WEST PLAINS, Mo. – Ale Meoni pounded down 15 kills and Jenna Curtis registered a double-double with 14 kills and 12 digs as the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team opened the NJCAA national tournament with a four-set win over Blinn College Thursday afternoon 25-23, 25-23, 13-25, 25-23.
The Cougars, who entered with a No. 4 seed, advanced to play a Thursday night contest against the host college Missouri State-West Plains at 6:30 p.m. MST with the winner advancing to the Final Four Friday night.
The win was the Cougars 33rd on the season and they played a solid game, finishing with a hitting percentage of .247 compared to .237 for Blinn College.
"We played Ok. We know we do better but we got the job done," Curtis said. "Our energy was maintained through most of the match and that really helped us."
There was a little bit of nerves on the team as the majority of the players haven't played at the national level. Only Alex Herandez and Angel Nahinu saw action the last time the Cougars played at nationals in April 2021.
"During the match we did make a lot of errors," Curtis said. "We had a lot of hitting errors and service errors so we really just had to play with better defense and dig a little deeper on the defensive side of things."
The Cougars are guaranteed at least a Top Eight finish, but they are aiming for a national title. Thursday night's contest will not be easy against the host school Missouri State-West Plains, a team the Cougars defeated in straight sets in the first weekend of the season.
To come out with the win tonight, we need to limit our errors," Curtis said. "We got all the jitters out and are ready to be better in this next match."
Curtis said it is unreal that they are among the elite teams in the nation right now.
"Nationals are amazing. Every team here is talented," she said. "I think it's so unreal that we are here with the Top 16 teams in the nation. No match here is going to be easy. We wouldn't be where we are without all the support from Cougar nation."
The sets were hard-fought between two teams that were very comparable in talent. The Cougars fell behind 11-8 in the first set and trailed 14-9 after two points from Emily Hardee. WNCC came back to grab a 17-16 lead after a kill from Meoni and then two service points from Meoni.
It was short-lived as Kaylen Kruse served three points for a 23-19 lead. Alex Hernandez stopped the service momentum with a kill and then Shanelle Martinez served five points with Meoni getting the set winning kill and the 25-23 win.
The second set was almost identical to the first set as Blinn had a 9-6 lead before WNCC went up 14-12 on a Meoni service point. The Cougars went up 22-17 after a Curtis kill and then two points from the Ogallala High School graduate. Hernandez made it 24-19 on an ace serve. Blinn fought back to cut the lead to 24-23, but Erica Fava closed out the set with a kill and the 25-23 winner.
The third set was all Blinn where they never trailed. Blinn led 7-2 after three points from Darby Nash and pushed the lead to 12-3 on four points from Kierslynn Wright. Later, Blinn led 19-8 on two Ellie Turner points and won the third set 25-13.
The fourth set saw the Cougars never trail despite the set being tied nine times. WNCC went up 8-4 on three Fava points before Blinn tied things at 10-10 and later 11-11. WNCC went back in front 13-11 on a Fava kill and led 15-12 on a Meoni kill.
Blinn came back to tie the game at 19-19 on two points from Hardee, but a Curtis kill and then a Martinez service point gave WNCC a 21-19 lead. Blinn tied things at 21 and later 22. Fava changed things with a kill and after an AK Chavez point the score was 24-22. Blinn answered with a sideout, but it was short-lived as Fava ended the match with a thundering kill and the 25-23 win.
Meoni and Curtis lead the team with 15 and 14 kills followed by nine from Fava and eight from Hernandez. Martinez had 43 set assists while Hernandez had three aces and six points. Martinez also had 11 points, Meoni five points, Curtis three points, Fava seven points, and Chavez had four points.
Chavez led in digging with 15 digs while Curtis had 12, Martinez had nine, Lexi Keoho with seven and Hernandez with three. Emmalei Mapu had three assisted blocks, while Meoni had four assisted blocks.
In other first-round games, Region IX went 2-1 in the games. WNCC and Central Wyoming College were first-round winners while Northeastern Junior College was swept 25-13, 25-15, 15-22, while Central won a five-set contest against Utah State Eastern 21-25, 25-15, 22-25, 25-13, 15-13.
Other first-round winners included No. 6 Miami Dade swept No. 11 Seward County 25-18, 25-22, 25-10; No. 3 Salt Lake swept No. 14 Eastern Arizona 25-15, 26-24, 25-15; No. 7 Trinity Valley swept No. 10 New Mexico Military 25-19, 25-23, 25-17; No. 2 Indian Hills swept No. 15 Monroe College 25-16, 25-12, 25-21; No. 1 Florida Southwestern swept No. 16 Wallace State 25-12, 25-14, 25-11.