STERLING, Colo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team attended the Sheila Worley Invitational in Sterling, Colorado, and faced three nationally ranked teams over the weekend.
Despite playing tough in all four matches, the Cougars came up short in the matches. On Friday, the Cougars lost to New Mexico Junior College in four sets 20-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-14 and then fell to No. 7 Odessa College in four sets 21-25, 27-25, 25-15, 17-25.
Saturday’s action saw the Cougars give No. 11 New Mexico Military all they could answer before falling in five sets 19-25, 25-17, 25-22, 24-26, 15-5. WNCC wrapped up the tourney in falling to No. 13 Colby Community College 25-20, 25-14, 25-19.
WNCC< 2-15 on the season, will be back on the road this weekend when they open up South conference action with road trips to eastern Nebraska when they face Southeast Community College on Thursday and then North Platte Community College on Friday.
In the match against New Mexico Junior College on Friday, WNCC had 42 kills as a team but only hit .096 for the match. Kyana Gabriel led the way with 13 kills and nine digs while Keira Zelada had seven kills. Natalia Malinowska had a double-double with 18 set assists and 14 digs, while Alex Gonzalez-Orozco led the team with 25 digs.
Against Odessa, WNCC managed just 34 kills with a hitting percentage of .077. Dani Cruz led the way with 12 kills while Gabriel had 11 kills. Malinowska had a double-double with 28 set assists and 11 digs, while Gonzalez-Orozco had 12 digs.
Saturday’s contest against New Mexico Military was an exciting one that went down to the wire. WNCC took the first set with a come-from-behind win. The Cougars trailed 20-19 when they got a sideout. That was when Scottsbluff’s Emma Hergenreder went to town from the service line with five straight points for the 25-20 win.
New Mexico Military came back and took sets two the three. Set four saw NMMI leading 23-18. WNCC got the ball back and Gonzalez-Orozco served three points to make it 24-23. After a NMMI point, Cruz hammered down a kill to get the ball back once again. This time Malinowska served the final three points with the set-winning kill from Zelada. The fifth set was all NMMI to take the match.
WNCC managed 52 kills and hit .117 for the match. The Cougars also had 90 digs with some hustling saves.
Gabriel led the way with 17 kills and 15 digs while Cruz had 15 kills and 14 digs. Malinowska had a triple-double with 45 set assists, 14 digs, and 11 service points. Gonzalez-Orozco tallied 27 digs, while Hergenreder had 14 digs, three kills, and nine points.
The Colby match saw the Cougars tally just 24 total kills but hit .158 for the match. The first set was close as the Cougars trailed 18-13 at one time, but closed the gap to 21-19 on a Cruz service point, but Colby took the first 25-20. Colby also took the second and third sets for the win.
Cruz led the way with 11 kills followed four each from Gabriel and Nadiyyah Northern.

WNCC women’s soccer splits contests over the weekend

The Western Nebraska Community College women’s soccer team went on the road for two conference contests and came away with a split over the weekend.
On Friday, Scottsbluff’s Mariah Russel scored the go-ahead goal in the 78th minute to give the Cougar women a 4-3 win over Lamar Community College.
Saturday, the Cougars allowed two second-half goals in falling to Northeastern Junior College 3-1.
The Cougar women will be at home this weekend when they host Otero College on Friday and Trinidad State College on Saturday in conference contests. The matches will start at 1:30 p.m. at Landers Soccer Complex.
Friday’s win was a battle as the two teams settled for a 1-1 tie after the first half. Lamar scored first just four minutes into the contest on a goal by Citlali Sanchez. WNCC knotted the score at 1-1 as Nia Trevino scored off an assist from Allison Herbel. The rest of the first half went scoreless.
The second half saw Lamar go ahead 2-1 just nine minutes into the half. WNCC wasted little time in tying things as Julia Santos scored in the 58th minute of an assist from Russel.
Lamar went back in front 3-2 on a score from Maria Herrera in the 67th minute. Once again, the Cougars answered as Trevino scored her second goal of the game off an assist from Candela Martin in the 68th minute.
That set up Russel’s go-ahead goal in the 76th minute that proved to be the game-winner.
Saturday’s road match against Northeastern Junior College was a battle in the first half. NJC scored first in the 30th minute when Allie Mahrling scored. WNCC tied the match in the 39th minute on an unassisted goal from Santos to tie the game at 1-1 and that is where it stood after one half.
The second half saw NJC score twice as Trizidee Chaves scored in the 66th minute and then Mahring scored in the 82nd minute.

WNCC men’s soccer team win, tie over the weekend

It was a mixed bag of results for the Western Nebraska Community College men’s soccer team over the weekend.
The Cougars put up six goals on Friday as they blanked Lamar Community College 6-0. On Saturday, the Cougars allowed a late Northeastern Junior College goal to earn a 1-1 tie.
WNCC, 2-1-1 in conference, has seven conference points and is in second place in the conference as Otero College and Laramie County Community College are tied for first with nine points.
WNCC will have two key conference games this weekend at home when they host Otero on Friday and then Trinidad State College on Saturday. Both matches start at 4 p.m. at the Landers Soccer Complex.
In the win on Friday, WNCC managed just one goal in the first half as Robert Connolly scored in the 28th minute. WNCC led 1-0 at halftime.
The second half saw the Cougars pepper the goal with five goals. Pau Vera Montoya scored twice as he scored in the 50th minute off an assist from Jeff Leguerre and then later in the 86th minute off an assist from Yediel Hernandez.
Leguerre had the third goal of the game in the 55th minute off an assist from Montoya. The other two goals came from Alvaro Abeal in the 59th minute from an assist from Jean Will Standly-Lord.
The final goal was a penalty kick that Oscar Molina netted in the 89th minute.
Saturday’s game saw a scoreless first half. It was early in the second half that the Cougars took a 1-0 lead when Molina netted the penalty kick in the 51st minute.
WNCC’s defense held the Plainsmen in check for the majority of the second half. It wasn’t until the 88th minute when NJC’s Guy-Yoan Yao scored to knot the score for the tie.