The top-ranked Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team swept through the WNCC Classic, capturing two more wins Saturday with wins over McCook Community College and Casper College.

                Against McCook, Jady Gerotto tallied 10 kills as the Cougars won 25-10, 25-18, 25-20. WNCC was even more dominating against Casper, the team that last beat the Cougars 16 matches ago. This time, WNCC received 11 kills from Shaney Tiumalu and 10 each from Gerotto and Lara Picht in registering the 25-21, 25-11, 25-17 win.

                The Cougars went 4-0 in the weekend tournament, running their win streak to 16 matches. WNCC is now 29-3 on the season.

                In other matches on Saturday in the WNCC Classic, Western Texas College dropped Garden City Community College 25-19, 25-6, 25-16, and then Casper 26-24, 25-17, 25-19. Garden City picked up a win over McCook 25-18, 25-19, 25-18.

                WNCC's Kaylee Spreier, who had five kills in the Casper win, said the team played well.

                "I thought we played very well as a team," the freshman from Gering said. "We limited our errors from what we usually have. We just executed it well and got it down in three sets."

                Picht, who finished with 14 kills in the two matches on Saturday, said these wins were team wins.

                "I think we played pretty good today. It was a team win," the freshman from Germany said. "Our defense was really good on our passing today. We had a little problems because Casper has a good block, but I think we did pretty good today."

                In deed the Cougars flashed its depth. Against McCook, 10 different players received a kill while against Casper, seven players got a kill. In fact, WNCC tallied 45 kills against Casper in three games.

                "Everybody on the team can play," Spreier said. "We have a few players that can put it down when times come so it was pretty good."

                Since the last time WNCC lost – back on Sept. 12 against Casper in five games – the Cougars have been playing with a different urgency. Spreier said it feels good to be on a 16-game winning streak, but they also have to keep playing well to keep it going.

                "It feels really good to be on a 16-game winning streak," she said. "I mean that is a pretty big accomplishment. It never happened to me in high school. And, to keep that going, we need to work hard in practice, keep it up in practice, and limit our errors."

                The McCook contest saw everyone play and there was different combinations on the court at different times. Gerotto led the way with 10 kills followed by Santanna Mitchell with six kills and four blocks. Barb Rabanal also had six kills, while Maraea O'Connor, Picht, and Kennedy Cyza all had four kills.

                While the team struggled at times in the second and third games, they held strong. That struggling wasn't a problem in the Casper match as they played a complete contest.

]              WNCC won the first game 25-21 on a Gerotto kill. The second game was all Cougars as Gerotto had three points for a 6-1 lead. WNCC later pushed the lead to 21-9 on four Gerotto points and won the came on a Spreier kill.

                WNCC had an early lead at 20-10 in the final fame only to watch Casper come back before WNCC won 25-17.

                Keala Kaio-Perez had a big defensive effort against Casper, tallying 14 digs. Fabiana Andrade had 12 digs while dishing out 41 set assists.

                The Cougars will be back in action next weekend when they take the southern Colorado South Division swing to play Otero, Lamar, and Trinidad Thursday through Saturday.

WNCC over Casper
25-21, 25-11, 25-17
KILLS – Kaylee Spreier 5, Shaney Tiumalu 11, Barba Rabanal 7, Lara Picht 10, Jady Gerotto 10; DIGS – Andrade 12, Keala Kaio-Perez 14, Fautino Manu 4, Rabanal 7, Katy Ernest 2, Tiumalu 2, Gerotto 5, Picht 3; SET ASSISTS – Andrade 36; ACES – Andrade 1; POINTS – Andrade 7, Kaio-Perez 3, Tiumalul 4, Rabanal 2, Picht 3, Gerotto 6.

WNCC over McCook
25-10, 25-18, 25-20
KILLS – Santanna Mitchell 6, Tiumalu 2, Rabanal 6, Maraea O'Connor 4, Picht 4, Gerotto 10, Kennedy Cyza 4, Vaniriz Vazquez 3, Katy Ernest 2; BLOCKS – Mitchell 4, Gerotto 2; ACES – Ernest 1; POINTS – Andrade 4, Kaio-Perez 4, Rabanal 10; O'Connor 5, Gerotto 8, Ernest 4, Alwaise Villa 3, Mitchell 1, Manu 1; SET ASSISTS – Andrade 29, Ernest 9; DIGS – Andrade 3, Kaio-Perez 5, Manu 5, Rabanal 6, O'Connor 2, Gerotto 4, Ernest 6, Villa 3, Mitchell 2.