SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. -  The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team utilized a team effort in sweeping past Southeast Community College 25-18, 25-19, 25-17 on Saturday in a Region IX South contest at Cougar Palace.
The win moves the Cougars to 9-18 overall but more importantly to 7-2 in the South Conference. WNCC currently is in second to leading Northeastern Junior College, who is 9-0. The top four teams qualify for the Region IX tournament the first week in November, which will be held at Cougar Palace.
Allie Twamley, the freshman setter from Cheyenne, Wyoming, said they did OK in the win as everyone that was suited up contributed in some fashion.
“We played decently. We definitely could have done better,” Twamley said. “We were just hoping the other team messed up but in the third set we put it all together and we were able to start playing on our side and getting some offensive sets, so that was good.”
This was an important win as they are fighting for a second seed in the Region IX tournament and every match counts from here on out.
“It’s definitely really important that we start clicking right now because regionals is really soon and we’re going to be playing a lot of teams that we haven’t seen in our conference yet and a lot of those teams are a lot higher leveled than the teams we see in our conference,” she said. “So, we really need to be consistent and solid when it’s time to play those teams.”
WNCC will be on the road this week with two crucial road matches. WNCC goes to McCook Community College on Tuesday and then Lamar on Saturday. McCook is currently tied with Trinidad State for third with a 6-3 conference record while Lamar is 3-6.
“We need to win both of them so that we can stay second in our conference because I believe NJC’s first right now and we’re right behind them,” Twamley said. “We want to be seeded as high as we can going into regionals so that we have the best shot at making it to nationals.”
The Cougars have plenty of talent and Saturday it showed just how much talent and depth the team has. WNCC had nine different players get a service point, led by Twamley and Dani Cruz with seven points and Natalia Nowak with six points. Nowak had three aces in the game while Cruz had two aces.
WNCC also had nine different players register a kill. Cruz led the way with nine kills followed by Nadiyyah Northern with six, Kyana Gabriel and Eli Braithwaite each with five, and Maria Niedzwiecka and Keira Zelada each with four.
The Cougars has had 10 different players get a dig as the team had 54 total digs in the 3-set win. Alex Gonzalez-Orozco had 17 digs followed by Gabriel with nine, Cruz with seven, Reese Fleck with five, Nowak and Twamley each with four and Maria Niedzwiecka with three.
The first set was a battle as WNCC led 189-14 before Southeast cut the deficit to 18-17 on two Brooklyn Buchmeier points. Cruz hammed down a kill and then Nowak had four service points for a 23-17 lead. Gabriel finished off the first set 25-18 with a kill.
The second set saw WNCC bolt to an 11-7 lead. Buchmeier put the Bobcats ahead with four points at 12-11. The two teams were knotted at 19 when WNCC got the serve back on a missed serve and Twamley served the final five points for the 24-18 win.
WNCC led the third set from start to finish, leading 6-2 on two Braithwaite service points. WNCC led 16-12 on a Emma Hergenreder ace serve. The Cougars finished off the third as Cruz served the final four points for the win.