The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team is slowly moving up the NJCAA national polls.

                And, the Cougars are ever so close of becoming the number one team in the nation after this week's polls were released Wednesday morning.

                WNCC, 21-3, is ranked No. 2 behind top-ranked Tyler Junior College. Tyler has a 13-2 record. The Cougars have moved up one rang on the ladder that last three weeks. The first regular season poll was released Sept. 8 and the Cougars were No. 5. The next week, WNCC climbed to No. 4 and the next week No. 3.

                WNCC will be looking to stay on a roll with three home conference matches this weekend, hosting Otero Junior College Thursday, Lamar Community College on Friday, and Trinidad State Junior College on Saturday. Thursday and Friday's contests begin at 6 p.m. and Trinidad starts at 1 p.m.

                Shaney Tiumalu, a freshman from Kaneohe, Hawaii, said moving up in the rankings means the team is improving.

                "It means a lot and feels good to move up," Tiumalu said. "It shows how much we have worked in practice and how bad we want it. We just need to keep working hard as a team and staying positive."

                The Cougars move to No. 2 has been because they have been playing well. The Cougars are 9-1 in the last 10 games with the last loss coming to Casper College Sept. 12 at the Pizza Hut Invite. Since then, they have reeled off eight straight wins.

                Tiumalu said they still can play better what they have and a big key is staying focused.

                "We can play better," she said. "We just have to push each other. We have to go into the games focused and don't take them lightly."

                Three wins this weekend will give the Cougars a 4-0 mark in the conference race with an important conference battle next Wednesday at home against Northeastern Junior College. Otero, Lamar, and Trinidad are teams that have won matches and can pull upsets.

                Otero enters Thursday's contest with a 13-8 overall record, while Lamar is 14-11. Trinidad State, who plays the Cougars on Saturday, comes in at 10-13. It will be the first conference matches for those three opponents while WNCC is already 1-0 in conference play, having beat McCook last week.

                This week's national polls are interesting as CSI, who WNCC and No. 4 Northwest College have beaten, falls from one to three. Northwest is four and Sante Fe is fifth.

                Indian Hills is sixth followed by Salt Lake Community College, Iowa Western Community College, Polk State, and Central Florida.

                WNCC has beaten three of the top seven teams (CSI, Northwest, and Salt Lake). The Cougars three losses came to Jefferson and Iowa Western in the first tournament of the year, and to Casper College.

                Iowa Western, who is ranked No. 8, will visit WNCC Oct. 23-24 for the WNCC Classic.

                Tiumalu said they cannot take it easy being ranked number two considering their goal is a national title.

                "We have to keep playing because we want to become number one and win nationals," she said. "[Being ranked high and possibility number one] is very important. We constantly talk about it and it makes us work harder."