SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The 4th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team faced a couple Top 15-ranked teams Friday in the first day o the Crystal "Inn"vitational at Salt Lake Community College in Taylorsville, Utah, and came away with a split on the day in two five-set matches.
WNCC opened the day getting big kills in the fifth set to earn a hard-fought win over No. 11 Central Wyoming College 25-22, 26-24, 17-25, 24-26, 15-11.
WNCC wrapped up the day against No. 5 Salt Lake Community College. The Cougars wrapped up the day with another five-setter that saw the Cougars notch 58 total kills including 19 from Jenna Curtis, but it wasn't enough as the Bruins held on to post the win over the Cougars 25-8, 25-23, 22-25, 25-27, 15-8.
WNCC falls to 8-1 on the season and will wrap up the invite with two matches on Saturday when they face the College of Southern Idaho at 11 a.m. and then Northwest College at 3 p.m.
Both matches were back and forth contests and the first match was a classic Region IX battle. The first set saw the two teams go back and forth with Central Wyoming hold a late 21-20 lead. Ale Meoni got a kill and then Anakaren Chavez had two service points for a 23-21 lead. Central Wyoming came back with a sideout, but a Meoni kill and then Meoni served the final point as Alex Hernandez and Emmalei Mapu put up a double block for the set winner.
The second started out just as close. Central Wyoming went up 14-10 and led 19-11 before WNCC made a move. First, it was a Curtis kill and then a point to bring the score to 19-13. WNCC moved closer as Chavez had two points to make it 20-16.
The Rustlers went up 22-16 and led 24-21 before a Curtis kill avoided Central Wyoming for getting the win. Hernandez then served the final four points for the 26-24 win.
The third set was close at the start. WNCC led a 9-8 lead before the Rustlers went in front 11-9 and really never looked back for the 25-17 win.
The fourth set saw Central Wyoming jump to a 3-0 win and led 9-6. WNCC reversed the momentum as Hernandez had three points behind a kill from Curtis and two from Mapu for a 10-9 lead. Moments later, Shanelle Martinez had three points for a 14-10 lead.
Central Wyoming came back to hold a 13-10 lead and later went up 22-17. Hernandez stopped the run with a kill and then Erica Fava had four points to tie the set at 22-22. The Rustlers went up 24-22, but WNCC cam back to tie the set at 24-24 with an ace serve. Central Wyoming got the final two points for the 26-24 win.
Central Wyoming went up 3-0 in the fifth before WNCC tied it at 4-4 behind two Chavez points. The Rustlers went back up 9-6 before the Cougars took control as Hernandez had three points behind a kill from Curtis and two from Mapu to go up 10-9. Central Wyoming tied it, but Martinez served three points for a 14-10 lead and the Cougars won the set 15-11 on a Mapu kill.
WNCC had a strong serving game, led by Chavez with 14 points followed by Fava with 12, Martinez with eight, Hernandez with seven, Curtis with five, and Meoni with four. WNCC finished with seven aces in the match with Chavez and Fava each getting two.
Curtis and Fava each had 16 kills while Mapu tallied nine and Meoni and Hernandez each had eight.
Chavez finished with 12 digs followed by Fava with nine, and Curtis and Martinez with eight. Martinez had 50 set assists in the win.
The Salt Lake match was also a good contest after the first set. The Cougars started the first set with a 2-0 lead, but after that Salt Lake used key service runs to race to a 17-6 lead and then a 23-7 lead before winning 25-8.
The second set was a totally different story as the Cougars outhit Salt Lake 18-14 and hit .325 for the set. Salt Lake led 6-4 only to watch Meoni get two service points for a 7-6 lead. Salt Lake later led 19-16 before a Curtis kill and then two Hernandez points to tie the set at 19-19. The Rustlers went up 23-21 but WNCC got to one on two occasions before SLCC won 25-23.
The third set was another set where the Cougars outhit Salt Lake 14-13. WNCC raced to a 12-7 lead behind four service points from Fava and pushed the lead to 18-12 on a Fava kill. WNCC led 21-18 before Salt Lake made a run to go up 22-21 and looked as if they had the momentum to sweep the Cougars.
WNCC had other ideas as Curtis stopped the run with a kill and then Martinez served three points behind two kills from Curtis and the set winner by Mapu to earn the 25-22 win.
WNCC carried that over to the fourth set as they went up 4-1 behind two Curtis kills. Salt Lake went up 10-8 and from there the lead was tied or switched back and forth. WNCC led 19-18 on two Martinez points before Salt Lake went up 21-20. WNCC answered on a Meoni kill and a Chavez point for a 22-21 lead.
WNCC went up 24-22 on a Hernandez kill but Salt Lake came back to go up 25-24. Fava avoided the match winner for Salt Lake as she smashed a kill and then Fava went back to serve and served the last two points to force a fifth set with the 27-25 win.
Salt Lake started the fifth set up 3-1 but saw WNCC come back to slice the lead to one at 6-5 on a Meoni point. Salt Lake went up 8-6 and then went on a five-point service run to lead 13-6 and went on to win 15-8.
The big difference in the game was the hitting percentage. WNCC hit just .138 for the match while Salt Lake was .281. Salt Lake had 66 total kills while WNCC had 58. Curtis and Fava each had double-doubles in the match. Curtis led the way with 19 kills along with 12 digs while Fava had 15 kills and 17 digs.
WNCC also got nine kills from Mapu and seven from Meoni, while Hernandez had five. Martinez had 48 set assists and 15 digs while Chavez had 20 digs and two ace serves.
Martinez finished with 11 service points followed by Fava with six, and four each from Curtis, Chavez, and Hernandez, while Meoni had three.