STERLING, Colo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team split a pair of matches in the second day of the Pizza Hut Invite in Sterling, Colorado, on Saturday.
WNCC opened the day with an impressive sweep over Highland Community College 25-5, 25-22, 25-23 before falling to No. 20 Utah State University Eastern in four sets 25-16, 25-18, 20-25, 25-23.
WNCC, 11-4, will return to action next week with the WyoBraska Invite where the Cougars will face top 10-ranked Salt Lake Community College on Thursday followed by two matches on Friday and Saturday.
Saturday, however, the Cougars started the day with an impressive win over Division II No. 4 Highland winning the first set 25-5 before going a little longer in the second and third sets. Highland then came back to upset Northeastern Junior College in straight sets.
Leslie Mamai-Lagafuaina led the way with 12 kills followed by Karen Cordero with 10 kills, six points, and two aces. Luisa Beining tallied nine kills followed by Gabriela Canavati with five, Alex Hernandez with three, and La'Treva Kennedy with two.
Also for the Cougars, Ana Costas had a double-double of 10 digs and 11 points, while Adia Sherbeyn had nine digs, 10 points, and two aces.
Olivia Transfiguracion had eight points while Cordero finished with six points and two aces and Canavati and Anabelle Gillen each had four points/
The second match of the game saw the Cougars get behind the 8-ball early on, dropping the first two sets before winning the third 25-20. The Cougars fought hard in the fourth, but fell 25-23.
Beining led the way with 17 kills followed by Cordero with 12, Mamai-Lagafuaina with seven, and Hernandez with five. Kennedy and Canavati each had four kills. Costas had 16 digs and three points while Sherbeyn had five digs and four points.
Cordero led the way at the service line with seven points followed by five from Mamai-Lagafuaina.