SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. -  It was an electric atmosphere at Cougar Palace Tuesday night as the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team faced No. 19 Casper College in a game that saw WNCC capture the first two sets before Casper won the final three, including a 21-19 fifth set to escape The Palace with a reverse-sweep victory.
The scores of the match were 25-16, 25-16, 20-25, 20-25, 19-21.
WNCC head coach Fatima Balza said it was a hard-fought match and what she was most proud of from her team was how they battled in the fifth set, falling behind 13-9 to force extra play.
“It was a real exciting game. I think the first two games we stuck to the game plan,” Balza said. “We then lost control of ourselves and Casper was playing much better in not missing so many serves and making us earn every single point.
“I thought we fought really hard in the fifth set when we were down 13-9 and then come up and go all the way to 21-19. That was really good for our team because we haven’t done that this year.”
The contest was a battle between two equal teams on the court. There were a combined 106 total kills in the contest along with 187 digs and 16 aces.
Casper tallied 56 kills with six aces and 87 digs while WNCC had 50 kills, 100 digs, and 10 aces.
Dani Cruz and Kyana Gabriel led the Cougars with triple doubles. Gabriel tallied 12 kills, 18 digs, and 10 points with two aces, while Cruz had 11 kills, 13 digs, 10 points, and two aces.
Natalia Nowak had a double-double with 11 digs, 42 set assists, and five points, while Alex Gonzalez-Orozco had 35 digs, seven points, and two aces.
Also collecting double-digit kills were Nadiyyah Northern with 11 kills and three blocks, and Keira Zelada with 10 kills.
Emma Hergenreder had a nice night as well with 17 digs, seven points, and a kill, while Eli Braithwaite had three kills, three blocks, three ace serves, five digs, and nine points.
All five sets were contested sets. The first set saw Casper lead 11-10. After a missed serve, Cruz served four points for a 15-11 lead. Hergenreder followed with three points and a 20-13 lead followed by Gabriel with three points to make it 24-15. Cruz finished off the first set with a kill and the 25-16 win.
The second set saw WNCC take a 7-3 lead and pushed the lead to 12-5 after four Hergenreder points. WNCC continued playing strong as Gonzalez-Orozco finished off the set with three points and the 25-16 win.
The third set saw Casper jump to a 9-5 lead and led 15-7. WNCC came back to tie the set at 19, but Casper’s Gabi Hern served the final four points for the 25-20 win.
The fourth set was another battle with neither team going up more that two. WNCC held a 19-18 lead on a Gonzalez-Orozco ace serve. Casper got the serve back and Hern served five straight points for a 24-19 lead. Casper won the fourth 25-20.
The fifth set was electric with a loud and encouraging Cougar student section cheering on the team. Casper ran to a 13-9 lead when WNCC came charging back that started with a Zelada kill. Braithwaite then served three points to make it 13-12.
It became exciting after that as WNCC tied the set at 14 and had match point at 17-16 on a Gonzalez-Orosco ace serve. Casper led 18-17 and Cruz hammered down a kill to tie things at 18. The two teams were knotted at 19-19 when Casper got the final two points for the win.
WNCC will look to bounce back this weekend when they have two South Conference road matches. WNCC faces Trinidad State on Friday and then they take on Otero on Saturday.

WNCC women’s soccer falls to Barton on Tuesday

It was a battle of Cougars Tuesday morning at Landers Soccer Complex and the Barton Community College Cougars scored two goals to earn the 4-1 win over Western Nebraska Community College women’s soccer team.
The match was a competitive with the difference being the Cougars had trouble finding the back of the net, especially in the second half where they had five good opportunities that were just high or wide.
Barton scored first when Sara Aguirre scored just 12 minutes into the contest for a 1-0 lead. WNCC knotted the game 10 minutes later when Amanda Duarto delivered a corner kick into the box and Danae Montalvo went high and put the ball into the net.
Barton retook the lead at 2-1 after 35 minutes of play when Aquirre netted her second goal and that is where things stood at intermission.
Barton wasted little time to score in the second half when Maelle Harnisch scored just three minutes in.
After that the Cougars controlled the offense as they had five good chances to score including several shots that were taken inside the box that just came up high or the goalkeeper saved.
Barton finished off the scoring with just 28 seconds to play when Isela Barron-Tinajar scored with a kick that went high into the corner for the final goal.
The Cougar women will be back in action this weekend with home matches. WNCC hosts Central Wyoming College on Friday with the women’s game at 4 p.m. followed with a match with Northwest College on Saturday with kickoff at 1:30 p.m.

WNCC men fall to No. 9 Barton 4-0

Tuesday afternoon saw the Western Nebraska Community College men’s soccer team play a spirited contest against No. 9 Barton Community College at Landers Soccer Complex.
After holding the ninth-ranked team to just one goal in the first half, the Barton Cougars scored three times in the second half to earn the 4-0 victory.
WNCC will look to rebound this weekend when they wrap up the regular season with two conference matches at home. WNCC faces Central Wyoming College on Friday at 1:30 p.m. and then Northwest College on Saturday at 4 p.m.
It was an evenly played match between both Cougar teams. The first half saw just one goal as Barton scored 14 minutes in on an own goal for the 1-0 lead at intermission.
The second half saw Barton score three times. The first came just five minutes into the half when Masaki Tsuji scored on a penalty kick for the 2-0 lead. Four minutes later, Gustavo Soares scored to make it 3-0.
The final score came with 12 minutes to play when Angel Sainz scored to make the final 4-0.
WNCC finished with eight shots in the match while Barton had 20 shots. Sean Kim had three for WNCC.
Tomas Guzman had four saves in net for the Cougars, including a big leaping save in the first half.