Lilly Zwart hammered 14 kills and the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team registered their 12th win of the season with a 25-21, 25-21, 25-21 Region IX South Conference win over Trinidad State College Thursday night at Cougar Palace.
Megan Bewley, who had five points in the win, said the team played well together.
"I think we really focused on our hitting today," Bewley, the Scottsbluff High graduate, said. "They had a really tough serve so we had to really focus on that. But, overall, I think we stuck together the whole set and the entire three sets and I think that is important to get the win."
The thing that stood out for the Cougars in the win was a balanced offensive attack as well as strong defense with everyone that saw time on the floor came up big in some aspect.
"That (everyone playing and contributing) is super important and that is how we build team chemistry and we learn how to play with each other," Bewley said. "Plus it is good for next year for letting those freshman that don't have a lot of experience, get that experience."
Serving was also a key for Cougars from Tuesday's defeat at Laramie County Community College where, in that loss, the Cougars had just 13 service points. Thursday night, WNCC had eight different players score a service point with a total of 32 service points. Bewley said the serving was strong Thursday.
"It was good and the serving keeps them out of system, which then helps them not run a good ball attack against us," she said. "That really helped us a lot.:
Thursday's win over Trinidad was vital after the Cougars fell last week to Northeastern Junior College and Tuesday against Laramie County Community College. Thursday night, it was a complete team effort as eight different players had a kill and another eight had a service point.
Zwart led the way with 14 kills followed by Finja Schul netting six, Kyana Gabriel getting five, and three kills each from Shanelle Martinez, Charli Blackman, Dani Curz, and Chloe Grady.
As for serving, Taylor Tyser led the way with seven points followed by six from Gabriel, five each from Martinez and Bewley, and four from Schul.
Also for the Cougars, Martinez had 31 set assists while Tyser had 13 digs followed by Martinez with eight, Cruz with five, Gabriel with four, and three each from Blackman and Schul.
The win was a workmanlike effort from the Cougars. WNCC only trailed once in the first set at 2-0, but quickly retook the lead on two Martinez points at 3-2. The two teams were tied only a couple times in the set at 3-3 and 14-14. After being tied at 14s, Tyser had a big service point for a 16-14 lead followed by Bewley with three points to lead 20-15.
WNCC stayed strong as they claimed the first set 25-21.
The second set started the same way with Trinidad leading 2-0. WNCC regained control after Tyser had three points for a 6-3 lead and led 13-9 after a Zwart kill. Tyser had three more points later for a 17-11 lead. Trinidad battled back to trail just 22-20 on an ace serve, but a Cruz kill and then a Tanika Eastman ace serve gave the Cougar a 24-20 lead before winning 25-21.
The third set was back and forth with both teams taking leads. Trinidad had a 4-2 lead early and later led 19-17. A Gabriel kill put the service into Martinez' hands and the sophomore served for a 20-19 lead. Trinidad tied the set at 20-20, but a Zwart kill stopped the run and Gabriel served three points for a 24-20 lead. WNCC won the match 25-21 on a Zwart kill.
WNCC will be back in action Friday night when they host Otero College at 7 p.m. Otero dropped a match to NJC on Thursday in three sets.