SALT LAKE CITY – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team went 1-1 in the first day of the Crystal "Inn"vitational on Friday in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The Cougars suffered their first defeat on the season falling to No. 15 MSU-West Plains in four games 28-30, 26-24, 25-17, 25-19. WNCC rebounded with a hard-fought five-game win against No. 1 College of Southern Idaho 25-22, 22-25, 25-22, 17-25, 15-11.
The CSI match was a nip-and-tuck affair with the Cougars finishing the contest with 60 kills. Barbara Briceno paced the Cougars with a double-double of 21 kills and 18 digs. Both Brooke Kaawa and Lara Picht each tallied 16 kills in the win.
WNCC also came up with some defensive plays with three players finishing with double-figure digs. Genesis Benitez-Fontanez led the way with 22 digs followed by Briceno's 18 and then Bia Berti with 12.
A big key in the win was the team's service game where they finished with seven aces. Kaylee Spreier led the way with four aces while Berti had two.
Berti also finished with 53 set assists and two block assists. Kaawayadded nine digs, while Lara Picht had seven. Kirstee Trees tallied five digs with an ace, and Spreier had four digs.
The win against CSI was needed after the Cougars didn't play near to capability in the MSU loss, committing a number of errors, including 21 hitting errors, 12 service errors, and 12 blocking errors.
Despite the loss, three Cougars finished with double-digit kills. Briceno led the way with 17 kills followed by Picht with 15, and Kaawa with 13. Briceno and Kaawa each had a double-double in the match. Briceno finished with 11 digs, while Kaawa had 12 digs.
Berta also had a double-double, collecting 40 set assists and 16 digs.
Also for the Cougars, Spreier had five kills and 2.5 blocks; Benitez-Fontanez had 31 31 digs; and Picht had five digs.
The Cougars will wrap up the Salt Lake Invite on Saturday, facing Snow College at 9 a.m. and No. 5 Northwest College at 11 a.m. before returning home to host Eastern Wyoming College on September 7.