What a difference 24 hours makes for the second-ranked Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team.
On Thursday, the Cougars registered a four-game win over Otero Junior College. Friday night, the Cougars had a balanced offensive attack, led by 14 kills from Barbara Rabanal, to register a sweep over Lamar Community College 25-12, 25-15, 25-17 in a Region IX South contest at Cougar Palace.
The win was the Cougars 10th straight and pushes WNCC's record to 23-3 on the season.
Kaylee Spreier, who finished the contest with five kills and two solo blocks, said this was much better than Thursday's win.
"I thought we played very well. We cut our mistakes from yesterday, where we had quite a few mistakes and still pulled out the win," the freshman from Gering said. "Today we just cut our errors and played better as a team."
The key was how the team rebounded from a so-so performance on Thursday.
"It was very important for us to put the Otero game behind us," Spreier said. "We had to put those mistakes behind and just push on. We just have to get the mistakes out of our head and play like we know how."
WNCC definitely accomplished that Friday night. And they did it with a balanced offensive output. Rabanal led the way with 14 kills and two blocks, followed by Jady Gerotto with seven kills and three solo blocks, Santanna Mitchell with five kills, Kennedy Cyza with four kills, and Fabiana Andrade with two kills.
WNCC led from start to finish in game one, running to a 15-8 lead behind five points from Andrade. WNCC pushed the lead to 19-10 on two Spreier points and closed out the game as Shaney Tiumalu served out the game with four points.
The second set was close for the first five points. After that WNCC started to open up the contest, running to an 8-5 lead on a Rabanal ace and lead 12-6 on a Cyza kill. WNCC led 14-7 on another Cyza kill before Lamar came back to cut the lead to 14-11.
The Cougars bounced back to lead 20-12 on a Mitchell kill and led 23-14 on two Mitchell points. WNCC won the game on a Rabanal service point.
WNCC led from start to finish in the third game. The first part was close as Lamar trailed just 11-9. After a violation, WNCC got the serve and Andrade served four points for a 16-9 lead. The Cougars pushed the lead to 20-12 on a Gerotto kill and led 23-15 on two Andrade points. WNCC finished off the match on a Tiumalu block.
Spreier said when this team clicks, like they did Friday night, they can be good.
"When we all gel and play like everybody can, we have the talent to be one of the best teams in the nation," she said. "We are number two now and we are shooting for number one."
Andrade also tallied 25 set assists, eight points, three aces, and nine digs. Keala Kaio-Perez also tallied 10 digs, while Fautino Manu had five digs and six points.
Also for the Cougars, Rabanal tallied eight digs, two set assists, five points, and two aces; Katy Ernest with four digs; and Mitchell with two digs.
WNCC, 23-3, will be back in action this afternoon when they host Trinidad State Junior College at 1 p.m. at Cougar Palace. Spreier said the goal is to keep getting better and that is what they have been doing.
"We are just going to keep working hard on practice, working hard in games, and see where that gets us," she said.