COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa -- Lilly Zwart finished with 29 kills in two matches and the No. 6 Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team captured two wins in the first day of the Reiver Classic in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Friday.
The opener saw Zwart get 15 kills and Charli Blackman get 13 kills as the Cougars registered a four-set win over No.17 Butler Community College 25-21, 27-29, 25-23, 25-17. The second match of the day against Iowa Western Community College, Zwart tallied 14 kills and Dani Cruz get 12 kills as the Cougars registered a five-set win over the Reivers 25-21, 20-25, 14-25, 25-16, 15-11.
WNCC, 2-0 on the season, will wrap up tourney play with two matches on Saturday when they face Dodge City Community College at 8 a.m. MST and then No. 4 Indian Hills Community College at 10 a.m.
Both games were battles. In the Butler contest, the Cougars trailed 8-2 in the first set and later 20-18 before earning the 25-21 win behind three service points.
Butler came back in the second set and ran to a 10-5 lead and led 20-19 late. The Cougars came back to grab a 23-32 lead before the Grizzlies had set point at 25-24. WNCC fought back to get set point themselves at 27-26, but Butler scored the final three points for the 29-27 win.
The third set was back and forth with neither team leading by more than two. Butler led 23-22 lead before the Cougars scored the final three points on two Zwart service points for the 25-23 win.
The fourth set saw WNCC jump out to a 5-0 lead behind four points from Shanelle Martinez and led 15-10 on three Blackman points. The Cougars kept in control to earn the 25-17 win.
Martinez had a double-double in the win with 14 digs, 38 set assists, two kills and nine points. Zwart finished with 15 kills, three digs, three assisted blocks, and four points, while Blackman had 13 kills, five digs, and seven points.
Cruz finished with eight kills with five points, while Finja Schul had five points, five points, four digs, two solo blocks, and five assisted blocks. Also for the Cougars, Grady had four kills; Kyana Gabriel had two kills, three digs, and five points; Megan Bewley had six digs; and Taylor Tyser had 13 digs, nine points, and two aces.
The Iowa Western match was also a battle between the two national powers. WNCC captured the first set 25-21 on a Zwart kill. The second set saw WNCC lead 18-16 on four Blackman points and led 19-17 on a Cruz kill. That is when things changed as the Reivers went in front 22-19 on five straight points and closed out the set 25-20 with three points.
Iowa Western dominated set three as they ran to a 6-2 lead only to watch WNCC come back to within 8-6. The Reivers then ran off 10 straight points to lead 18-7 and then went up 22-8 on three straight ace serves for a 22-8 lead. WNCC tried coming back as Martinez had four service points, but it was a little too late as IWCC won 25-14.
The fourth set was the opposite of set three as Iowa Western led 7-6 before a kill from Zwart stopped the run and let Cruz serve four points for an 11-7 lead. WNCC led 19-15 when Zwart hammered a kill and then Cruz had four points, including three straight ace serves for a 24-15 lead before winning 25-16 on a Zwart kill to force a fifth set.
Iowa Western got the upper-hand early in leading 5-3 before a missed serve sent the serve back to Martinez. Martinez then served six straight points for a 10-5 lead. The two teams then sided out back and forth before Blackman ended the match with a kill.
Martinez had a triple-double with 14 digs, 12 points, 34 set assists, two kills, and three ace serves. Cruz had a double-double with 12 kills and 12 points along with four digs and four aces.
Blackman finished with 10 kills, eight points, and five digs, while Schul had five kills, two solo blocks, three assisted blocks, two digs and two set assists.
Also for the Cougars, Bewley had five digs while Tyser had seven digs with five points, four set assists, and an ace.