspaper The Spectator. Please give credit to him if you use them. Send a note to him at dahasher@gmail.com for going down to Casper and sending the photos back.

These are second game action photos from Randy Henry:

WNCC hosts Laramie County in soccer doubleheader Wednesday

The Western Nebraska Community College men’s and women’s soccer teams will be looking to get back on the winning track after suffering defeats on Saturday. And, they will have a challenge when they host Laramie County Community College Wednesday in the men’s, women’s doubleheader.

The men’s match will kick off at 3 p.m. at the Lander’s Soccer Complex, with the women’s contest to follow at 5 p.m.

The Cougar and Golden Eagle men enter the contest with similar records. WNCC is 2-4 on the season after falling to Barton County Community College 4-2 on Saturday. The Golden Eagle men enter play with a 3-4-1 mark falling to Barton County 2-1 on Sunday.

Both women’s teams also feature the same kind of record. The Cougar women enter with a 3-1-1 mark, but are smarting a little after being shutout by a Barton County team on Saturday 2-0. The opposite can be said for the LCCC women. The Golden Eagle women have a 4-1-1 mark and defeated Barton County 5-0 on Sunday.

After Wednesday’s contests, the women will hit the road for two contests at the Butler County Community College tournament Friday and Saturday. The Cougar men will return to action Sunday when they host the University of Great Falls at the Lander’s Soccer Complex.