It was a South Sub-Region showdown between two of the top teams in Region IX with Western Nebraska Community College and Northeastern Junior College battling it out on Friday. The match lived up to the talent of both squads as the contest went five intense sets.
In the end, it was the 7th-ranked WNCC Cougars who went to 3-0 in the South Sub-Region with the five-set win over the Plainswomen 26-24, 22-25, 23-25, 25-18, 15-11 to move to 22-3 on the season.
The Cougars will next be in action next weekend when they travel to southern Colorado to face Trinidad State College on Friday and Otero College on Saturday.
AK Chavez said they played well in getting the five-set win.
"We had to stay very disciplined and make sure we were doing the little things right," Chavez said. "The key was keeping our composure while maintaining our intensity."
Shanelle Martinez said it was a good win.
"The key was the mental toughness throughout our game," Martinez said. "The more we stayed calm and composed, the more control we had over the game. In the fourth and fifth sets, the team came with fight, hustle, grit, and determination to want to beat our opponent. We wanted to feel how amazing the victory would feel after the game."
It definitely wasn't easy, either. Chavez said it was a good and competitive contest.
"They were great competition, but we just need to stay focused throughout the match and do what we do best," she said. "There were times where we were down but definitely leaned on each other and it pushed us to move forward and continue playing our game. And, when we were up, it felt as if we were unstoppable because of how high our energy was and intensity."
The fourth and fifth sets were key in how they played and Martinez said they played their game and executed.
"We just played our game and we were showing what we were capable of as a team," Chavez said. "We were making the most out of every ball. Our goal started with the pass and executing with a kill. We definitely came together as a team and our captains stepped up and led the team. We also tried to keep the momentum as much as we could on our side which helped us overcome any little mistakes we made because we knew we could get the next one."
Friday's win against NJC was a huge gut-check win as the Cougars fought back from deficits all night long. While the Cougars didn't have their strongest serving game, they still managed 12 aces on the night, including five from Ale Meoni.
The first set saw 16 ties as the two teams went back and forth. WNCC built an 8-6 lead after two Erica Fava points, but saw NJC come back to lead 22-21. The Plainswomen had set point at 24-23 on an ace serve, but a missed serve gave the ball back to WNCC and Chavez served both points including Jenna Curtis hammering down the set winner.
The second set saw WNCC jump to a 10-8 lead when NJC went on a huge service run to lead 14-10. The Plainswomen led 17-12 when Meoni had a kill and then Alex Hernandez had four points to tie the set at 17-17.
The set was knotted at 20-20 and 21-21 before NJC went up 24-21. Hernandez stopped the run, but NJC got the final point for the 25-22 win.
The third set was back and forth with WNCC holding an 11-6 lead only to watch NJC come back to take an 18-17 lead. WNCC retook the lead at 21-8 on three Chavez points and then led 22-19 on a Curtis kill. NJC came back to take a 23-22 lead before WNCC tied the set at 23. The Plainswomen got the next two points to win 25-23.
Facing a must-win situation, the Cougars woke up as Hernandez started the fourth set with six straight points and a 6-0 lead. WNCC pushed the lead to double digits, leading 19-8 and later 20-9 on a Curtis kill. NJC came back with a 6-point service run to cut the lead to 20-16, but WNCC stayed strong and got the win 25-18 to force a fifth set on a Emmalei Mapu kill and a Fava point.
NJC started the fifth up 3-0 and led 4-1 before Meoni served two points to tie the final set at 4-4. WNCC took an 8-6 lead on a Chavez ace and led 11-8 on a Curtis point. NJC cut the Cougars lead to 12-11 before a missed serve sent the serve into Meoni's hands. The sophomore followed with two straight ace serves to give the Cougars the 15-11 match win.
WNCC had three players get double figure serving as Hernandez had 12 points with three aces followed by Chavez and Meoni with 11 points each. Fava had nine points while Shanelle Martinez had six points and Curtis with one.
Several Cougars had double-doubles on the night. Martinez finished with 50 set assists with 13 digs and a solo block; while Chavez had 17 digs, 11 points, and two aces.
Meoni had 11 kills and 11 points to go with her seven digs and five aces, while Curtis tallied 17 kills and 19 digs. Fava had a neat triple-double with 16 kills, 12 points and nine points.
Also for the Cougars, Mapu had 10 kills while Lexi Keoho had 10 digs.