STERLING, Colo. – The 5th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team received 14 kills from Erica Fava and the Cougars swept past Casper College 25-14, 27-25, 25-18 to move to 13-2 on the season in the final day of the Sheila Worley Invite in Sterling, Colorado, on Saturday.
WNCC finished the tournament at 2-1 after splitting a pair of matches on Friday.
WNCC also put two players on the all-tournament team of the tournament. Cougars making the team include Jenna Curtis and Emmalei Mapu. The tourney MVP and the Libero of the tournament all went to Indian Hills Community College, who defeated WNCC and NJC in five sets on Friday.
Saturday's contest with Casper was interesting as WNCC got the sweep, but they had to fight in the second set to get the sweep.
The first set saw Casper lead after scoring the first point and then later at 2-1. WNCC then got a pair of points from Curtis, Ale Meoni, and Alex Hernandez to run to a 12-6 lead. The Cougars went up 15-7 on two Shanelle Martinez points and then Curtis added three points for a 19-8 lead. WNCC won the first set 25-14 afterFava served the final two points for the win.
The second set saw both teams miss serves left and right early on as Casper led 6-4 and later at 10-8. Mapu then fired down a kill and Curtis served four points for a 13-10 lead. The set stayed close until Meoni went to the service line and served five straight for a 21-14 lead. Then there was a long delay of something at the scorer's table. That long delay changed the momentum as it cooled off the Cougars and Casper came back. WNCC did lead 23-15, but Casper went on a 4-point scoring run to slice the deficit to 23-20.
Fava stopped the run with a kill to make it 24-20, but Casper came back to get a sideout and then four points to lead 25-24. WNCC got the ball back and Martinez served an ace to make it 26-25 and Martinez got the final point for the 27-25 lead.
That close set was enough to refire up the Cougars in the third set as Mapu started things with a kill and then Martinez served four straight for a 5-0 lead. WNCC went up 15-4 after four Fava points. Casper tried coming back like they did in the second set in cutting the lead to 16-10, but WNCC wasn't going to have it as Mapu got a kill and Curtis a point for a 18-10 lead. Meoni then went on a service run with three points including two aces for a 23-12 lead.
Casper made another late run to cut the deficit to 23-16 and later 24-18. Autumn Bennett closed out the match for the Cougars with a kill and the 25-18 win.
Curtis had a double-double in the win with 20 digs and 11 points. She also had four kills and two assists. Fava led the way with 14 kills along with four digs, six points, and a solo block. Meoni finished with six kills, seven digs, 11 points, and four aces.
Also for the Cougars, Martinez had 29 set assists, nine points, two aces, and eight digs; Anna Jasinsky has two points and an ace; Hernandez had four kills, four digs, two points, and a solo block; Shae Hardy had three digs and two assists; Mapu had eight kills with a solo block; Lexi Keoho, Jayla Brehmer, and Paige Nakanelua each had a dig; Maya Angelova had a kill and an assisted block; Charli Blackman had an assisted block; and Bennett had a kill.
WNCC will be at home next week for five matches as they get set to host the Wyo-Braska Invite with Eastern Wyoming College. WNCC will face Northwest College at 7 p.m. on Thursday. Friday's matches in the tourney will see WNCC face Casper College at 1 p.m. and Western Wyoming Community College at 5 p.m. Saturday's home matches will have the Cougars facing Iowa Western at 1 p.m. and Central Wyoming College at 5 p.m.