WEST PLAINS, Mo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team are guaranteed a top eight finish at the NJCAA national tournament in West Plains, Missouri, after finishing the first day at 1-1.

                The Cougars opened the tournament with a four-set win over No. 13 Blinn College 25-23, 25-23, 13-25, 25-23, before falling in the quarterfinals to Missouri State-West Plains 25-21, 25-20, 25-13.

                WNCC falls to 33-4 on the season, but they are still alive to get at least fifth place as they are guaranteed games on Friday and Saturday. WNCC will now face Central Wyoming College on Friday at 1:30 p.m. with the winner having a chance to play for fifth place on Saturday.

                The other thing that is still in the Cougars' favor is to be one of just five teams that will end the season on a win streak entering next year and that means that all the winners on Saturday will start the 2023 season on a winning note.

                WNCC head coach Binny Canales said they ran out of gas in the contest against MSU-West Plains.

                "I thought we played a little tired because the trip was long," Canales said. "Against Blinn we fought through it and we ran out of gas against Missouri-West Plains. Missouri played amazing. They did really well all game and we just had to match their intensity. We didn't pass as well as we needed to and serve as well as we needed to and that hurt us."

                Canales said there still is plenty to play for and he knows the team has plenty of pride to finish out strong.

                "We play Central Wyoming and hopefully we get our lumps back and play well tomorrow," he said. "The girls have a lot of pride and they will bounce back."

                The big difference between the win over Blinn Thursday afternoon and the defeat Thursday night was hitting percentage. WNCC hit .247 in the win, but only hit .158 against MSU-West Plains.

                WNCC didn't have any double-figure kill leaders in the lose to the Grizzlies as Curtis led the way with nine points followed by seven from Ale Meoni, Erica Fava, and Emmalei Mapu.

                In the win over Blinn, Meoni had 15 kills and Curtis had a double-double of 12 kills and 10 digs.

                The Blinn and WNCC contest was 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 get the set winning kill and the 25-23 win.

                The second set was almost identical as 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 thing 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 thing 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.

                The MSU-West Plains match was close at times. West Plains led 11-6 and later 16-11 and then had a big 19-12 lead. WNCC fought back as Curtis had a service point and then later Chavez had three points to bring WNCC to within 21-18. The Cougars couldn't get any closer falling 25-21.

                The second set saw WNCC play a lot better as the Cougars took a 5-3 lead on a Hernandez point and went up 9-6 on a Chavez service point. MSU-West Plains came back to lead 10-9 and later 11-10, but a Curtis kill and then two Curtis points put the Cougars up 13-11. WNCC led 14-12 before the Grizzlies went on a 7-0 run to lead 19-14. MSU-West Plains led 23-18 before the Cougars tried coming back as Hernandez hammered down a kill and Martinez had a point, but it wasn't enough as they fell 25-20.

                The third set saw the Grizzlies go up 5-1 and then 11-2 and later 18-6 and the Cougars couldn't get any service runs mounted as MSU-West Plains won 25-13.

                Curtis led the way with nine kills, seven points and three digs, while Meoni had seven kills and Fava had seven kills, five points, and five digs.

                Martinez tallied 27 set assists with four digs and three points; Hernandez had four kills, two digs, and two solo blocks; Mapu had seven kills; Charli Blackman had a kill; Keoho had eight digs; and Chavez had 16 digs and six points.

                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.

                In the quarterfinal action, No. 6 Miami Dade defeated No. 3 Salt Lake 25-17, 21-25, 25-10, 25-20 and will meet No. 2 Indian Hills in one of the semifinals. Indian Hills topped No. 7 Trinity Valley 25-23, 25-18, 23-25, 18-25, 15-9. The other semi-final will have MSU-West Plains against No. 1 Florida Southwestern. Florida Southwestern swept No. 9 Central Wyoming 25-21, 25-15, 25-17.

                Friday's schedule has elimination matches in the morning with Monroe taking on New Mexico Military, Eastern Arizona battling Seward County, Blinn facing NJC, and Wallace State taking on Utah State-Eastern.

                The matches at 1:30 p.m. will have Trinity Valley taking on Salt Lake and Central Wyoming meeting WNCC for the fourth time this season. WNCC defeated Central Wyoming for the Region IX title.