LAMAR, Colo. – The 5th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team made short work of Lamar Community College Saturday in a Region IX South Sub-Region conference contest as the Cougars improved to 26-3 on the season with a 25-10, 25-11, 25-14 over the Lopes.

            The Cougars captured the win in a little over an hour as everyone got a chance to play and put up some sort of statistic.

            Eleven different players picked up a kill in the win while another 11 had at least one service point.

            Erica Fava paced the offense with 10 kills while also tallying three digs and just one point. Ale Meoni and Jenna Curtis each had six kills while Emmalei Mapu had five kills. Meoni also had two digs while Curtis had five digs.

            Shanelle Martinez finished with 12 points with nine digs, two kills, and 34 set assists, while AK Chavez had 10 points with three aces, and six digs. Megan Bewley also tallied seven points, while Alex Hernandez and Charli Blackman each had four points. 

            The match was one where WNCC trailed just once in the contest and that was 1-0 after a missed serve to start the set. Other than that, WNCC led 99.9% of the time with just three ties, two in the second set at 1-1 and 2-2 and once in the third at 1-1.

            The first set saw Martinez start the match with two points with two kills from Fava for a 3-0 lead. WNCC led 11-4 after two Hernandez points and then led 16-6 on two Martinez points. 

            WNCC went up 21-7 on four Chavez points and won the first set 25-11 as Curtis tattooed a kill for the set winner. 

            The second set was back and forth to start as Lamar led 1-0 and trailed just 5-4 and later 7-5. That was when WNCC started heating up as Hernandez had two service points followed by three points from Blackman for a 14-6 lead. WNCC kept going as Martinez added six points for a 21-8 lead and Jayla Brehmer served the final point for the 25-10 win.

            The third set started out at 1-1 before Chavez added two points for a 4-1 lead and then Bewley had six points to push the score to 13-4. WNCC just kept going as the Cougars controlled the pace of the game. WNCC won the match as Blackman hammered down a kill and then Blackman served the final point while Angel Nahinu got the final kill.

            Other players in the contest with good performances saw Blackman finish with two kills and four points; Maya Angelova had two kills; Paige Nakanelua had three digs; and Nahinu had two kills. 

            WNCC 26-3, will be back at home next week for a big conference showdown with Northeastern Junior College on Friday at 7 p.m. The winner of that contest will earn the top seed from the South for the Region IX tournament that begins in November.

            Friday's contest is also Homecoming as well as PAWzitively Pink Breast Cancer Awareness night.