2024 WNCC Cougar Volleyball News
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WNCC set to host a series of volleyball camps
April 23, 2025Head volleyball coach Fatima Balza has seven different camps set up this year and they are a little different from past years. The volleyball camp season begins June 19 and 20 when the Little Cougars Camp will be held for grades 3rd through 5th. Camp runs from 9 a.m. - 12 noon and 1-3 p.m. and bring your own lunch. The 2-day camp is $100 per participant. -
Scottsbluff’s Hergenreder, Cheyenne’s Twamley, North Platte’s Fleck part of Balza’s first recruiting class
April 14, 2025When Emma Hergenreder, Allie Twamley, and Reese Fleck came to Western Nebraska Community College for a recruiting visit, little did they know that the three players all would end up signing to play volleyball for the Cougars. Hergenreder, from Scottsbluff, Twamley from Cheyenne Central, and Fleck from North Platte St. Pats all had successful careers at their high school and now they are ready to lead the Cougars next year. “When we all came to visit on the same day, I felt very relieved knowing there were other girls in the same position as me,” Hergenreder said. “Right away we all clicked and that visit was the best one I had in my entire recruiting process. It is very special because we all formed a bond from that visit and we got along very well, and we can continue that bond for the next couple of years.” Twamley, who was a club teammate with Hergenreder, agreed and is ready for the next chapter in her volleyball career.
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WNCC”s Eastman headed to Briar Cliff for volleyball
April 11, 2025Tamika Eastman’s graduating class at Sioux County High School in Harrison had five graduates. Coming from a small school in the northwest Panhandle did not deter Eastman from achieving her dream of playing college volleyball as the first step of her dreams was playing two years at Western Nebraska Community College. Now, the 5-foot-10 outside hitter will be taking her volleyball skills to the four-year level after inking with Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, Iowa. Eastman said coming from a small high school gave her the will power to keep playing.
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WNCC’s Schul, Zwart headed to CSU-Pueblo
April 03, 2025Finja Schul and Lilly Zwart traveled across the two different oceans to play at Western Nebraska Community College. Schul from Germany and Zwart from New Zealand played the last two years at WNCC and now they won’t be apart when the two head to Division II Colorado State University Pueblo after the two inked Tuesday night. Zwart and Schul agree it is weird how they came to Nebraska and have become the closest of friends. “For me, I just think it's crazy about all the circumstances that lined up, like who would thank someone from Germany and someone from New Zealand and everyone else on this team would find each other in the middle of Nebraska of all places,” Zwart said. “So, just like all of those things laying up, I just think it's like fate really for all of us to be able to know each other and keep playing with Finja.”
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WNCC’s Schul inks with Western Colorado for volleyball
January 27, 2025When Finja Schul came to Western Nebraska Community College two years ago from Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, she came here for a chance to play volleyball and get an education. Her time at WNCC was more than that as she also gained new friendships that will be cherished for a while. On Friday, Schul became the first of several WNCC volleyball players to sign to continue their volleyball playing as the 6-foot-2 middle hitter inked Friday afternoon with Division II Western Colorado University, which is located in Gunnison, Colorado.
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WNCC’s Zwart named NJCAA Third Team All-American
December 12, 2024Western Nebraska Community College’s Lilly Zwart accomplished something that she had dreams of doing ever since she came to the United State and that was an All-American athlete. Zwart, the sophomore from Nelson, New Zealand, said ever since her freshman year, she had a goal to accomplish that feat. Earlier in December the NJCAA Division I All-American list was unveiled and Zwart’s name was among the third team honorees. “Being All-American was one of the biggest goals I had when I moved to America and I didn’t know it was a thing until I got here until my roommates told me about it and since then it became my goal to become one,” Zwart said. “Without us going to nationals, I thought my dream of being an all-American had died. But, getting told I made All-American was one of the astonishing things I received all year. Honestly, getting the Region IX South Player of the Year was incredible and first team on the all-conference was amazing and proud of myself. Then topping all those off being an All-American was so incredible and so happy.”
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WNCC volleyball team ends season at regionals
November 09, 2024CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team’s run for a national tournament berth came to an end Saturday after falling to Northeastern Junior College 25-18, 25-12, 27-25. The Cougars end the season at 28-10. NJC went on to earn the second Region IX championship trophy and berth to the national tournament after they swept past Laramie County Community College 25-17, 25-15, 25-23. NJC joins EWC, the two Region IX champions, will compete in the NJCAA national tournament in a couple weeks at Austin Paey University in Tennessee. The Cougars had several post-tourney awards. WNCC placed two on the all-tournament team with Tamika Eastman and Taylor Tyser.
