CASPER, Wyo. – The 11th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College volleyball took their first step in earning a Region IX title with a sweep over Eastern Wyoming College in the quarterfinals of the Region IX tournament in Casper, Wyoming, Wednesday evening.
The Cougars received 16 kills from Karen Cordero and eight service points each from Anabelle Gillen and Macey Boggs to defeat the Lancers 25-20, 25-19, 25-17.
The Cougars move into the winner's bracket semifinals as they face McCook Community College at 4 p.m. with the winner advancing to Friday's winner's bracket Region IX Championship match. McCook advanced to the semifinals with two wins Wednesday. The Indians defeated Western Wyoming in a play-in match 25-22, 25-19, 25-16, and then toppled Central Wyoming in tournament bracket play in five sets 26-28, 25-22, 25-18, 21-25, 15-9.
Other first-round play-in matches saw Eastern Wyoming advance to bracket play with a 25-18, 25-23, 25-19 win over Trinidad State Junior College, Otero took out Northwest College 25-23, 15-25, 25-23, 25-17, and Laramie County Community College defeated Lamar Community College in straight sets 25-12. 25-21, 25-18.
While McCook and WNCC will battle in one semifinal, the other semifinal will pit Northeastern Junior College against Otero Junior College. The Plainswomen upended LCCC 25-12, 25-19, 25-9 while Otero took out Casper in four sets 25-22, 25-18, 19-25, 25-17. The semifinals will be an All-South sub-region battle.
WNCC head coach Binny Canales said his team played alright, but they need to get sharper in the next matches.
"We need to play better. Our passing wasn't as sharp as we wanted," he said. "We stayed aggressive which was good, but we need to elevate our game more every time we play from now on."
The Cougars won the match by getting runs of two or three points and holding EWC's runs down. WNCC led from start to finish in the first set and only trailed once in the second set. The third set saw a multitude of lead changes.
Canales said they need to work on getting longer service runs.
"We weren't getting runs for five or six points like the last time we played them," he said. "This one was we would get a couple points and then they would get a point. It was just be going back and forth. We have to take more control."
WNCC started the match off with a Cordero kill and two Andrea Tsvetanova points. WNCC led 5-3 after an EWC point, but Boggs went on a 3-point service run to push the Cougar lead 10-3. The Lancers came back and sliced the lead to 12-9 and later 13-10, but WNCC had 2-point service runs to go up 17-12. That was when EWC missed a serve and Boggs served another point for a 19-13 lead.
The Lancers came back to cut the lead to 23-19, but Olivia Schaub closed out the first with a thundering kill and the 25-20 win.
The second set saw the two teams tied at 3-3 before Cordero served three points for a 7-3 lead. EWC came right back with four points to take their first lead at 8-7. Schaub stopped the run with a kills and then Boggs served three points for an 11-8 lead. The last point came on a thundering kill from Tsvetanova.
EWC cut the lead to a single point at 16-15, but the Cougars came right back as Cordero served three points for a 20-15 lead. After the Lancers cut the lead to 22-19, Schaub got a kill and Gillen served the final two points. The first point was an ace serve and the set winner was on a Cordero kill.
The third set was a little more scarier as both teams were going back and forth like two prize fighters. WNCC led by a couple points at 8-6 and 10-7 before EWC came back to grab a 14-12 lead. WNCC called a time out and went back on top 15-14 on a Mariah Fukamoto point. EWC regained the lead at 16-15, but a Schaub kill handed the service to Gillen and the Mitchell High graduate served six points for a 22-15 lead. WNCC won the match as Tsvetanova served the final two points.
Cordero led the Cougars with a double-double of 16 kills and 10 digs. She also had seven points. Schaub also tallied 10 kills with two solo blocks. Anuhea Kaohi had five kills with a team-leading 13 digs.
Also for the Cougars, Alex Hernandez had three kills along with 10 kills and three points. Tsvetanova and Angel Nahinu each had two kills. Tsvetanova had 32 set assists with 10 digs and five points.
Gillen finished with eight points, four digs, and an ace; Boggs had eight points with a dig; and Fukamoto had nine digs and three points.
The semifinal match will be interesting as McCook played well on Wednesday. WNCC swept the Indians in both regular season matches this season, but Canales knows that McCook is a team not to take lightly.
"We are going to watch the last video we have against them," he said. "I watched them play this afternoon online and they are playing well. They beat a really good team in Central Wyoming. We have to get better. We have to be able to take control against them."
Thursday's matches will see Eastern Wyoming taking on Central Wyoming at noon and Laramie County taking on Casper at 2 p.m. The winners of these two matches advance in the consolation bracket with a chance to earn the second Region IX title. The semifinals will be played at 4 and 6 p.m. with the winners advancing to Friday's 4 p.m. championship. The losers of the semifinal drop to the consolation bracket with a chance to earn a title on Saturday.