2023-24 Cougar Women's Volleyball News
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WNCC former Cougar Fatima Balza hired as interim volleyball coach
May 07, 2024Western Nebraska Community College has hired a familiar face to serve as interim head volleyball coach as Fatima Balza returns to WNCC to guide the volleyball team. Balza officially started her role as interim coach in late April after arriving on campus. Balza is excited to be back at WNCC, a place where she started her collegiate volleyball career. -
Gering’s Gonzalez-Orozco signs with WNCC volleyball
January 15, 2024Gering’s Alex Gonzalez-Orozco was one of the top liberos in the Wyo-Braska area the last couple of years and now she will be heading to the collegiate level after signing with Western Nebraska Community College, where she was actually a ball girl for the volleyball team when she was younger. Gonzalez-Orozco, who finished with 1,731 career digs, is excited to be continuing her volleyball career at WNCC. “It means a lot to me to continue my collegiate career at WNCC because I’ve grown up watching the Cougars play since I was little,” Gonzalez-Orozco said. “They have been a huge influence on me from going to watch them play, being their ball girl, and now actually being in the team.”
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WNCC’s Angelova, Blackman sign to continue volleyball career
November 30, 2023Western Nebraska Community College’s Maya Angelova and Charli Blackman came to the United States to play a sport they love. Now, the two Cougars will be continuing their volleyball playing for another two years at NCAA Division II institutions in different states. Angelova, a 6-foot-3 middle hitter from Kustendil, Bulgaria, is headed to the big city of New York to attend Queens College located in Queens, New York. Blackman is staying a little closer to Nebraska as the 6-1 outside hitter from Auckland, New Zealand, will be taking her talents to the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota. Both are excited to continue their volleyball careers at the four-year level.
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Four WNCC volleyball players earn South All-Region honors
November 13, 2023The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team had four players earn South All-Region honors recently. WNCC players earning First Team South honors included sophomore Shanelle Martinez and freshman Kyana Gabriel. Cougars that earned Second Team honors included freshman hitters Lilly Zwart and Finja Schul.
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WNCC volleyball drops five-setter to LCCC at Regionals
November 01, 2023STERLING, Colo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team got 21 kills from Lilly Zwart but the Cougars dropped a heart-breaking five-setter to Laramie County Community College 19-25, 18-25, 25-23, 25-13, 15-11 in the first-round of the Region IX tournament in Sterling, Colorado, on Wednesday. WNCC drops to the second regional tourney bracket and will face Central Wyoming College at 2 p.m. Central Wyoming took Northeastern Junior College to four sets before falling 25-13, 20-25, 25-21, 25-13. The other side of the bracket saw Western Wyoming Community College top McCook Community College in five sets 25-20, 23-25, 13-25, 25-20, 25-11 while Trinidad State College upended Casper College in five sets 18-25, 25-22, 24-26, 25-23, 18-16. Trinidad State will face Western Wyoming in the winner’s bracket on Thursday, while McCook takes on Casper at noon in the other bracket.
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WNCC volleyball falls to Otero, faces LCCC at regionals
October 28, 2023LAJUNTA, Colo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team wrapped up the regular season with a hard-fought loss to Otero College on Saturday in LaJunta, Colorado, 19-25, 25-21, 22-25, 25-23, 8-15. The loss dropped the Cougars from the second seed in the South conference and will enter the Region IX tournament that begins Wednesday in Sterling, Colorado, as the South No. 3 seed. Pairings for the regional tournament were released Saturday night and the Cougars, 16-16, will face the North second seed Laramie County Community College at 3 p.m. on Wednesday. Other first-round pairings will pit South No. 2 McCook Community College against North No. 3 Western Wyoming Community College at 1 p.m., North No. 1 Casper College against South No. 4 Trinidad State College at 5 p.m., and South No. 1 Northeastern Junior College against North No. 4 Central Wyoming College.
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WNCC comes back to down Trinidad in five sets
October 27, 2023The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team won the final three sets to capture a Region IX South conference five-set thriller 18-25, 27-29, 28-26, 25-21, 15-11 Friday evening in Trinidad, Colorado. The win moves the Cougars to 16-15 on the season but more importantly to 6-3 in conference play. WNCC will wrap up the regular season Saturday when they face Otero College in LaJunta, Colorado, at 12 noon. WNCC started strong as they led 3-1 in the first set and then 6-2 when a long delay of rotation call ended up in about a 10-minute argument between the Trinidad coach and the referees. That delay resulted in Trinidad going on a 8-point run that put the Trojans up 14-9.
