CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team battled No. 18 Laramie County Community College tough, but in the end, the Golden Eagles managed to claim the 26-24, 25-18, 25-14 win Tuesday night at Storey Gymnasium in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

                Lilly Zwart, who finished with 10 kills on the night to lead the team, said they played smart, but just came up short.

                "I think we played really well in the first two sets," Zwart said. "We played a lot smarter than we normally do so we were playing their blocks and doing the tips to score the points."

                Zwart said how they played Tuesday was a lot better than the last time out when they lost to Northeastern Junior College last week.

                "We got the kills and playing smart against teams like that (ranked) is the most important part," she said.

                The Cougars and the Golden Eagles were locked up in a battle in the opening set. LCCC led 11-8 after three points from Sadie Christiansen. WNCC came back to grab a 15-14 lead on a service point from Charli Blackman.

                WNCC led 22-21 on a Shae Hardy ace serve and led 23-22 after a Chloe Grady kill. WNCC was within set point at 24-23 on a Grady kill. LCCC called a time out and Demi Stauffenberg had two service points for the 26-24 win.

                The second set saw LCCC jump to a 5-0 lead on four Stauffenberg service points. WNCC came right back to cut the deficit to 5-4 after four Kyana Gabriel service points. WNCC took the lead at 12-11 on another Gabriel service point and a double block from Zwart and Maya Angelova.

                The lead didn't last as LCCC went up 16-13 on two ace serves that hit the top of the net and fell on WNCC's side by Kate Ohlsen. LCCC led 20-15 and won 25-18.

                The third set was back and forth early on as WNCC led 5-3 on a Megan Bewley service point and led 8-7 later on. Things changed after that as Christiansen had two points and Ohlsen had four service points for a 16-9 lead. LCC led 21-11 on three points from Emalee Bugas and won 25-14.

                WNCC tallied 31 kills in the match and hit .105. LCCC had 47 kills and hit .216. Zwart led the Cougars with 10 kills followed by Grady with seven, Dani Cruz with six, and two each from Gabriel, Angelova, and Finja Schul.

                Bewley led the Cougars with 15 digs while Crus had eight, Shanelle Martinez with five, and four each from Taylor Tyser and Gabriel. Martinez also had 29 set assists with five digs while Gabriel had five service points.

                WNCC had just 13 service points all together compared to 27 for LCCC.

                WNCC, 11-12, will be back in action Thursday and Friday with home contests at 7 p.m. against Trinidad State College on Thursday, and Otero College on Friday.

                Zwart said the team just needs to play like they did in the first two sets and they will be fine.

                ""We will continue to play like we did in those first two sets," Zwart said. "We have to keep playing smart and also get those kills. The one thing we really need to do is just go to every single ball no matter where it is on the court, just really throwing ourselves out there to get the balls. We just need a lot of energy and it will be nice to have a home crowd."