By BRYANNA WINNER
Courtesy of the Scottsbluff Star-Herald
In a hard-fought battle at home, the No. 16-ranked Western Nebraska Community College Cougar volleyball team lose in four sets to the Northeastern Junior College Plainswomen 22-25, 25-20, 25-23 and 25-23.
It was a back-and-forth affair in the first set as Jenna Curtis opened the first set with three service points for a 4-0 lead. After that there were ties at 8, 11, 12, 13 and 14, with the longest battle for a point being WNCC's 13th point.
The Cougars came out with energy to go on a 6-0 run to lead 19-14 on five Ale Meoni service points and prevented the Plainswomen from coming back.
The next three sets however, went the opposite direction for WNCC.
"The first set we came out with a lot of intensity, everything was clicking, we were playing hard, going on a lot of service runs," Macey Boggs said. "Then as we entered that second set, we got a little too settled in. The runs weren't as long and NJC had a long stretch on us that we didn't respond to as quickly as we should have. As soon as we came back and fought back from that deficit, but it wasn't enough to finish the game, which happened in the third and fourth."
There were a total of six ties in the second frame as for most of the set, neither team could get a run of more than three points. After the 17-17 tie, NJC took control and didn't relinquish the lead from there, going on a 3-0 run to put some distance between them and WNCC. The Plainswomen would win the second set 25-20.
The third set saw the Cougars down 14-20 when a spark lit them up, going on a 5-0 run to put the lead within one and keep themselves in striking distance. Curtis got a kill to start a 3-0 run to put the team up 22-21 before NJC got the next four of five points. The comeback the Cougars made wasn't enough as the Plainswomen would win the set 25-23.
During the second and third sets, WNCC would play hard and come back from behind, but it wasn't enough.
"We were thinking play hard, compete as hard as we can to give NJC all that we've got and we were hoping the better team would win but today, we weren't the better team," Boggs said.
Miscommunication was the name of the game at the start of the fourth frame. WNCC had multiple balls drop in between them as no one knew who was going for it and NJC led 11-4. The big deficit turned around as WNCC came storming back tying the match at 19-19 after five service points from Hyleigh Fornstrom, including two aces.
The fourth set was knotted at 20-20, but NJC came back to go up 23-20. WNCC came righ back and tied the fourth at 23-23 on two Erica Fava points, but the Plainswomen would win the set and match 25-23.
Boggs believes that the Cougars will have success in the upcoming regional tournament if they come together more as a team.
"If we come together as a team more and play cohesively, we will have more success going into the region tournament," she said.
WNCC saw three players record 13 kills. Meoni, Curtis, and Fava all had 13 kills. Meoni and Fava had double-doubles with Meoni recording 15 digs, eight points, and two aces, while Fava had 18 digs, four points, two set assists, and a solo block.
Boggs also had a double-double, finishing with 44 set assists, 13 digs, eight points, two kills, and a solo block.
Fornstrom put down a three-of-a-kind with eight kills, eight digs, and eight points. Fornstrom also had two solo blocks and two assisted blocks.
Also for the Cougars, AnaKaren Chavez had 13 digs and seven points; Jayla Brehmer had a service point; Angel Nahinu had three kills; Holleigh Jaime had nine digs; and Mariah Fukumoto had three digs.
Boggs is looking forward to playoffs as they hopefully make it past the region championship and to nationals.
"Just to give it all we've got, compete hard and hopefully win another Region IX championship and go to nationals," Boggs said.
WNCC, 21-13, will be back in action Wednesday when they travel to face McCook Community College in the final regular season contest before they host the Region IX tournament Nov. 3-6 at Cougar Palace.