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WNCC stays alive at regionals with win over Western Wyoming
November 08, 2024CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team receive 13 kills each from Tamika Eastman and Finja Schul as the Cougars stayed alive for a Region IX title. WNCC remained alive by getting past Western Wyoming Community College by the scores of 25-23, 25-21, 23-25, 25-19. The Cougars advance to play Northeastern Junior College Saturday at 11 a.m. with the winner heading to the second championship game to face Laramie Community College. Northeastern advanced with a four-set win over Central Wyoming College 20-25, 25-10, 25-22, 25-13. Laramie County fell to the second bracket falling to Eastern Wyoming College in the upper-bracket Region IX championship game. The Lancers defeated LCCC in straight sets 25-23, 25-10, 25-22. It was the first Region IX championship for the Lancers since 1998 when they defeated NJC. Twenty-six years later, the Lancers are headed to the national tournament in Tennessee later in November.
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WNCC stays alive at regionals with sweep over McCook
November 07, 2024CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team stayed alive at the Region IX Volleyball Tournament in Cheyenne, Wyoming, WNCC put together a solid performance in earning a sweep over McCook Community College 25-18, 25-16, 25-18 as they life to play another day. WNCC will have another elimination game as they go for the second Region IX title on Friday at 2:30 p.m. against Western Wyoming Community College. Western Wyoming fell to Laramie County Community College in five sets 22-25, 25-21, 17-25, 25-23, 15-13. The other side of the bracket saw Eastern Wyoming earn a spot in the finals against Laramie County with a sweep over Central Wyoming College 25-21, 25-23, 25-18. The first championship game between, EWC and LCCC will be at 5 p.m. Friday with the winner qualifying for the national tournament.
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WNCC women fall in first round of regional tourney, will play McCook in an elimination game Thursday
November 06, 2024CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team sputtered on Wednesday on the first day of the Region IX Volleyball Tournament, falling to Central Wyoming College 25-19, 25-22, 23-25, 25-23. The loss pushes the Cougars to the second bracket of the Region IX tournament, where they will face McCook Community College in an elimination contest at 1:30 p.m. Thursday. McCook fell to Eastern Wyoming College late Wednesday 25-13, 25-20, 25-21. In fact, the first day of the tournament was crazy as all four North teams advanced to the semifinals of the first regional bracket while all four South teams suffered losses. The other two first round games saw Western Wyoming Community College topple Trinidad State College 25-19, 25-27, 25-18, 25-23 while Laramie County Community College pulled off the big upset, topping No. 4 Northeastern Junior College 15-25, 18-25, 25-20, 25-22, 15-13 with a reverse swept.
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WNCC volleyball set for regional tourney; Will play Central Wyoming on Wednesday
November 04, 2024The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team will be entering this weeks Region IX Volleyball Tournament in Cheyenne, Wyoming, with one goal in mind – to bring home a Region IX title and berth into the national tournament. WNCC earned the second seed from the south conference and will play Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. against the north third seed Central Wyoming College. WNCC enters with a 26-8 record while Central Wyoming is 16-10 on the season. The tournament will be played at the remodeled LCCC gym which is now called the Blue FCU RAC. LCCC is located on College Drive in Cheyenne. WNCC sophomore Dessiah Christopher said they need to stay focused because every team wants that trophy.
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WNCC volleyball falls to No. 4 NJC in regular season finale
October 30, 2024It wasn’t the way the nine sophomores wanted to go out on their final home game of the regular season when the 16th-ranked Cougars were swept by No. 4 Northeastern Junior College 25-17, 25-17, 25-10. WNCC drops to 26-8 on the season and sophomore Tamika Eastman said they know what they need to work on in the next week to prepare for the Region IX tournament in Cheyenne, Wyoming, that begins November 6. “I think it is a lot more emotional than what we all thought it was. I think we played pretty decent, pretty solid, but the main thing is our energy wasn’t just up,” Eastman said. “I mean, you saw at the end of the second set, when we have energy and get really, really good blocks or kills, it steps up our game a whole another level. I think that is what we were missing tonight. The emotions were getting to us.”
