SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The No. 10 Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team got back onto the court over the weekend after beating Eastern Wyoming College on Tuesday at the competitive Crystal "Inn"vitational in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Friday and Saturday against nationally-ranked teams. And, having played just one match in the last nine days before opening the invite, the Cougars dropped all four matches in the invite.
The Cougars opened the tourney on Friday, falling to the host squad No. 14 Salt Lake Community College in four sets 25-13, 19-25, 25-21, 25-16 before dropping a hard-fought five-setter to Lee College in the match immediately following the Salt Lake set back. The scores against Lee were 25-22, 25-22, 18-25, 20-25, 15-13.
On Saturday, the Cougars suffered a straight-set defeat to No. 2 Miami Dade College 25-17, 25-16, 25-18 before falling to College of Southern Idaho in four competitive sets 25-10, 20-25, 25-23, 25-17. CSI received votes in last week's national poll.
In the Salt Lake loss, Lilly Zwart led the team with 13 kills while Kyana Gabriel tallied 12 kills. Taylor Tyser added 10 digs while Shanelle Martinez had 11 digs and 28 set assists. Gabriel also had three ace serves with four points. Martinez had eight service points in the loss, while Tyser had four points.
Also for the Cougars, Dani Cruz had seven kills while Chloe Grady tallied two kills. Megan Bewley had four digs, while Gabriel had six digs.
In the Lee contest, the Cougars fell behind 2-0 after dropping the first two sets 25-22, 25-22. The Cougars responded in set three and four, winning 25-18, 25-20, before Lee managed to take the close fifth set 15-13.
WNCC tallied 54 kills in the defeat with 67 team digs. Zwart led the team with 13 kills followed by Cruz with 12. Crus also had nine digs, while Zwart had five digs and three blocks.
WNCC also got some big hitting performances from Finja Schul with nine kills with three blocks, while Grady had seven kills, Charli Blackman, Gabriel, and Martinez each with four kills.
Martinez had a double-double in the defeat with 45 set assists with 15 digs and three ace serves. Tyser finished with 15 digs followed by Bewley with seven, Gabriel with eight, and Schul with five.
Saturday's opening game against Miami Dade College, the Sharks outhit the Cougars .419 to .125 in hitting efficiency. Miami Dade had 45 kills in the three sets to just 23 for WNCC. WNCC's hitting was led by Schul with seven kills followed by Zwart with six and Cruz with five.
Martinez had 15 set assists with three digs. Tyser tallied just seven digs with one ace serve, while Bewley had five digs.
The Cougar's final match of the tourney against CSI was competitive. WNCC dropped the first set 25-10, but picked things up and played well in the next three, winning the second 25-20 before falling late in the third 25-23. The fourth set saw CSI get one late 5-point service run to end the match with the 25-17 win.
WNCC hit just .117 for the match against CSI and no Cougar had double-figure kills. Schul and Cruz led the team with nine kills each followed by Gabriel and Zwart with eight kills for a balance offensive output.
Zwart also had 10 service points in the contest with an ace and four digs. Martinez had a triple-double in the contest as the sophomore setter tallied 35 set assists, 10 digs, and 12 points. Martinez also had four ace serves.
Tyser tallied 14 digs with three points and an ace serve, while Gabriel had seven digs, and Bewley and Cruz each with six digs.
WNCC, 5-5 on the season, will be back in action this weekend when they head to Sterling, Colorado, for the Sheila Worley Invite where they will face more nationally-recognized teams. WNCC will face Snow College and Indian Hills Community College on Friday followed by New Mexico Military and Dodge City Community College on Saturday. WNCC will then return home for the Wyo-Braska Classic September 14-16 with five matches, beginning with a Sept. 14 encounter with Missouri State-West Plains.