Lilly Zwart and Kyana Gabriel combined for 32 kills and the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team captured their 14th win of the season with a 25-11, 26-24, 23-25, 25-18 win over Lamar Community College in a Region IX South conference contest Friday evening.
Gabriel had a triple-double in the win as the freshman from Hawaii tallied 17 kills, 14 digs, and 13 points. Gabriel also had three aces and three assisted blocks.
Zwart finished with 15 kills with three digs and two assisted blocks.
As a team, the Cougars had 54 kills in the match. Dani Cruz and Finja Schul each had seven kills followed by five from Chloe Grady and two from Shanelle Martinez.
Martinez and Megan Bewley each finished with a double-double. Martinez had 47 set assists with 17 digs. Martinez also had seven points with an ace. Bewley tallied 10 digs with 11 points. She also had an ace serve.
Also for the Cougars, Taylor Tyser had 12 digs, five set assists, and four points. Cruz had her seven kills with five digs and two points, while Tyser tallied 12 digs with five set assists. Grady finished with four assist blocks while Schul had two digs and a solo block. Charli Blackman finished with jus tone kill, two digs, and an ace serve.
The first set was all WNCC as Gabriel gave the Cougars a 10-1 lead after serving eight points. The Cougars pushed the lead 15-4 on three Bewley points and led 21-9 on a Zwart kill. Bewley finished off the first set with two service points and the 25-11 win.
The second set saw Lamar jump up 9-5 and later 10-7. The Cougars came back to lead 11-10 after three Martinez points. Cougars pushed the lead to 18-14 before Lamar cut the deficit to one at 18-17. The Cougars led 24-19 before Lamar reeled off five straight points to tie the match at 24. WNCC finally won the second set 26-24 as Gabriel got a block for the winner.
The third set was back and forth with Lamar leading 5-2 and later led 16-13. That was when WNCC made a comeback to the set at 17-17 on a Schul kill. Lamar came right back to take a 20-17 lead and led 22-20. WNCC tied the set at 22-22 before the Runnin' Lopes went up 24-22. The Cougars called a timeout and mounded a comeback, but Lamar won the third set 25-23.
The four set saw WNCC lead 4-1 after three Gabril points. Lamar tied the match at 5-5 and led late at 16-15 with an ace serve. WNCC came storming back in taking a 17-16 lead on a Bewley point. After a Lamar timeout, Lamar came back to tie the fourth set. Charli Blackman stopped the Lopes steam and served five points to give the Cougars a 23-17 lead. The Cougars finished the set with a Schul point and then Schul served the final point.
WNCC, 14-13, will back in action with a key conference showdown with McCook Community College on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Cougar Palace.