It was an electric atmosphere at Cougar Palace Tuesday night as the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team faced No. 19 Casper College in a game that saw WNCC capture the first two sets before Casper won the final three, including a 21-19 fifth set to escape The Palace with a reverse-sweep victory.

                The scores of the match were 25-16, 25-16, 20-25, 20-25, 19-21.

                WNCC head coach Fatima Balza said it was a hard-fought match and what she was most proud of from her team was how they battled in the fifth set, falling behind 13-9 to force extra play.

                "It was a real exciting game. I think the first two games we stuck to the game plan," Balza said. "We then lost control of ourselves and Casper was playing much better in not missing so many serves and making us earn every single point.

                "I thought we fought really hard in the fifth set when we were down 13-9 and then come up and go all the way to 21-19. That was really good for our team because we haven't done that this year."

                The contest was a battle between two equal teams on the court. There were a combined 106 total kills in the contest along with 187 digs and 16 aces.

                Casper tallied 56 kills with six aces and 87 digs while WNCC had 50 kills, 100 digs, and 10 aces.

                Dani Cruz and Kyana Gabriel led the Cougars with triple doubles. Gabriel tallied 12 kills, 18  digs, and 10 points with two aces, while Cruz had 11 kills, 13 digs, 10 points, and two aces.

                Natalia Nowak had a double-double with 11 digs, 42 set assists, and five points, while Alex Gonzalez-Orozco had 35 digs, seven points, and two aces.

                Also collecting double-digit kills were Nadiyyah Northern with 11 kills and three blocks, and Keira Zelada with 10 kills.

                Emma Hergenreder had a nice night as well with 17 digs, seven points, and a kill, while Eli Braithwaite had three kills, three blocks, three ace serves, five digs, and nine points.

                All five sets were contested sets. The first set saw Casper lead 11-10. After a missed serve, Cruz served four points for a 15-11 lead. Hergenreder followed with three points and a 20-13 lead followed by Gabriel with three points to make it 24-15. Cruz finished off the first set with a kill and the 25-16 win.

                The second set saw WNCC take a 7-3 lead and pushed the lead to 12-5 after four Hergenreder points. WNCC continued playing strong as Gonzalez-Orozco finished off the set with three points and the 25-16 win.

                The third set saw Casper jump to a 9-5 lead and led 15-7. WNCC came back to tie the set at 19, but Casper's Gabi Hern served the final four points for the 25-20 win.

                The fourth set was another battle with neither team going up more that two. WNCC held a 19-18 lead on a Gonzalez-Orozco ace serve. Casper got the serve back and Hern served five straight points for a 24-19 lead. Casper won the fourth 25-20.

                The fifth set was electric with a loud and encouraging Cougar student section cheering on the team. Casper ran to a 13-9 lead when WNCC came charging back that started with a Zelada kill. Braithwaite then served three points to make it 13-12.

                It became exciting after that as WNCC tied the set at 14 and had match point at 17-16 on a Gonzalez-Orosco ace serve. Casper led 18-17 and Cruz hammered down a kill to tie things at 18. The two teams were knotted at 19-19 when Casper got the final two points for the win.

                WNCC will look to bounce back this weekend when they have two South Conference road matches. WNCC faces Trinidad State on Friday and then they take on Otero on Saturday.