The Western Nebraska Community College found the energy they needed in coming back from a 2-0 deficit to topple Northeastern Junior College in "PAWzitively" thrilling Region IX South match during breast cancer awareness night.
The Cougars dropped the first two sets 25-18, 25-21 before finding that energy in winning the final three sets 25-17, 25-18, 15-4 to move to 30-3 on the season and 9-1 in the South conference. The win locked up the No. 1 seed in next week's Region IX South tournament in La Junta, Colorado.
"At the beginning we thought it was going to be an easy game," freshman setter Bia Berti said. "We kept getting stopped with their block and we couldn't get kills."
The 10-minute timeout after the second set was the difference maker for the Cougars. WNCC came out with a lot more energy and that was crucial against a NJC team that had upset on their mind.
"The time out between sets we just upped our energy," Berti said. "Everything was just energy. The whole team was up. We realized that it wouldn't be as easy as we thought it would and it would be really hard if we didn't play with our hearts and play the way we know how to play. That was our last shot. If we lost it [one more game] it would be over. We just got our energy back and showed them what we could do."
The Cougars definitely played with more energy in the third, fourth, and fifth sets. The first two, NJC looked as if they were the No. 2 team in the nation rolling to wins.
The difference in the third set was the Cougars got service runs and a big one started with Barbara Briceno. WNCC led 15-13 when Briceno had a kill and then served three points for a 19-13 lead. WNCC kept going strong as Briceno hammered home the set point for the 25-17 win.
NJC started the fourth set on a roll, leading 5-0. WNCC didn't lose sight. NJC led 13-9 when Kadara Marshall had a kill and then Lara Picht had four straight points for a 14-13 lead. The Plainswomen came back to lead 15-14 and 17-16.
That was when Briceno had a kill and then Alwaise Villa had four straight points for a 23-17 lead. WNCC won the fourth on two Briceno points.
The fifth set was all WNCC, bolting to a 4-0 lead and never looked back after Villa had four more points for a 10-2 lead. The Cougars finished off the Plainswomen as Briceno served the final four points for the win.
Three Cougars finished with double-doubles. Berti finished with 43 set assists and 21 digs. The setter also had three kills and a solo block.
Picht had a triple-double, finishing with 15 digs, 10 kills, and 10 points. Picht also had a solo block.
Briceno finished with 18 kills and 18 digs, while also adding nine points, an ace serve, two set assists, and a solo block.
Joise Maldonado added a kill and a big save for a point, while Kaylee Spreier had eight kills, eight points, three assist blocks, and two digs; Genesis Benitez had seven digs and three set assists; Villa had 10 digs and nine points; and Marshall had three kills and two digs.
WNCC will wrap up the regular season this weekend when they host the WNCC Classic. WNCC will play Laredo Community College at 7 p.m. Friday in sophomore recognition. Also on Friday at 4:30, Laredo will play Iowa Western Community College at 4:30 p.m.
Saturday's schedule will have three matches beginning with Laredo taking on NJC at 9:30 a.m., followed by NJC and Iowa Western at 11:30 a.m. and then then top five battle between WNCC and No. 3 Iowa Western at 1:30 p.m.