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WNCC volleyball team downs McCook in four sets
October 26, 2024MCCOOK – The 17th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team got 29 kills from Tamika Eastman and Lilly Zwart in capturing a four-set South Conference win over McCook Community College Saturday afternoon. The scores were 25-17, 25-21, 20-25, 25-13. It was the Cougars sixth straight win and moved the Cougars to 26-7 overall and 8-1 in conference play. WNCC has one regular season match left as they host No. 4 Northeastern Junior College on October 30. That match will be sophomore recognition along with WNCC alumni night. On top of that, it will be PAWzitively Pink for breast cancer awareness where breast cancer survivors get in free and anyone wearing pink get $1 off admission price. Saturday’s win saw the Cougars tally 49 kills with a .216 hitting efficiency. Six different Cougars put down a kill as WNCC setter Nora Marginean distributed the ball with 46 set assists. Marginean also had 13 points with three aces on the night.
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WNCC volleyball tops Lamar for 25th win
October 25, 2024LAMAR, Colo. – The No. 17 Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team dropped the first set to Lamar Community College, but rebounded in a major fashion in earning the 4-set win 23-25, 25-15, 25-21, 25-19 Friday night in Lamar, Colorado. The win moves the Cougars to 25-7 on the season and 7-1 in conference play. WNCC will finish off the week when they head to McCook Community College on Saturday with a 1 p.m. start. The Cougars were lethargic in the first set as they sputtered and let Lamar capture the first set 25-23.
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WNCC volleyball sweeps EWC for 24th win of season
October 22, 2024TORRINGTON, Wyo. – The 17th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team put together a team effort in sweeping past Eastern Wyoming College 25-15, 27-25, 25-23 Tuesday night in Torrington, Wyoming. WNCC moved to 24-7 overall with the win while the Lancers, who came into the contest winners of 14 straight, fell to 20-7. EWC head coach George Hamilton was also presented with a frame for reaching his 400th career win a couple weeks ago. Tuesday night, though, was a WNCC show of talent especially in the first set. Finja Schul, who finished with 10 kills and three blocks, said the team came ready to play. WNCC won the two previous matches against EWC in four sets.
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WNCC volleyball wins twice over the weekend
October 19, 2024The No. 18 Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team won a pair of Region IX South conference contests over the weekend. The Cougars swept past Otero College on Friday 25-14, 28-26, 25-21 and then swept past Trinidad State College 25-11, 25-21, 25-21 on Saturday. WNCC moves to 23-7 overall and remains in second place in the South conference at 6-1. The Cougars will have three road games next week when they travel to Eastern Wyoming College on Tuesday at 6 p.m. EWC has won 14 straight contests and are leading the North conference with a perfect 8-0 record. The EWC match is not a conference contest.
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WNCC volleyball sweeps Casper
October 15, 2024CASPER, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team finished with eight aces as the Cougars swept Casper College 25-15, 25-17, 25-13 on Tuesday in Casper, Wyoming. The No. 18 WNCC Cougars move to 21-7 on the season after the non-conference contest. The Cougars will be back in action this weekend when they face Otero College on Friday and Trinidad State College on Saturday in South sub-region contests. Tuesday’s win was one where the Cougars used strong serving to open a tight match in all three sets.
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WNCC picks up 20th win with win over McCook
October 05, 2024The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team got 19 kills from Lilly Zwart and the Cougars remained unbeaten in South Sub-region play at 4-0 with their 20th win of the season with a 25-17, 25-10, 22-25, 25-17 win over McCook Community College Saturday afternoon at Cougar Palace. The 20th-ranked Cougars improved to 20-6 overall and will have a big sub-region contest Wednesday in Sterling, Colorado, as they visit No. 4 Northeastern Junior College with a 6 p.m. start. Zwart said they played focused and as a team. “I think we really played as a team, especially in those first two sets where we got on top of McCook and didn’t give up,” the sophomore from New Zealand said.
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Marginean serves 25 points, WNCC sweeps Lamar
October 04, 2024Nora Marginean had 25 service points, including 19 straight in the opening set, as the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team captured a 25-5, 25-16, 25-14 win over Lamar Community College in South Conference action Friday evening at Cougar Palace. WNCC moves to 19-6 overall and 3-0 in conference play. The Cougars will have another home conference contest on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Cougar Palace when McCook Community College comes to Scottsbluff. Marginean said the team played focused in gaining the win.