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WNCC tops EWC on sophomore night
October 24, 2023Charli Blackman finished with 17 kills and Megan Bewley served up 19 points as the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team put together a complete contest in earning a four-set 25-20, 23-25, 25-25-21, 25-16 win over the Lancers in the final home match for the five sophomores. Bewley, one of the five sophomores, said the team played well in picking up their 15th win of the season. “I think we played very well all-around,” the Scottsbluff High graduate said. “We had a little bit of a lull there in the second set, but overall we brought it back.”
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WNCC volleyball falls to McCook in four sets
October 14, 2023It was a battle Saturday afternoon at Cougar Palace between the Western Nebraska Community College and McCook Community College volleyball teams. In the end, the Indians from McCook survived WNCC in earning the 15-25, 25-18, 25-23, 25-20 Region IX South conference win. WNCC equals their record at 14-14 and moves to 5-2 in conference play. WNCC libero Taylor Tyser said they are just not executing on the little things which, she said, they are going to work hard in practice this week to get those corrected.
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Zwart, Gabriel lead WNCC past Lamar
October 13, 2023Lilly Zwart and Kyana Gabriel combined for 32 kills and the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team captured their 14th win of the season with a 25-11, 26-24, 23-25, 25-18 win over Lamar Community College in a Region IX South conference contest Friday evening. Gabriel had a triple-double in the win as the freshman from Hawaii tallied 17 kills, 14 digs, and 13 points. Gabriel also had three aces and three assisted blocks. Zwart finished with 15 kills with three digs and two assisted blocks. As a team, the Cougars had 54 kills in the match. Dani Cruz and Finja Schul each had seven kills followed by five from Chloe Grady and two from Shanelle Martinez. Martinez and Megan Bewley each finished with a double-double. Martinez had 47 set assists with 17 digs. Martinez also had seven points with an ace. Bewley tallied 10 digs with 11 points. She also had an ace serve.
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WNCC volleyball team falls to Casper in four sets
October 10, 2023CASPER, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team went on the road to Casper College and dropped a four-setter 25-19, 25-20, 16-25, 25-23 non-conference match to the Thunderbirds Tuesday night. The Cougars managed 37 kills in the match and had seven aces, but the Thunderbirds, who received votes in this week’s NJCAA national poll, was led by Nia Surman and Mia Hutchinson on the night. WNCC’s Dani Cruz and Lilly Zwart each tallied eight kills each followed by seven from Kyana Gabriel, six from Chloe Grady, five from Finja Schul, and two from Shanelle Martinez.
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WNCC volleyball sweeps Otero
October 06, 2023The Western Nebraska Community College captured another Region IX South conference victory with a team effort 25-12, 25, 13, 25-14 win over Otero College Friday evening at Cougar Palace. Shae Hardy, who finished with seven service points and eight digs, said the team was trusting each other and had plenty of positive energy. “It is important to get that energy going because we are having fun,” Hardy said. “Mistakes are being made but we are brushing them off quickly. Everybody is just laughing, trusting each other, and having fun. It is important to keep the energy up.”
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WNCC volleyball sweeps Trinidad State
October 05, 2023Lilly Zwart hammered 14 kills and the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team registered their 12th win of the season with a 25-21, 25-21, 25-21 Region IX South Conference win over Trinidad State College Thursday night at Cougar Palace. Megan Bewley, who had five points in the win, said the team played well together. “I think we really focused on our hitting today,” Bewley, the Scottsbluff High graduate, said. “They had a really tough serve so we had to really focus on that. But, overall, I think we stuck together the whole set and the entire three sets and I think that is important to get the win.”
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WNCC volleyball falls to No. 18 LCCC
October 03, 2023CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team battled No. 18 Laramie County Community College tough, but in the end, the Golden Eagles managed to claim the 26-24, 25-18, 25-14 win Tuesday night at Storey Gymnasium in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Lilly Zwart, who finished with 10 kills on the night to lead the team, said they played smart, but just came up short. “I think we played really well in the first two sets,” Zwart said. “We played a lot smarter than we normally do so we were playing their blocks and doing the tips to score the points.”
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WNCC falls to NJC in conference contest
September 27, 2023The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team dropped its first conference match of the season when the fifth-ranked Northeastern Junior College Plainswomen registered a 25-21, 25-13, 25-22 win Wednesday evening at Cougar Palace. The loss drops the Cougars record to 11-11 and 2-1 in conference play while NJC moves to 22-2 overall and 3-0 in conference. Taylor Tyser, the freshman libero, said the team was too up and down like a rollercoaster in the contest.
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WNCC volleyball set to host No. 5 NJC Wednesday
September 26, 2023It will be a battle between the top two teams in the Region IX South conference come Wednesday evening when No. 5 Northeastern Junior College comes to Cougar Palace to battle a Cougar team that is looking to stay unbeaten in the South conference. First serve for the contest is set for 7 p.m. at Cougar Palace. NJC comes in with a 21-2 record and a 9-game winning streak while the Cougars are just 11-10 on the season, but have won their last three matches.
