The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team was rewarded for their 6-0 start and beating four NJCAA pre-season Top 12 teams with the Cougars moving up 14 spots in the first NJCAA national poll that was released Monday afternoon.
The Cougars, who were ranked 18th in the preseason poll, moved into the Top 5 and landing at No. 4 in the country.
The Cougars trail No. 1 Florida SouthWestern State (4-0), No. 2 New Mexico Military (7-1), and No. 3 Snow College (2-0). Right behind WNCC at No. 5 is Salt Lake Community College, who the team will play this weekend at the Salt Lake Invite.
Ogallala native Jenna Curtis said the team is excited to have moved up, but there is plenty of season left and they have to keep working hard.
"Being named number four in the country is huge for us," Curtis said. "It just shows how much work we have put into this season and how much more work we are going to do to continue to improve."
The Cougars made the lengthy jump up the polls after the opening weekend where they swept No. 3 Missouri State-West Plains, No. 5 Butler Community College, and No. 12 Jefferson College. The Cougars also defeated No. 1 Iowa Western Community College in five sets.
Butler, Jefferson, and Iowa Western all dropped from the Top 20 rankings. Missouri State-West Plains dropped from No. 3 to No. 14.
Curtis said being ranked number four is nice, but there is still two months left in the season and plenty of matches to play. She said they can't look too much into the ranking.
"Being number four is a good achievement but we want to be the best," she said. "So really, we just have to go out this weekend and show them that we are. We are still on the climb and we aren't settling. I really believe in this team."
While the Cougars made a 14-spot jump, Indian Hills Community College, who is 8-1 on the season and also at the Iowa Western tourney moved up 11 spots from No. 19 to No. 6.
The rest of the Top 10 includes No. 7 Odessa College (8-1), No. 8 Miami Dade College (6-2), No. 9 Blinn College (8-0), and No. 10 Polk State College.
Region IX schools Central Wyoming College and Northeastern Junior College were ranked in the pre-season poll. Central Wyoming dropped from No. 9 to No. 11 while NJC was ranked No. 10, but they dropped from the rankings.
It is only two weeks into the season and Curtis said she really believes in this team.
"This team is amazing," the starting outside hitter who had 27 service points in the five-set win against Iowa Western two weeks ago, said. "We all work so well together and play as a team every single point. I know we can keep moving up; we just need to prove it to everyone else. We play amazing together and I hope that we can continue to do that and have a big weekend."
WNCC will definitely have a busy and tough week this week as they will face some ranked teams and teams that have been nationally ranked.
The Cougars will face Casper College Tuesday night at 6 p.m. and then compete in the Crystal "Inn"vitational in Salt Lake City Invite on Friday and Saturday where they will face No. 11 Central Wyoming College and No. 5 Salt Lake on Friday and then face perennial national foes College of Southern Idaho and Region IX foe Northwest College on Saturday. Northwest College is 6-2 on the season and defeated Wallace State-Hanceville 3-1, who are consistently at the national tournament. CSI is 3-0 on the young season.
"We just need to continue to keep playing how we are," Curtis said. "We are ready to have some big games this weekend that are really important for us. We need to play as a team and take control on the court."