LA JUNTA, Colo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team is one win away from claiming its 18th straight regional championship after posting two wins Friday in La Junta, Colorado in the Region IX South tournament.
The top-seeded Cougars rolled to a 25-15, 25-12, 25-15 sweep over Lamar Community College to open the day and then advanced to the title game with a 25-19, 18-25, 25-16, 25-15 win over Northeastern Junior College.
WNCC, 33-4, will play for the title Saturday at 1 p.m. against the winner of the 10 a.m. elimination game between NJC or Otero. Otero eliminated Lamar to advance to the final day 25-21, 25-10, 25-21.
WNCC coach Binny Canales thought his team played well on the day.
"I thought we played well except we had a few spurts where we cost us some points," he said. "We just have to eliminate those as we go forward. I thought the girls played well. I thought Genesis had her best game all year. She had 20 digs and passed at a good clip and had a lot of great saves. Overall as a team we did a good job."
Canales said in the NJC match there were a lot of long rallies with the Cougars on the winning end on most of long points.
"There were a lot of them and the most of the time we came out on top," he said. "That is what we need to win those rallies, build momentum, and continue to get some confidence."
Now, the Cougars are just one win away from another regional title and Canales said his team needs to play like they did on Friday.
"We need to do the same thing we did today," he said. "We need energy, continue to pass the ball well, attack and not be too cautious, and serve tough."
The NJC contest was a battle for the first two sets. WNCC won the first with strong serving from Kaylee Spreier with six points. The second set saw the Cougars jump out to a 7-3 lead behind four points from Barbara Briceno only to watch NJC came battling back to win 25-18.
The next two sets belonged to WNCC. WNCC led 13-9 in the third and opened up an 18-13 lead before winning 25-16 on three Lara Picht points.
NJC led 4-3 early in the fourth before WNCC vaulted to a 12-5 lead behind five Briceno points and cruised to the 25-15 win.
WNCC had three players in double-figure kills. Briceno and Brooke Kaawa finished with double-doubles. Briceno had 16 kills and 14 digs. She also added nine points. Kaawa had 10 kills and 13 digs. Kaawa chipped in five points.
Picht finished with 15 kills along with five digs and four points, while Spreier had seven kills, six points, two assist blocks, and two digs.
Genesis Benitez had a double-double, tallying 20 digs and 11 points. Bia Berti finished with 50 set assists, nine digs, four points and four kills; and Kadara Marshall had four kills and two solo blocks.
In the opener, WNCC received balanced hitting in its win over Lamar. Brooke Kaawa led the way with nine kills, Barbara Briceno followed with eight, and Lara Picht had seven. Kaylee Spreier added five kills.
Bia Berti handed out 25 set assists and led the Cougars with 10 service points. Kaawa and Genesis Benitez both served seven points, Spreier had six, while Briceno and Picht each had five. Berti and Briceno led the way with two aces each.
Defensively, Benitez led WNCC with seven digs. Briceno followed with six and Kaawa added five. Kadara Marshall finished with one and a half blocks.