TORRINGTON, Wyo. – The Eastern Wyoming College volleyball team had a game plan entering Tuesday night's contest with 16th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College.
After the first set, the game plan wasn't working as WNCC earned a 25-17 win. The difference in the contest was the second, third and fourth sets which the Lancers continued with the game plan and it worked as they won the next three sets 26-24, 25-19, 25-18 for the win over the ranked Cougars.
EWC coach Dante Geoffrey said his team could have folded after the first set, but they didn't and righted the ship to get their eighth win of the season to eight losses.
"That [playing well in the last three sets] was one of the first things we talked about when we got in the locker room of just how proud we were of each other of righting the ship, thinking tactically and not emotionally after the first set," he said. "We thought we had a decent game plan coming into this match and we didn't quite execute it in the first set. We were a little slow to see things and slow to react. Our players could have said it is not working, lets abandon the plan or say tonight is not our night. Instead, they said we saw the things we need to correct and they did that. I would say for the most part in the second, third, and fourth set they took control."
What the Lancers did in the last three sets was control the momentum but they also did not lot the Cougars get on any long service runs.
"We did a good job of getting over mistakes and just resetting and getting on to the next point," Geoffrey said. "I think that went a long ways to eliminating those long runs."
WNCC head coach Binny Canales said things went down hill after the first set in which they won.
"We did not play very well and they played awesome and they deserve to win," he said. "Our energy went down, our momentum went down, and our passing broke down. That is all you could say."
The first set saw WNCC jump to a 7-3 lead behind three service points from Hyleigh Fornstrom and the Cougars pushed the lead to 15-8 behind three points from Mariah Fukumoto. WNCC led 20-12 and later 22-14 on a Erica Fava point. WNCC won the first set 25-17.
The second set was a battle. WNCC led 6-3 after a Fornstrom point and led 12-11 on a Jenna Curtis kill. WNCC led 17-16 when the tide started to turn as Asil Erdi had four service points for a 21-17 EWC lead. The Lancers went up 23-18 on a kill by Victoria Anderer. WNCC came back to tie the set at 23-23 on four Curtis points. EWC won the second set 26-24.
The third set was also close at the start as EWC held an 8-3 lead behind two points from Alyssa George and pushed the lead to 12-8 on a kill from Fatima Ramirez and a point by Vanja Tomic. The Lancers went up 18-12 on two points from Erdi and cruised to the 25-19 win.
The fourth set was close as well with the two squads tied four times early on. Tied at 7-7, Halle Hogan had two points for a 10-7 EWC lead. WNCC came back to tie the set at 10-10 on two Ale Meoni points. WNCC cut the Lancer lead to 14-13 on back-to-back Curtis kills. EWC righted the ship and took a 16-13 lead on a George point.
EWC led 19-15 on a Tomic point. WNCC cut the deficit to 20-18 on a Fava Kill, but a kill from Erdi and then Erdi served the final four points for the 25-18 win.
WNCC was led by Meoni with 19 kills. Meoni also had nine digs and six points. Fava finished with 12 kills while Curtis had eight kills and eight points. Macey Boggs had 42 set assists and nine digs, while Fukumoto had 15 digs and six points.
Also for the Cougars, Fornstrom had five kills, three solo blocks, and six points; Angel Nahinu had three kills; and AnaKaren Chavez had four digs.
EWC moved to 8-8 on the year and will travel to Laramie County Community College on Friday.
WNCC fell to 16-10 and will be at home Friday and Saturday. Friday the Cougars will face McCook at 3 p.m. and No. 2 Iowa Western Community College at 7 p.m. Then, on Saturday, Central Wyoming will face Iowa Western at 11 a.m. followed by the Cougars taking on Central Wyoming at 1 p.m.