SALT LAKE CITY -- The No. 9 Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team captured two five-set wins Friday to open the Crystal Inn'vational at Salt Lake City, Utah.

                WNCC started the tourney by knocking off No. 2 College of Southern Idaho 24-26, 25-11, 25-22, 20-25, 15-8 behind the double-double performance from Barbara Rabanel of 16 kills and 12 digs.

                The Cougars followed that up with another five-set win over North Idaho College 22-25, 25-17, 19-25, 25-11, 15-11 behind 2o kills and 18 digs from Rabanel.

                WNCC gave CSI its first loss of the year in the five-setter that saw WNCC hit .194 compared to .048 for the Golden Eagles. The Cougars also out-blocked CSI 10-7 and managed 88 digs compared to just 68 for the Golden Eagles.

                The first set was a tight contest as neither team enjoyed more than a four-point lead. WNCC led 22-18 only to watch CSI come back to win the first set 26-24.

                The second set, however, was all Cougars. WNCC jumped out to a 5-1 lead on an ace by Lara Picht and kept executing by pushing the lead to 13-5 on a Picht kill. WNCC went up 22-6 on a Jady Gerotto ace and won the set on a Santanna Mitchell kill.

                The Cougars continued playing well in the third set, running to anm 18-11 lead behind back-to-back kills by Rabanel. WNCC went up two games to one after winning the third 25-22.

                CSI came out hot in the fourth, rolling to a 12-4 lead. WNCC came clawing back, cutting the lead to 22-18 before the Golden Eagles won the set 25-20 forcing a fifth set to 15.

                The Cougars took control of the fifth set, jumping to a 4-0 lead and led 10-5. WNCC went up 14-7 on back-to-back kills from Picht, before winning the match on a kill from Picht.

                WNCC had a variety of players stand out. Three Cougars finished with double-figure kills. Rabanel led all Cougars with 16 followed by Picht with 13 and Gerotto with 12.  Picht also had 12 digs, while Gerotto had seven blocks.

                Also for the Cougars, Fabiana Andrade had four kills, 48 set assists, two aces, and 11 digs; Shaney Tiumalu had eight kills; Maraea O'Connor had five kills; Keala Kaio Perez had 26 digs; Mitchell with three kills; and Katy Ernest with 15 digs and two aces.

                WNCC stayed strong in the win over North Idaho. After dropping the first set 25-22, WNCC evened the match with a 25-17 second-set win. North Idaho captured the third 25-19. After that, the Cougars came out strong, winning the fourth 25-11 and the fifth 15-11.

                Three Cougars had double doubles. Rabanel led the team with 20 kills, 18 digs, and seven points. Andrade also tallied 43 set assists along with 23 points, nine digs, four kills, and three aces; while Kaio-Perez had 17 digs and 16 points.

                Also for WNCC, Fuatino Manu had two points; Mitchell had two kills; O'Connor had two kills and three digs; Picht had 14 kills, three digs, and three points; Gerotto had nine kills and two points; Ernest had four points and four digs; and Tiumalu had six kills.

                WNCC will wrap up the Crystal Inn'vitational Saturday when they face Salt Lake Community College at 11 a.m. and Snow College at 3 p.m.