STERLING, Colo. – The 16th ranked Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team dropped a five-setter to Northeastern Junior College on Friday night, snapping a 13-game winning streak in a Region IX South Conference contest Friday night in Sterling, Colorado.
The match was another epic WNCC/NJC match with NJC grabbing the first two sets 25-21, 25-22 before the Cougars came back to grab the next two 25-22, 25-16 to force a fifth set. In the fifth set, NJC held on to top WNCC 16-14 for the win.
It was the second straight five set match between the two conference rivals. WNCC topped NJC on Monday in five sets at Cougar Palace after winning the first two sets only to watch NJC win sets three and four before the Cougars won the fifth.
WNCC is still in first place in the conference as they fall to 7-1 with two games left. The Cougars are now 24-6 on the season as they head south to face Lamar Community College Saturday afternoon in a conference contest.
After WNCC dropped the first two sets, the Cougars rebounded with two strong sets to get the third and fourth. The third set saw Adia Sherbeyn serve three points for a 10-5 lead. NJC would come back to tie the game a couple of times and take a 22-21 lead.
WNCC would get a side-out and then Ana Costas served three straight points with Karen Cordero getting the set-winning kill for the 25-22 win.
The fourth set was just as intense. WNCC trailed 4-3 before a Cordero kill. Cordero then served three points for a 7-4 lead and the Cougars would never trail again as they won easily 25-16 to force a fifth set.
The fifth set saw WNCC grab a 6-3 lead on two Alex Hernandez points. NJC called a timeout and tied the game at seven. Both teams traded points back and forth from there with neither team going up more than a point until NJC won the fifth 16-14.
WNCC had three players with double-figure kills. Leslie Mamai-Lagafuaina led the way with 16 kills followed by 14 from La'Treva Kennedy, and 13 from Cordero. Anuhea Kaohi tallied nine kills, while Luiza Beining had six and Olivia Schaub had two.
Mamai-Lagafuaina, Kennedy, and Andrea Tsvetanova each had three solo blocks, while Beining had two solos.
Costas finished with a double-double with 15 digs and 12 points. Costas also had three assists.
Cordero finished with eight points and three digs; Kaohi had six digs and four points; Tsvetanova tallied 36 set assists with seven points and four digs; Olivia Transfiguracion had four digs and 10 set assists; Sherbeyn had three digs and five points; Anabelle Gillen tallied three digs and four points; and Hernandez had two points.