The 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.

                WNCC came back to tie the set at 116 after three Shanelle Martinez points and a point by Charli Blackman. Trinidad finished off the set on a 5-point run and the 25-18 win.

                The second set was back and forth to start until Trinidad went on a 5-point run to lead 10-4. Trinidad went on to lead 15-8 and later 20-14. That was when WNCC made a come back as Finja Schul had two service points to bring WNCC back to 21-19 and then a service point from Shae Hardy put the Cougars up 25-24.

                Trinidad went back in front at 26-25 only to see WNCC tied the set at 27, but Trinidad got the final two points for the 29-27 win.

                Trinidad started the third set off to a 7-2 run. WNCC came back to tied the set at 8-8 on three Megan Bewley points. Trinidad came back to go up 12-8 and then 14-9. WNCC stayed with it and started to play with a purpose as they tied the set at 17-17 and took a 19-18 lead on a Bewley point and two Dani Cruz kills.

                Trinidad led 21-19 and was on the brink of winning the match at 25-24 when Zwart hammered a kill to tie the set at 25-25. The Trojans went up 26-25 but Zwart hammered down another kill and then Hardy served the final two points for the 28-26 WNCC win.

                WNCC continued their inspired play in the fourth set as they bolted to a 6-2 lead and led 9-5 on a Cruz point. The Cougars kept hammering away and playing good defense as they built a 17-9 lead on two Hardy points, including an ace serve. Trinidad tried a comeback in slicing the Cougar lead down to 20-17, but a Martinez setter kill and then two Martinez service points put the Cougars up 23-17. WNCC won the fourth set to force a fifth set 25-21 on a Maya Angelova kill.

                Trinidad started the decisive fifth set up 3-0 lead before WNCC went up 4-3 on two Martinez points. Trinidad led 6-5 before Hardy had three service points for a 9-6 lead. The two teams traded points the rest of the way as they Cougars earned the 15-11 fifth-set win on a Kyana Gabriel kill.

                The Cougars finished with 51 kills on the day and had 50 service points and most of those service points and kills came in the third through fifth sets.

                Zwart led the way with 15 kills with five assisted blocks, while Cruz had 12 kills with three points. Gabriel also had eight kills with three points and two assisted blocks, while Schul had six kills, eight points a solo block, and three assisted blocks. Angelova finished with four kills along with Martinez. Angelova had four assisted blocks, while Martinez finished with a double-double with 38 set assists, 17 points, two solo blocks, and an assisted block.

                Also for the Cougars, Charli Blackman had two kills with three points, and Hardy had 11 points with an ace.