MCCOOK – The 17th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team got 29 kills from Tamika Eastman and Lilly Zwart in capturing a four-set South Conference win over McCook Community College Saturday afternoon.
The scores were 25-17, 25-21, 20-25, 25-13.
It was the Cougars sixth straight win and moved the Cougars to 26-7 overall and 8-1 in conference play. WNCC has one regular season match left as they host No. 4 Northeastern Junior College on October 30. That match will be sophomore recognition along with WNCC alumni night. On top of that, it will be PAWzitively Pink for breast cancer awareness where breast cancer survivors get in free and anyone wearing pink get $1 off admission price.
Saturday's win saw the Cougars tally 49 kills with a .216 hitting efficiency. Six different Cougars put down a kill as WNCC setter Nora Marginean distributed the ball with 46 set assists. Marginean also had 13 points with three aces on the night.
Eastman led the offense with 15 kills with nine points, five digs, and an ace serve, while Zwart tallied 14 kills with six point, four digs, and an ace serve.
Chloe Grady and Finah Schul each had seven kills while Dessiah Christopher had five kills. Schul also had 13 service points with an ace.
Taylor Tyser led the team defensively with 23 digs with seven points and two aces, while Ahleejah Tovo-Sunia had 15 digs. Alex Gonzalez-Orozco had six digs in the win.
The first set was close with WNCC leading by three at 16-13. That was when Zwart hammered a kill and then served two points to go up 19-13. WNCC closed out the first set on two Marginean service points with the final point coming on a Grady kill.
Marginean started the second set with five service points for a 6-0 lead. McCook came back to grab a 13-12 lead and led 20-19. Schul followed with three service points for a 23-20 lead and the Cougars won the second set 25-21.
The third set saw McCook lead 4-2 and later 18-14 before they took the third set 25-20.
The fourth set was all WNCC as Eastman got a kill and then went back to the service line for six straight points for an 8-1 lead. The Cougars led 12-5 after two Zwart points. The Cougars continued playing strong as they went up 24-11 on two Marginean points and won the fourth set 25-13 on a Zwart kill.