COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa -- Freshman Lara Picht tallied 33 kills in two matches Saturday at the Reiver Invite as the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball split a pair of matches to finish the invite 2-2.
In the win against Grandview College junior varsity 25-18, 25-20, 25-18, Picht tallied 11 kills in leading the Cougars to their second win of the season.
Picht tallied a season-high 22 kills and 10 digs, and her teammates Jady Gerotto and Barbara Rabanal tallied 14 and 17 kills respectively, but it wasn't enough as Jefferson College held on for a five-game win over the Cougars 21-25, 27-25, 25-23, 25-19, 15-7.
Saturday was a day where the Cougars could have went 2-0, but let the Jefferson match get away. But, unlike the Jefferson match, the Grandview contest was all Cougars as several players contributed in the win.
Picht tallied 11 kills in the win. She also finished with five points and a dig. Also for the Cougars, Gerotto finished with nine kills and three blocks, followed by Rabanal with six kills, eight digs, eight points, and two aces.
Santanna Mitchell also had a nice contest, tallying five kills and two points, while Shaney Tiumalu had three kills, Kennedy Cyza with two kills, Fabiana Andrade with 33 set assists, eight points and four digs; and Keala Kaio-Perez with four digs, four points, and three assists.
The Jefferson match was a contest that saw WNCC start strong, capturing the first game 25-21 and almost went up 2-0 in a second game that saw Jefferson come back from a 24-22 deficit to win 27-25.
The third set saw WNCC fall behind 5-1 and trailed 16-11 at one time before Rabanal served four points, including an ace to tie the game at 16-16. From there, the third set was back and fourth as Jefferson went up 20-17 before WNCC tied the game at 20 and later at 21. Jefferson went up 23-21 and won 25-23.
The fourth game belonged all to WNCC only trailed after the opening serve at 1-0 The two squads were knotted at 19-19 before a MItchell kill put the service into PIcht's hands. Picht served five straight points, aided by kills from Rabanal and Mitchell for the 25-19 win.
The fifth game was all Jefferson as they jumped to a 3-1 lead and led 8-2 and won 15-7.
WNCC had plenty of players that contributed. The big difference in the contest, however, was unforced errors. WNCC committed seven service errors, 16 hitting errors, and 12 service receive errors.
On a bright side, Picht tallied 22 kills and 10 digs to go along with an ace. Rabanal had 17 kills with three blocks, three aces, and 18 digs; while Gerotto had 14 kills and three blocks.
WNCC also saw six kills from Mitchell along with an ace serve; Andrade with 53 set assists, three digs, three kills, and an ace serve; and Kaio-Perez with 17 digs, and Katy Ernest with five digs.
WNCC, 2-2, will next be in action next weekend when they compete in the Western Wyoming Invite against a couple more top teams in Snow College and Western Wyoming.