WNCC volleyball opens regional tourney Wednesday

The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team will be riding plenty of momentum as they head into the Region IX volleyball tournament, which begins Wednesday in Casper, Wyoming.

WNCC earned the top seed from the south sub-region for this week’s regional tournament and the Cougars will be taking a lofty 29-3 record into the 8-team tourney. WNCC finished the south sub-region with an unblemished conference record at 10-0 while entering with a 12-match winning streak.

The Cougars open regional tournament play Wednesday at 5 p.m. against Casper College. The Thunderbirds enter as the fourth seed from the north sub-region.

The rest of the first round will pit North 2 Laramie County Community College against South 3 McCook Community College at 1 p.m.; South 2 Northeastern Junior College against North 3 Northwest College at 3 p.m.; and North 1 and fifth-ranked Central Wyoming College against South 4 Otero College at 7 p.m.

The winners advance to Thursday’s semifinals at 4 and 6 p.m. with the winners facing off for the Northwest Plains A Region IX title Friday at 4 p.m.

If WNCC wins Wednesday, they will play the winner of the LCCC and McCook contest Thursday at 4 p.m. A loss will send the Cougars to the second regional title bracket and a noon meeting with the loser of the LCCC/McCook match. The winner of the second regional tournament bracket will win the Northwest Plains B title and also qualify for the NJCAA national tournament.

For the eight sophomores that were a part of last year’s team, they are focused because of how last season ended. Those eight do not want that feeling repeated when they lost to Eastern Wyoming College in Saturday’s morning match on their own court ending their season one match short of the championship game.

Sophomore Juliana Oliveira remembers last year and said that loss has the team motivated.

“After a tough loss last year in our home gym, we know we have unfinished business and it has motivated us throughout the entire season to take regionals,” the sophomore from Brazil said. “We just need to play united as a team and start off strong and play hard throughout the entire tournament.”

Like any tournament, however, records mean very little as every team starts out at 0-0. WNCC head coach Binny Canales said the tournament will be difficult and his team has to be ready to play.

“I know they (Casper) have played a really tough schedule and they don’t have a lot of wins but they beat Northwest in the last match of the year of the regular season,” Canales said. “You never know. Angel (Sharman, Casper coach) does a great job so we have to be prepared and not take anybody lightly.”

Plus, all eight teams are capable of picking up wins at any time just like they did during the season when lower teams beat higher teams.

“It will be very difficult,” Canales said. “You have two top-5 teams and you have NJC which is a battle every time we play them. Then you have other teams that raise their level for the regional tournament. It will be tough every match. The national tournament is our goal but right now it is just taking one game at a time and try to get in position to win.”

WNCC is 4-0 against Casper this season having swept them all four times. The Cougars are 15-1 against teams in the regional tournament with their only loss coming to No. 5-ranked Central Wyoming on Sept. 17 at Cougar Palace in five sets.

It is possible that WNCC and Central Wyoming could be facing each other in the first title match on Friday. But freshman setter Shanelle Martinez said they have the mindset that they have to take care of business each match they play.

“We have to be able to adapt to different situations we will come across during the game and make any adjustments needed whether it be on or off the court,” Martinez said.

Martinez said the team needs the right mindset to come away with one of the two regional titles this weekend.

“It is extremely important for everyone to have the same mindset in order to be successful,” she said. “In order to be successful, we have to hold one another accountable for our actions and stay humble throughout our successes.”

The Cougars are not playing that bad right now as they have won 12 straight and have only lost four sets during that winning streak, including dropping a set to McCook on the road, Trinidad State at home in the team’s final contest, and then capturing a thrilling five-set win over Northeastern Junior College on the road.

“We’re playing very well and we have very good chemistry together,” Oliveira said. “It is very important (for us to stay focused) so that we can all be a part of such a memorable experience for all of us Cougars.”

The two winners of the Region IX tournament brackets will qualify for the NJCAA national tournament Nov. 17-19 in West Plains, Missouri.

Region IX Tournament

@ Casper, Wyoming
Wednesday, November 2
1 p.m. – LCCC vs. McCook
3 p.m. – Northwest vs. NJC
5 p.m. – Casper vs. WNCC
7 p.m. – Central Wyoming vs. Otero 

Thursday, November 3
12 p.m. – Losers of 1 and 5 p.m. matches
2 p.m. – Losers of 3 and 7 p.m. matches
4 p.m. – Winners of 1 and 5 p.m. matches
6 p.m. – Winners of 3 and 7 p.m. matches 

Friday, November 4
12 p.m. – Winner of Thursday 12 p.m. vs. Loser of 6 p.m.
2 p.m. – Winner of Thursday 2 p.m. vs. Loser of 4 p.m.
4 p.m. – First championship match between two semifinal winners 

Saturday
11 a.m. – Winners of Friday’s 12 and 2 p.m. matches
4 p.m. – Winner of 11 a.m. vs. loser of Friday’s 4 p.m. (Championship No. 2)