LAJUNTA, 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.

                If the Cougars win, they advance to the semifinals to face the winner of the NJC and Central Wyoming match on Thursday at 6 p.m. A loss put the Cougars into the second regional tournament bracket against the loser of the NJC/Central Wyoming match on Thursday at 6 p.m.

                Region IX has two regional champions that qualify for the national tournament that will be held in Hutchinson, Kansas, the middle of November.

                Saturday's loss was one of missed opportunities in the first and third sets that they lost. The first set saw Otero bolt to an 11-7 lead and later led 16-10 and the Cougars never could get back to within four points as the Rattlers won 25-19.

                The second se saw WNCC trail 10-9 early but got four service points from Shanelle Martinez to lead 14-10. Otero tied the set at 14-14, but a kill by Kyana Gabriel and then two Gabriel service points put WNCC up 17-14. The Cougars led 22-18 after two Charli Blackman points and won the set 25-21.

                The third set saw Otero lead 6-3 early and then 14-10. Dani Cruz got a kill and Martinez served three points to tie the set at 14-14. WNCC led 20-18 on two Megan Bewley service points and later 21-19. That was when Otero put together a big service run to win 25-22.

                The forth set saw Otero lead 8-5 before WNCC got a kill from Blackman and three points from Cruz for a 9-8 lead. WNCC led 16-13 on two Shae Hardy points along with two Lilly Zwart kills, but it was short-lived as Otero retook the lead a9 19-17 and then later at 22-19. Blackman ended the long service run with a kill and Finja Schul had three service points for the 23-22 lead.

                Otero tied the fourth at 23-23 when Blackman got a kill and Martinez served the final point to send the match to a fifth set.

                WNCC led early in the deciding set at 4-3, but Otero went on a 4-point service run for an 8-4 lead and won the fifth 15-8.

                WNCC finished the match with 47 kills and a .125 hitting efficiency. Blackman led the way with 16 kills with seven digs and two service points. Martinez had a double-double with 39 set assists, 15 points, seven digs, and three ace services.

                Bewley and Taylor Tyser each had double-double digs. Tyser finished with 20 digs while Bewley had 17 digs and four service points.

                Besides Blackman with 16 kills, Cruz, Zwart, and Gabriel each had eight kills while Schul had five kills and Martinez two. Schul had two solo blocks while Martinez and Maya Angelova each had one.

                Hardy and Cruz each had six service points while Schul had five.