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WNCC volleyball sweeps Lamar
September 22, 2023LAMAR, Colo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team went to 2-0 in Region IX South conference play with a sweep over Lamar Community College on Friday in Lamar, Colorado. The scores were 25-15, 25-12, 25-23 as the Cougars move to 11-10 on the season overall. The Cougars will next be in action Wednesday when they face No. 5 Northeastern Junior College in Region IX South play beginning at 7 p.m. at Cougar Palace. Friday’s win was a team effort as the Cougars were playing without several players because of injuries and sickness. WNCC made short work of the Runnin’ Lopes with the team win.
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WNCC volleyball captures five-setter over McCook
September 19, 2023MCCOOK -- Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team got 16 kills each from Lilly Zwart and Kyana Gabriel in registering a five-set win over McCook Community College Tuesday evening in McCook to open Region IX South play. The Cougars won 23-25, 25-14, 25-22, 23-25, 15-11 to even their record at 10-10. The Cougars have won seven straight matches over McCook dating back to 2019 and won 65 of the last 66 meetings going back to 1994. The match was even between the two schools. WNCC led 22-17 and 23-19 in the first set before the Indians scored the final six points for the 25-23 win. The second set saw WNCC jump to a 4-2 lead on two Gabriel service points and led 13-7 after four Dani Cruz points. The Cougars pushed the lead to 17-8 after three Finja Schul points. WNCC went up by double digits on a Gabriel kill and a Shanelle Martinez service points to lead 19-9 and won the won the second set going away 25-14 on a Zwart kill.
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WNCC volleyball finishes home tourney 3-2
September 16, 2023The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team wrapped up the Wyobraska tournament with a 3-2 record after splitting a pair of games on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, the Cougars dropped a 4-set match to Laramie County Community College 25-21, 25-23, 23-25, 25-21 before downing Central Wyoming College in four sets 25-19, 25-22, 23-25, 25-17. The Cougars wrapped up the tourney by going 1-1 on Saturday falling to Iowa Western Community College in a thrilling five-setter 25-12, 16-25, 25-17, 19-25, 15-12 and then finished off the tourney with a straight set win over Gillette College 25-19, 25-17, 25-13.
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WNCC volleyball top MSU-West Plains in four sets
September 14, 2023The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team opened the first day of the Wyobraska Invite with a strong showing against Missouri State-West Plains in posting the four-set thrilling win 25-22, 25-21, 23-25, 25-23 Thursday evening at Cougar Palace. In the other Wyobraska game at Cougar Palace, Western Wyoming Community College swept past Gillette College 25-14, 25-22, 25-20. The other two matches of the invite were played in Torrington, Wyoming, with No. 20 Laramie County Community College needing four sets to get past Trinidad State College 25-23, 16-25, 26-24, 25-20. The other contest saw Eastern Wyoming College sweep past Colorado Northwestern 25-11, 25-17, 25-15.
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WNCC set to co-host 13-team Wyobraska Invite beginning Thursday
September 13, 2023Thirteen teams from five states including two teams ranked in the NJCAA national volleyball poll will be in the Wyobraska area Thursday through Saturday when Western Nebraska Community College and Eastern Wyoming College get set to host the Wyobraska Invite, a tournament that has been around since the early 2000s. WNCC, 6-8, and EWC, 4-10, will open the tournament with matches on Thursday. WNCC will play a total of five matches in the three days. The Cougars, who have played in two competitive tournaments the past two weekends in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Sterling, Colorado, will open the invite at 6 p.m. on Thursday against Missouri State-West Plains, out of West Plains, Missouri, which is located near the Arkansas border. The other match on Thursday at Cougar Palace at 4 p.m. will be Gillette College against Western Wyoming Community College.
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WNCC volleyball split contests at NJC tourney
September 08, 2023STERLING, Colo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball split a pair of matches at the Sheila Worley Invite in Sterling, Colorado, on Friday. The Cougars earned a big 3-1 win over Snow College to open the invite in come-from-behind fashion. The Cougars dropped the first set 25-17 before claiming the next three 25-15, 25-20, 25-14 for the win and stopping the 4-game losing streak. WNCC then fell to Indian Hills Community College for the second time this season in straight sets 25-17, 25-21, 25-15.
