SALT LAKE CITY – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team finished up the Crystal "Inn"vitational at Salt Lake Community College by going 1-1 on Saturday and 2-2 for the tournament.

                Friday, the Cougars fell to Missouri State-West Plains before topping No. 1 College of Southern Idaho. Saturday, the Cougars split a pair of matches. WNCC opened up the day with a 27-25, 25-21, 25-16 win over Snow College before falling in four games to No. 5 Northwest College,out of Powell, Wyoming, 29-31, 25-23, 25-22, 25-15.

                WNCC is now 6-2 on the season and will return home Wednesday to entertain Eastern Wyoming College at 7 p.m.

                Saturday's action started with the Cougars with 43 kills against Snow. Barbara Briceno led the way with 14 followed by 10 by Lara Picht and nine by Brooke Kaawa.

                A big key in the win was the team's defense, where three players finished with double-figure digs. Genesis Benitez-Fontanez had 14, while Briceno and Kaawa each had 12. Bia Berta also tallied seven, while Picht and Kirstee Trees each had three.

                Berta also finished with 37 set assists. Kaawa paced the team with 10 service points followed by Kaylee Spreier with seven and Briceno with five.

                The Northwest match, which was a battle of Region IX teams, saw the Cougars finish with 47 kills. The big difference was the team committed 21 hitting errors and 15 block errors.

                Briceno led the team in kills with 15 along with two assist blocks. Kaawa and Picht each had 11 kills, while Spreier had eight.

                Benetiz-Fontanez finished the game with 24 digs while also collecting seven points. Briceno finished with 10 digs while Berta had 11 digs, 33 set assists and four points.

                Also for the Cougars, Kaawa had six digs; Trees had eight digs and nine points; and Spreier had four digs and six points.