It will be a battle between the top two teams in the Region IX South conference come Wednesday evening when No. 5 Northeastern Junior College comes to Cougar Palace to battle a Cougar team that is looking to stay unbeaten in the South conference.
First serve for the contest is set for 7 p.m. at Cougar Palace.
NJC comes in with a 21-2 record and a 9-game winning streak while the Cougars are just 11-10 on the season, but have won their last three matches.
Wednesday's encounter on the volleyball court is important for conference standings. Both teams are 2-0 in conference play while Trinidad State College is 1-0. NJC earned wins last week over Lamar Community College on Tuesday 25-18, 25-17, 25-11 and then McCook on Friday 25-17, 25-18, 25-21.
WNCC beat the same two teams, topping McCook on Tuesday 23-25, 25-14, 25-22, 23-25, 15-11 and then sweeping past Lamar on Friday 25-15, 25-12, 25-23.
WNCC holds a 93-58 overall record against NJC dating back to the 1980s. Since 1999 when WNCC started the long string of winning regionals, the team is 82-17 against NJC. The last six years has become a different story as WNCC holds a 9-5 record against the Plainswomen.
WNCC only has two sub-500 years against NJC, going 1-2 in 2019 and 0-2 in 2021.
The two teams come in with similar teams as WNCC has pounded down 851 kills so far while NJC has 1,000. NJC is averaging 13.33 kills a set compared to 10.64 for WNCC.
WNCC does have more digs than the Plainswomen with 1,106 compared to 1,037 for NJC. The Cougars
In the two conference games, WNCC has hit 96 kills while NJC has only had 84 kills and the Cougars also have 113 digs in the two matches compared to 84 for the Plainswomen.
The difference is blocks and setting, where NJC is averaging 2.75 blocks per set to WNCC's 1.94. Setting has NJC at 12.12 assists per set to WNCC's 9.78. WNCC also trails NJC in aces 168 to 135.
NJC is led by C. Havekost with 279 kills and 3.77 kills per set. Havekost is also averaging .51 aces per set. A. Helf is third in Region IX South with 268 kills.
WNCC is led by Lilly Zwart with 240 kills, which is fifth in Region IX South. Dani Cruz is ninth overall in the South with 173 kills while Kyana Gabriel is 14th with 140 kills.
After Wednesday's game with NJC, WNCC will be off until Tuesday when they travel o Cheyenne, Wyoming, to face Laramie County Community College at 7 p.m. at Storey Gymnasium. Before hosting Trinidad State and Otero on October 5 and 6 at 7 p.m. both nights.
WNCC and NJC will face each other once more in conference action on Wednesday, October 18.