SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The 4th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College volleyball rebounded from their first loss of the season Friday night to earn a pair of sweeps on Saturday in the final day of the Crystal "Inn"vitaional at Salt Lake Community College.
The Cougars opened the day with an impressive sweep of the College of Southern Idaho 25-21, 25-18, 25-16 behind a double-double 15 kill, 10 points performance from Jenna Curtis.
WNCC was even more impressive in the sweep over Northwest College to wrap up the tournament at 3-1 with the 25-9, 25-18, 25-21 win over the Trappers behind a 17-point performance from Ale Meoni.
WNCC finished the tournament at 3-1, which was the same as Salt Lake Community College and College of Southern Idaho. Salt Lake was swept by Northeastern Junior College on Saturday, while WNCC handed CSI it's only loss of the tournament. Utah State-Eastern finished the tournament 4-0.
Several members of the WNCC team were named to the all-tournament team as well as special awards. Anakaren Chavez was named the Libero of the Tournament while Erica Fava was named the Tourney MVP.
Other members of the all-tournament team besides Chavez and Fava included Utah State-Eastern's Haley McUne and Casidy Fried, NJC's Gabby Oos, CSI's Alizaysha Sopi, and Salt Lake's Laura Fiabane and Charity Wilson.
WNCC is now 10-1 on the season and will look for win number 11 when they travel to face Eastern Wyoming College on Wednesday in Torrington, Wyoming.
Saturday's first game with Southern Idaho was impressive to start as Curtis served four points for a 5-0 lead. CSI came back to grab a 12-10 lead. Curtis stopped the Golden Eagles run and then Shanelle Martinez had three service points to put WNCC up 14-12.
The first set stayed tough as the two teams were knotted at 18-18 before WNCC took a 22-19 lead behind an Alex Hernandez service point. WNCC went up 24-20 on an Emmalei Mapu kill and won the first set 25-21.
The second set saw the set knotted at 8-8 before WNCC forged in front 18-13 behind two Erica Fava points. WNCC led 20-14 on a Hernandez point and Curtis kill and went on to win 25-18 on an Anakaren Chavez point.
The third set saw WNCC lead from start to finish as the Cougars took a 5-1 lead on back-to-back Chavez ace serves. The Cougars went up 12-3 after four Fava points and led 17-7 after two Curtis points. WNCC led 23-12 after a Charli Blackman kill and service point and won the match 25-16 on a Juliana Oliveira service point and the game-ending kill by Sandy, Utah, native Autumn Bennett.
Curtis led the Cougars with 15 kills, 10 points and three digs. Meoni and Fava each had six kills. Fava also had six digs. Mapu had five kills along with three solo blocks and two assisted blocks, while Blackman and Oliveira each had two kills.
Martinez had 36 set assists with five points while Chavez had six digs and four points.
WNCC came out fired up in the final match against Region IX foe Northwest College. The Cougars led 19-4 before Northwest made a slight comeback at 19-8. It was short-lived as Olivera went on a four-point service run for a 24-8 lead and won the set 25-9 on a Mapu kill.
Martinez started the second set with four straight points including a pair of aces. Northwest cut the lead to 5-3, but Chavez followed with four points for a 10-3 lead. The Trappers stayed in it as they cut the Cougar lead to 17-16. Mapu stopped the momentum with a kill and then Chavez served three points for a 21-16 lead. WNCC went on to win the set 25-18.
The third set saw WNCC lead 7-3 after a Fava kill and two Meoni points. WNCC led 12-5 on three Oliveira service points. Northwest tried coming back, slicing the lead to 17-14 and later 20-16, but a Curtis kill and then a Lexi Keohi point put the score at 22-16.
Northwest came back to cut the lead to 22-19, but Jayla Brehmer had a kill to make it 24-19 before WNCC won 25-21.
Fava led the Cougars with 11 kills along with five points. Curtis had eight kills with five points, while Meoni had three kills, five aces, and 17 points.
Also for the Cougars, Martinez had 25 set assists, four points, four digs, and two solo blocks; Chavez had eight points and five digs; and Olivera had two kills and eight points.