STERLING, Colo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball split a pair of matches at the Sheila Worley Invite in Sterling, Colorado, on Friday.

                The Cougars earned a big 3-1 win over Snow College to open the invite in come-from-behind fashion. The Cougars dropped the first set 25-17 before claiming the next three 25-15, 25-20, 25-14 for the win and stopping the 4-game losing streak.

                WNCC then fell to Indian Hills Community College for the second time this season in straight sets 25-17, 25-21, 25-15.

                Against Snow, WNCC dropped the first set 25-19 after holding a 13-12 lead. The second set was a different story as the Cougars controlled things from the onset when Shae Hardy served the first nine points for a 9-0 lead. The Cougars went up by double-digits at 14-4 on a Lilly Zwart point and then led 19-5 after four Dani Cruz points. WNCC won the second set 25-14.

                The third set was similar to the second as the Cougars never trailed. WNCC led 5-1 early on three Kyana Gabriel points and led 13-9. Snow fought back to tie things at 13 and 14 and trailed 18-17 when the Cougars went up 21-17 on two Cruz points. WNCC won the third 25-20.

                The third set was another dominating performance as the Cougars only trailed once at 1-0. After that, WNCC led 5-2 on two Taylor Tyser points and doubled up Snow 10-5. Hardy added to the lead at 13-6 with two points.

                The Cougars led 19-12 on a Zwart point and then pushed the lead to 24-13 on four Cruz points before Finja Schul won the match with a kill.

                Hardy and Tyser each had a double-double in the contest. Hardy finished with 29 set assists with 13 points. Hardy also had six ace serves with nine digs. Tyser had 14 digs with 10 points. Tyser also had an ace serve and a kill.

                Zwart led the Cougars on the offensive side with nine kills with four points and two aces, while Cruz and Gabriel each had seven kills. Cruz also had 12 points, nine digs, and two ace serves. Gabriel had six points with an ace serve and seven digs.

                Also for WNCC, Megan Bewley tallied seven digs; Chloe Grady had five kills; Schul had five kills with two blocks, and four solo blocks and four assisted blocks; and Charli Blackman had two points and two ace serves.

                WNCC couldn't keep that momentum of the Snow win against Indian Hills as the Cougars only managed just 20 kills and 20 digs in the 3-set setback.

                Indian Hills won the first set pretty easy at 25-17. The second set saw Indian Hills jump to a 9-3 lead only to watch the Cougars slice the deficit to 10-8 on a Cruz point. WNCC kept fighting as they trailed by just one, 22-21 after two Hardy points, but couldn't complete the comeback in falling 25-21.

                The third set was a little tighter at the start. WNCC led 4-3 before Indian Hills went up 9-5. The Cougars tied things at 9-9 on three Cruz points only to watch Indian Hills answer with a 15-9 lead.

                WNCC kept battling as Schul got a kill and then the freshman from Germany added two service points to bring WNCC back to with 15-12. That was as close as they could get as Indian Hills won 25-15.

                Zwart led the Cougars with 10 kills with three points and two ace serves. Schul finished with six kills and Gabriel also had six kills. No other Cougar had a kill besides those three players. Schul also had five points with two aces, while Gabriel had two points, four digs, and two assist blocks.

                Hardy tallied 19 set assists with five points, three digs, an ace, and a solo block; Bewley had four digs; Tyser had seven digs; and Grady had two block assists.

                WNCC will wrap up the invite in Sterling with two matches on Saturday when they face New Mexico Military Institute at 12:30 p.m. followed by Dodge City Community College at 5:30 p.m.