COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team opened the season with an impressive showing at the Reiver Classic on Friday against ranked teams behind the hitting and serving of Jenna Curtis
The No. 18 Cougars opened the season with a sweep over No. 3 Missouri State University-West Plains 25-22, 32-30, 25-16 behind 15 kills from Curtis.
Curtis followed that up with a 27-point service performance against No. 1 and defending national champions Iowa Western Community College in helping the Cougars register the 15-25, 23-25, 25-11, 25-19, 15-9 win over the Reivers.
Curtis' 27 points is the most by a Cougar player since Erica Fava had 22 points a year ago. The 27 points is fourth in the WNCC record book and the Ogallala native was just short of setting the school record held by Gering's Heidi Harms, who had 29 points back in 2001.
Curtis said that the team knew they had to focus on serving in the final sets against Iowa Western because they missed way too many in the opening two sets.
"In the first two sets we played timid and we missed way too many serves," Curtis said. "The last three we finally started to make some tough serves in and keep them out of system. Our defense came alive and we all were finally all on the same page. We all wanted to beat the number one team in the country."
Curtis couldn't have got her 27 service points without strong play from the hitters and the defense. She said that she knew she missed some serves early on and just wanted to focus on making good serves.
"In the three sets we won against Iowa Western, defense was on our mind; we didn't want to let the ball hit the floor on our side and serving was really important because we needed to take them out of system and we missed a lot of serves in the first set so we needed to come back with strong serving," she said. "I personally missed a lot of serves in the first two and we gave them a lot of points from our errors. I wanted to go on long runs so I really took my time and focused on my serves."
WNCC head coach Binny Canales said he was proud of how the team fought in the matches while playing well.
"It was fun," Canales said about the Iowa Western win. "It started off a little slow and got better as the game went along. They fought for every point and it was fun to see them compete."
Canales said Curtis had a big day, leading the team in kills against Missouri State West-Plains and then racking up 27 service points against Iowa Western.
"She had a great game and she had a great day," Canales said. "She had 15 kills in the first match. Everyone stepped it up. Emmalei and Alex played great in the middle being under-sized. Ale had a strong service game and net game. We were efficient and aggressive. It just took us a little while to warm up."
Curtis said the team played well in the two wins over the Top 5 opponents.
"Today we played as one whole unit, a team," she said. "We played really strong defensively and never gave upon a ball. All attackers were hitting different shots and in the end we all had the same goal so we worked really good together today."
The Iowa Western match was a donnybrook of a match. Iowa Western controlled the first set by winning 25-15. The second set was a little more exciting with the set going either way.
Iowa Western jumped up to a 6-4 lead and led 11-9 before WNCC tied the second set at 11-11. WNCC took the lead at 17-16 before the Reivers went up 21-17. WNCC came back to tie the set at 22-22 after two Ale Meoni points.
The two teams were tied at 23-23 before Iowa Western scored the final two points for the 25-23 win.
The third set was all WNCC as Iowa got the first point, but then Curtis hammered down a kill and then served six points for a 7-1 lead. WNCC went up 10-2 on two Anakaren Chavez points. Erica Fava followed with four service point s for a 16-4 lead and WNCC went up 20-7.
After a point from Iowa Western, Emmalei Mapu had a kill and then Curtis had three more points for a 24-8 lead. Iowa Western had three points to cut it to 24-11 before Ale Meoni had a kill for the 25-11 win.
Curtis continued her hot serving in the fourth set as Curtis followed with four points for a 5-2 lead. Iowa Western came back to lead 9-8 and later 11-10. Curtis followed with a kill and then had two points to make it 13-11 WNCC. The lead was single digits several times with WNCC up 20-19. That was when WNCC got a sideout and Curtis went back to serve and served the final four points for the 25-19 win.
Curtis stayed hot from the service line while the Cougars continued playing spirited in the fifth set. Mapu started things with a kill and then Curtis had four service points for a 5-0 lead. Iowa Western came back to cut the lead to 8-6, but a Curtis kill made it 9-6 and later the Reivers
Three players had double-double performances. Curtis had a big game with 27 digs, 20 digs, and eight kills. Shanelle Martinez finished with 45 set assists with 15 digs, three points, two solo blocks, and two kills, while Fava had 11 kills, 11 digs, six solo blocks and four points.
Also for the Cougars, Chavez had 28 digs and four points, Alex Hernandez had eight kills, three blocks, and two points, Meoni had 11 kills, five solo blocks, five digs, and five points; Mapu had 11 kills and four solo blocks, Megan Bewley had eight digs; and Juliana Oliveira had two digs with a kill and a solo block.
The win over Missouri State-West Plains was impressive as the first set was back and forth. West Plains had a 9-7 lead before Hernandez served four points to put the Cougars up 12-9. West Plains went back up 20-16 and later 22-20 when Martinez had a kill and then served the next four points for the 25-22 win. The final four points saw Curtis hammer two kills along with a kill from Meoni.
The second set needed extra time with a very intense set. WNCC led 18-9. West Plains came storming back in tying the set at 19-19 and leading 22-21 on an ace serve. The lead changed back and forth as both teams were knotted at 26 and then 27 and then 28. That was when West Plains went up 29-28.
Both teams tied the set at 29 and 30s. That was when WNCC got a point to go up 31-30 and then an ace serve gave WNCC the win.
The third set was close for the first half as West Plains led 5-4 and later 6-5 before two Fava points put WNCC up 8-6. WNCC went up 14-11 and then Meoni had three points for a 17-12 lead. WNCC pushed the lead to 22-14 after four Fava points and won the set and match 25-16 on two Hernandez points and two Curtis kills.
Fava and Martinez each had a double-double in the match. Fava had 13 digs with 10 points, while Martinez had 15 digs and 33 set assists. Fava also had five kills and four ace serves, while Martinez had two kills and nine points.
Curtis led the team with 15 kills along with six digs, a solo block, and two points, while Hernandez had eight kills, three digs, and six blocks. Chavez had 15 digs with four set assists and five points; Meoni had eight kills, four digs, six aces, and 10 points, and Mapu had three kills, two digs, and a solo block.
WNCC will wrap up the Reiver Classic with two matches on Saturday when they face No. 5 Butler Community College at 8 a.m. followed by No. 12 Jefferson College at 10 a.m.
WNCC will then return home to face Eastern Wyoming College on Wednesday, Aug. 26 at 7 p.m. at Cougar Palace.
Curtis said this team has plenty of potential this year.
"We have so much potential and we haven't even reached it yet," she said. "We just need to continue to play as a team and rely and trust each other. All we need to do is believe that we can do it."