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WNCC earns hard-fought win over LCCC behind Eastman's 17 kills
October 01, 2024Tamika Eastman pounded down a career high 17 kills and the 20th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team earned a hard-fought 4-set win over Laramie County Community College 25-16, 22-25, 25-23, 31-29 Tuesday evening at Cougar Palace. The win moves the Cougars to 18-6 on the season as they get ready to host two matches this weekend in conference play. WNCC will face Lamar Community College on Friday with a 5 p.m. start followed McCook Community College on Saturday at 1 p.m. Taylor Tyser, who finished the night with 33 digs, which was a WNCC career high, said the team fought hard against a scrappy LCCC team that also fights for every point and doesn’t give up. “We fought really hard today. They are a really good team so it was back and forth a lot,” Tyser, the sophomore from Laramie, Wyoming, said. “We then lost the second set and we just came back strong and didn’t give up. We knew they would be a good team and they wouldn’t give up. We knew if we took care of ourselves, we could come out on top.”
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WNCC volleyball moves to 2-0 in conference with sweep over Otero
September 28, 2024The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team put together a team effort win Saturday afternoon, moving to 2-0 on the Region IX South conference with a 25-12, 29-27, 25-12 win over Otero College Saturday afternoon at Cougar Palace. The Cougars moved to 17-6 on the season as they get ready to host three matches next week, beginning with a non-conference contest on Tuesday when Laramie County Community College comes to Cougar Palace. WNCC will then have a pair of South conference games on Friday and Saturday with Lamar Community College and McCook Community College coming to Scottsbluff. Tuesday and Friday’s contests start at 6 p.m. with Saturday’s contest slated for 1 p.m. Sophomore Chloe Grady, who was one of the players that had a strong front row play on Saturday, said the team played well and it is beneficial when they get balanced offensive and defensive output like they did Saturday as well as Friday in the 4-set win over Trinidad State.
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WNCC volleyball starts conference play with win over Trinidad
September 27, 2024The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team opened conference play with a 4-set win over Trinidad State College Friday night at Cougar Palace. The Cougars won 25-19, 16-25, 25-19, 25-23 to improve to 16-6 on the year while Trinidad drops to 17-5. WNCC will have another conference game Saturday when they host Otero College at 2 p.m. at Cougar Palace. Tamika Eastman, sophomore from Harrison, said the team played determined against a talented Trinidad team.
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WNCC volleyball sweeps Casper for 15th win
September 24, 2024The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team received 14 kills from Lilly Zwart and nine kills from Jaylin Nachtigall as the Cougars captured their 15th win of the season with a 25-17, 30-28, 25-22 win over Casper College Tuesday night at Cougar Palace. Zwart, a sophomore from New Zealand, said the team played OK, but said it was nice to see so many people step up. “I think we have really improved from the last two weeks and we shut down a team in three sets instead of dragging it to five or losing just one set like we have,” Zwart said. “We are becoming a lot more consistent and composed in those long rallies. We are really working as one team instead of those six players on the court.” The team win was evident as nine different players got a kill while eight players got a dig and another seven picked up a service point with five ace serves total. Plus, the Cougars got a home game after nearly four or five weekends on the road.
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WNCC volleyball team goes 2-1 in WyoBraska Invite
September 23, 2024TORRINGTON, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team went 2-1 in action over the weekend at the WyoBraska Invite in Torrington, Wyoming, on Friday and Saturday. The Cougars started the tournament with a hard-fought 5-set loss to Miles Community College 25-23, 16-15, 16-25, 26-24, 15-13. WNCC rebounded late Friday with an emotional 5-set win over Central Wyoming College in a game that took nearly three hours, finishing at 10:45 p.m. The scores in the win over Central were 22-25, 27-25, 25-21, 21-25, 15-13. WNCC finished the invite on Saturday with a straight-set win over Gillette College 25-19, 25-8, 25-19. WNCC moves to 14-6 overall as they get set to return home for a string of six straight matches over the next two weeks. WNCC will host Casper College on Tuesday at 6 p.m. with conference contests against Trinidad State College on Friday and Otero College on Saturday.
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WNCC volleyball team goes 1-3 at NJC tourney
September 16, 2024The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team dropped to 12-5 on the season as they went 1-3 at the Sheila Worley Invite in Sterling, Colorado, over the weekend when they faced four ranked teams. The Cougars lost both matches on Friday, falling to Odessa College 25-20, 25-23, 25-18 and then lost to Utah State-Eastern 25-9, 25-23, 25-18. The Cougars split contests on Saturday, falling to No. 4 Barton Community College 25-23, 25-20, 25-6. WNCC avoided falling in all four matches by registering a reverse sweep against Dodge City Community College in a contest where WNCC lost the first two sets 25-18, 25-19 before coming back to take the final three sets 29-27, 25-14, 15-10. WNCC will be back in action this weekend when they play in the WyoBraska Invite. All four matches in the WyoBraska Invite will be played in Torrington, Wyoming, this year. WNCC will face Miles Community College at 11 a.m. on Friday followed by Central Wyoming College at 7 p.m. Saturday’s contests will see WNCC take on Colorado Northwestern at 9 a.m. followed by Gillette College at 1 p.m.
