SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. -  Northeastern Junior College captured the first of two Region IX titles Friday evening as they swept Casper College in straight sets 27-25, 25-9, 25-18 Friday at Cougar Palace.
The second Region IX champion in the Northwest Plains B bracket will be decided Saturday afternoon and there are just three teams left. Saturday’s action at Cougar Palace begins at 11 a.m. as Laramie County Community College will battle Central Wyoming College. The winner of that contest will take on Casper at 4 p.m. for the other regional title and berth to the national tournament in Clarksville, Tennessee, and join NJC as the two teams from Region IX that automatically get berths.
LCCC continued their season as they swept past North Platte Community College in the first match on Friday 25-17, 25-16, 25-18, while Central Wyoming had to fight hard to down WNCC 25-23, 25-21, 25-19 to advance.
The Cougars end their season at 15-21 on the season but the Cougars did play spirited on Friday. The Rustlers matched the Cougars spirit and then some to get the win.
Central Wyoming was led in kills by Presley Ryan and R. Workman each with 10 kills. WNCC was led by Dani Cruz with 11 kills. Cruz also had 11 digs in the loss.
The difference in the contest was blocking, where Central Wyoming had eight solo blocks and eight assisted blocks. WNCC had just four solos and two assisted blocks. The Rustlers hit .246 for the contest while WNCC was just .153.
Still, it was a battle. WNCC started the match leading 5-0 after Cruz got the opening kill and then Natalia Nowak had four points for the early lead. Central came back and took a 9-8 lead, but three points from Kyana Gabriel put WNCC up 12-9 and later 14-11.
Central Wyoming came back and outscored WNCC 9-3 to take a 20-17 lead. WNCC rebounded as Emma Hergenreder had three points for a 21-20 lead. WNCC led 23-22 but Quincey Mathews served the final two points for the 25-23 win.
WNCC got behind in the second set 8-2 and later 11-3. Central led 14-8 when Cruz hammered a kill and then Nowak had three points to cut the deficit to 14-12. The Rustlers went back up 20-14 and led 23-17. Trailing 24-19, WNCC mounted a mini-comeback as Anika Davison had a kill and Nowak a point, but Central won the second 25-21.
The third set saw Central lead 3-0 before Maria Niedzwiecka got a kill and Nowak followed with three service points for a 4-3 lead. WNCC led 12-10 on three Alex Gonzalez-Orosco points and led 16-14 on a Reese Fleck point. WNCC trailed 19-18 on a Davison kill, but the Rustlers served three points to make it 22-18 and won 25-19.
Cruz and Nowak each had double-doubles. Cruz had 11 kills, 11 digs, and two set assists, while Nowak had 21 assists, 12 points, and three aces.
Davison finished with six kills and three digs, while Hergenreder had eight digs and four points. Keira Zelada finished with five kills and three digs, while Nadiyyah Northern had four kills and Kyana Gabriel had four kills, eight digs, and four points.
Alex Gonzalez-Orozvo had seven digs with five points, while Allie Twamley had three assists.

WNCC men’s basketball fall to nationally-ranked Cowley County

ARKANSAS CITY, Kan. – The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team gave No. 12 Cowley County Community College a run battle in the first half before the Tigers earned the 80-58 win Friday night.
WNCC held a 10-9 lead with 14:22 to play on a Isaiah St. Preux bucket. Cowley came back to go up 15-10 and later 23-17 with 7:58 to play in the opening half.
The Cougars battled back as they sliced the deficit to one, 23-22, on a Amare Jackson bucket. Jackson later put the Cougars on top 24-23 with a layup with 5:50 to play. WNCC would be held scoreless for a good three minutes before Nehemiah Charles made three free throw to make it 30-27 with 2:08 left in the opening half. Cowley went on to lead 34-29 at halftime.
WNCC hung with Cowley for the first three minutes of the second half. The Tigers went up by double digits at 41-30 with 17:47 to play. WNCC got back to within six on a Viktor Lukic-Gavric 3-pointer and then a dunk by Amare Jackson. Neither team would score in a 3-minute span before Cowley scored with 13:28 to play.
WNCC had the contest to just six points at one time, but Cowley pushed the lead back to double digits. WNCC was held scored for a 4-minute span before Lukic-Gavric finally scored with an old-fashioned 3-point play with 4:45 to play to make it 69-50 and that was as close as the Cougars would get.
WNCC shot 35 percent from the field while Cowley was 45 percent. Both teams connected on six 3-pointers. Cowley had the rebounding edge at 43-25.
The Cougars had two in double figures as Lukic-Gavric and St. Preux each had 12 points with two 3-pointers. Jackson led the team in rebounding with six boards to go with his nine points.
WNCC will be back in action Saturday when they face Butler Community College in the Cowley Classic.

Cowley 80, WNCC 58
WNCC 29 29 – 58
Cowley 34 46 – 80
WNCC
Xavier Kirkpatrich 4, Viktor Lukic-Gavric 12, Amare Jackson 9, Toms Linis 6, Dorin Nguema 2, Noah Jones 3, Melchi Egbeyemi 3, Isaiah St. Preux 12, Withold Czerenkiewicz 2, Nehemiah Charles 4, Ocean Brobbey 1.