CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team finally captured their first win of the season with a dominating win over Western Wyoming Community College at the Region IX Crossover tourney in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on Friday.
WNCC opened the tourney with a loss to Gillette College 25-23, 25-20, 25-20 as Dani Cruz had a double-double of 10 kills and 10 digs.
WNCC followed that defeat with a commanding sweep of Western Wyoming 25-13, 26-24, 26-6. WNCC tallied 34 kills in the win while hitting .231. Cruz led the way with nine kills, 10 service points, and seven digs. Natalia Malinowska finished with 22 service points, five ace serves, and 24 assists.
The came as WNCC dominated play in the first set, running to a 12-5 lead after three service points from Kyana Gabriel. The Cougars led 17-9 on two points from Malinowska and never looked back for the 25-13 win.
Set two was a little closer as the Cougars led 6-1 before Western Wyoming came back to tie the contest at 13-13. Western Wyoming led 23-19 but WNCC came back after a missed serve. Alex Gonzalez-Orozco then serve four points. WNCC won the second set 26-24.
The third set saw Malinowska serve 15 straight points for a 15-0 lead and the Cougars never look back as they won 25-6 for their first win of the season.
Cruz had nine kills followed by Keira Zelada with eight, Emma Hergenreder and Kyana Gabriel each with six, and Maria Niedzwiecka with three.
Gonzalez-Orozco had 21 digs, seven points, and two aces.
In the loss to Gillette, the Cougars lost the first set 25-23 after leading 17-13. WNCC then led the second set 6-4 but Gillette came back with two big service runs for a 13-8 lead. The Pronghorns won the second and third sets 25-20.
Cruz had 10 kills, 10 digs, and four points, while Malinowska had 16 set assists, 10 points, and 16 set assists. Gonzalez-Orozco had 21 digs and two points, while Allie Twamley had eight set assists, nine digs, and four points.
WNCC will look to continue winning ways on Saturday with two more contests in the classic. WNCC plays Northwest College at noon and then Laramie County Community College at 7 p.m.

WNCC men’s soccer picks up conference win

GILLETTE, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College men’s soccer team opened up the conference portion of their schedule with a 2-1 road win over Gillette College in Gillette, Wyoming.
The win was the Cougars first win of the year and it came during the important part of the season – the conference matches.
The game was a battle in the first half with neither team scoring.
All the scoring came in the second half and it was the Pronghorns that scored first as George Foster scored in the 64th minute.
WNCC wasted little time in tying the contest. Alvaro Abeal took a free kick from 25-yard out and put it in the back of the net to make it 1-1.
In the 78th minute, WNCC took the lead as Jean Wil Standley-Lor took the corner kick and fed Giani Nguili with the ball to score the go-ahead goal.
WNCC finished the contest with 16 shots, eight of which were on goal while Gillette had 11 shots, six of which were on goal.
Ever Zubia had seven saves in goal for the Cougars.
WNCC will look for win number two in the conference on Saturday when they travel to face Casper College at Casper’s Kelly Walsh High School beginning at 3 p.m.

WNCC women’s soccer fall to Gillette College

GILLETTE, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College women’s soccer team dropped their Region IX conference opener to Gillette College on Friday at Gillette, Wyoming.
The Cougars, after playing a strong first half, gave up three second-half goals as the Pronghorns earned the 4-0 win.
Gillette scored in the first half in the 27th minute on a goal by Amber Ogbolu. That was all the scoring of the half.
The second half saw Gillette score two early goals, both by Lexi Wells in the 56th minute and then the 61st minute for a 3-0 lead. Gillette added another goal in the 86th minute as Ogbolu scored her second goal.
WNCC had four shots in the contest compared to 20 for Gillette.
WNCC goalkeeper Feline Groenwold had 11 saves in net.
The Cougars will continue Region IX conference action when they face Casper College on Saturday in Casper at 1 p.m. That game will be played at Casper Kelly Walsh High School.