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WNCC volleyball team falls at Salt Lake Invite
September 03, 2023SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The No. 10 Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team got back onto the court over the weekend after beating Eastern Wyoming College on Tuesday at the competitive Crystal “Inn”vitational in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Friday and Saturday against nationally-ranked teams. And, having played just one match in the last nine days before opening the invite, the Cougars dropped all four matches in the invite. The Cougars opened the tourney on Friday, falling to the host squad No. 14 Salt Lake Community College in four sets 25-13, 19-25, 25-21, 25-16 before dropping a hard-fought five-setter to Lee College in the match immediately following the Salt Lake set back. The scores against Lee were 25-22, 25-22, 18-25, 20-25, 15-13. On Saturday, the Cougars suffered a straight-set defeat to No. 2 Miami Dade College 25-17, 25-16, 25-18 before falling to College of Southern Idaho in four competitive sets 25-10, 20-25, 25-23, 25-17. CSI received votes in last week’s national poll.
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WNCC sweeps EWC on the road
August 29, 2023TORRINGTON, Wyo. – After a week off, the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball traveled up the road to face Eastern Wyoming College in the annual Highway 26 Border War battle with the 10th-ranked Cougars coming out on top in straight sets 25-21, 25-23, 25-21 to move to 5-1 on the season. Finja Schul, a freshman middle hitter that had nine kills and eight points, said the team played OK in a loud gymnasium. “I think we played as a team, especially in the second set when we were a few points behind and then we pushed up our energy to catch up with the other team and tried to be loud,” Schul said. “I think it (the win) brought us together more as a team. It is really hard to play in a gym this loud. We played together and we are getting better with every steps and growing as a team.”
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WNCC volleyball set to face EWC Tuesday
August 28, 2023The 10th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team have been idle for a week and the Cougars will be chomping at the bit to get back into the competition mode when they get ready for the Highway 26 battle with Eastern Wyoming College Tuesday night in Torrington, Wyoming. The contest will have plenty of festivities with first serve slated for 7 p.m. at the Verl Petsch Activities Center. EWC will be kicking off their 75th anniversary campaign with a tailgate party that evening as well The 75th anniversary celebration will kick off with a tailgate party from 5-6:30 p.m. in the CTEC parking lot north of activities center. A free meal will be provided until sold out and everyone is invited to attend the first home volleyball game of the Lancer season, free of charge.
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WNCC volleyball downs Casper in four sets
August 22, 2023The 6th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team received 18 kills from Lilly Zwart and 17 service points from Shanell Martinez in earning a 4-set win over Casper College Tuesday night at Cougar Palace 23-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-15. Tuesday’s win was the first home contest of the year for the Cougars, and it pitted two teams that entered the contest at 3-1. And, it was a battle to the end. Zwart, the freshman from New Zealand, said they played well after the first set and the big key was coming together as a team after dropping that opening set.
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WNCC volleyball ready for first home Tuesday against Casper
August 21, 2023The sixth-ranked Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team learned a lot about their team in the opening weekend of games at the Reiver Classic in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and they will use that learning experience as they get ready for the home-opener against Casper College on Tuesday. Tipoff for the Region IX game is set for 7 p.m. at Cougar Palace. It will be a match-up between to teams with identical records at 3-1.
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WNCC volleyball splits to end tourney 3-1
August 19, 2023COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball split a pair of matches on Saturday to finish the Reiver Classic with a 3-1 record in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The 6th-ranked Cougars opened the day with a strong showing over Dodge City Community College in posting the 25-17, 25-21, 27-29, 25-15 win. WNCC then was swept by No. 4 Indian Hills Community College 25-15, 25-19, 25-22 to wrap up the season-opening invitational. WNCC, 3-1, will be back in action Tuesday when they host Casper College at 7 p.m. at Cougar Palace.
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WNCC volleyball picks up two wins in Iowa
August 18, 2023COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa -- Lilly Zwart finished with 29 kills in two matches and the No. 6 Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team captured two wins in the first day of the Reiver Classic in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Friday. The opener saw Zwart get 15 kills and Charli Blackman get 13 kills as the Cougars registered a four-set win over No.17 Butler Community College 25-21, 27-29, 25-23, 25-17. The second match of the day against Iowa Western Community College, Zwart tallied 14 kills and Dani Cruz get 12 kills as the Cougars registered a five-set win over the Reivers 25-21, 20-25, 14-25, 25-16, 15-11. WNCC, 2-0 on the season, will wrap up tourney play with two matches on Saturday when they face Dodge City Community College at 8 a.m. MST and then No. 4 Indian Hills Community College at 10 a.m.
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WNCC volleyball team ranked 6th in pre-season polls
August 15, 2023The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team will open the season this weekend with plenty of motivation after the NJCAA released its pre-season volleyball poll Monday afternoon. WNCC, which finished 34-5 a year ago, finishing in the top six at the national tournament, enter the season ranked sixth in the country. Charli Blackman, one of the five returning sophomores from a year ago, said this ranking gives them motivation as they enter the season.