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WNCC volleyball goes 4-0 at SOCO Classic
September 08, 2024TRINIDAD, Colo. – The 18th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team won all four matches at the SOCO Classic in Trinidad, Colorado, over the weekend. The Cougars won a pair of 4-set matches on Friday, defeating Eastern Wyoming College (25-20, 25-18, 23-25, 31-25) and then Frank Phillips College (25-21, 25-23, 16-25, 25-22). On Saturday, the Cougars captured two more victories, sweeping North Platte Community College (25-21, 25-19, 25-19) and then earning a 5-set win over Clarendon College (25-22, 24-26, 25-17, 23-25, 15-10). The four wins moves the Cougars to 11-2 on the season and seven straight wins. WNCC will now be in action at the Sheila Worley Tournament in Sterling, Colorado, next weekend when they face three-of-4 ranked teams in No. 15 Odessa College, No. 10 Utah State-Eastern, Dodge City Community College, and No. 6 Barton Community College. WNCC head coach Fatima Balza said she proud of how her team won some tough sets to get the match wins.
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WNCC volleyball moves into rankings at No. 18
September 04, 2024After the first two weeks of competition, the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team is starting to make some noise in the national polls. The NJCAA released its first Division I volleyball poll on Tuesday and the Cougars moved into the rankings at No. 18 with their 7-2 record. WNCC was a no-show in the pre-season rankings that were released mid-August. The Cougars went 3-1 last weekend in the McCook Labor Day Invite topping Hill College, Hutchinson Community College, and Southeast Community College. Their only defeat that weekend was to No. 11 Indian Hills Community College. The win over Hutchinson was a key win in their moving into the Top 20.
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WNCC volleyball takes two on Saturday, finishes tourney 3-1
August 31, 2024MCCOOK – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team moved to 7-2 on the season after sweeping a pair of matches on Saturday at the McCook Labor Day Invite. The Cougars finished the tourney 3-1 after defeating No. 19 Hutchinson Community College 30-28, 25-20, 16-25, 25-17 and then swept past Southeast Community College 25-13, 25-10, 25-13. The Hutchinson win was a big win since Hutchinson defeated the Cougars the previous week at the Iowa Western Invite. The Hutchinson win was a total team effort as four Cougars finished with double-figure kills and five Cougars had double-figure digs. WNCC also tallied 10 aces on the day with Ahleejah Tovo-Sunia and Taylor Tyser collecting double digit service points.
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WNCC splits matches at McCook Labor Day Invite
August 30, 2024MCCOOK – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball moved to 5-2 on the year after splitting matches in the McCook Invite on Friday. The Cougars opened the day with a loss to No. 4 Indian Hills Community College 25-16, 25-20, 25-21 before downing Hill College 25-18, 25-14, 23-25, 25-13. WNCC will wrap up the McCook Labor Day Invite with two matches on Saturday when they face No. 19 Hutchinson Community College at 10 a.m. and Southeast Community College at 3 p.m. In the win over Hill College, Lilly Zwart finished with a double-double with 14 kills and 14 points. She also had seven digs and two solo blocks. Zwart was named the NJCAA Offensive Player of the Week earlier in the week.
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WNCC volleyball tops EWC in four sets
August 27, 2024Lilly Zwart and Finja Schul combined for 31 kills and the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team made head coach Fatima Balza debut at Cougar Palace a successful one with a 4-set 25-23, 25-21, 20-25, 25-20 win over Eastern Wyoming College Tuesday night. Zwart, who pounded down 17 kills in the win, thought the team played well to give her coach her first home victory. “I thought we did really, really well to adjust to the crowd and it was nice to have that atmosphere and the supporters, not only from the students but our families and the community,” Zwart, who was named Region IX South Offensive Player of the Week on Monday, said. “I think she will be super happy to get a victory where she used to play many moons ago, but I think it was really crucial of how hard we fought for this game and mainly for her.”
