Cougar notes: WNCC volleyball sweeps Otero

                The Western Nebraska Community College captured another Region IX South conference victory with a team effort 25-12, 25, 13, 25-14 win over Otero College Friday evening at Cougar Palace. 

                Shae Hardy, who finished with seven service points and eight digs, said the team was trusting each other and had plenty of positive energy. 

                “It is important to get that energy going because we are having fun,” Hardy said. “Mistakes are being made but we are brushing them off quickly. Everybody is just laughing, trusting each other, and having fun. It is important to keep the energy up.” 

                That is what they did as there was plenty of energy on the court and sidelines and all 14 players saw action on the court and contributed in some fashion. Hardy said that they have worked hard in practice to turn the season around. 

                “We definitely cleaned a lot of things up in practice,” she said. “We are working on small little details that make the difference of making back-to-back errors.” 

                And that is the key with these two wins. The previous matches the Cougars had too many back-to-back-back errors that let the other teams get on service runs. Friday, Otero’s service runs were held in check. 

                The first set saw WNCC trail 2-1, but three service points from Kyana Gabriel and then a 5-point service run by Dani Cruz helped the Cougars to a 14-7 lead. Finja Schul added another three  for a 18-8 lead and WNCC never looked back for the 25-12 first-set win. 

                The second set started out a little different as the Cougars trailed by two on a couple occasions. With the score in favor of Otero at 5-3, Schul slammed down a kill and then Cruz reeled off nine straight points for a 13-5 lead. WNCC never looked back as they led 21-8 after tw0 Charli Blackman points and won on a Carleigh Pszanka ace serve. 

                The third set was close, too. With the score knotted at 3-3, Blackman had a kill and Megan Bewley had two points for a 6-3 lead. Later, Hardy served four points for an 11-4 lead. WNCC never looked back as they led 23-13 after three more Hardy points. WNCC won 25-14. 

                Shanelle Martinez had a double-double in the win with 27 set assists, 10 digs, four kills, four points, two assisted blocks, and an ace serve. 

                Cruz finished with 14 points with two aces along with four kills and seven digs. Kyana Gabriel led the team with six kills along with four points, two aces, and two digs. Lilly Zwart tallied five kills with two digs, while Blackman and Schul each had four kills. Schul also had seven points and four digs, while Blackman had three digs, four points, and an ace serve. 

                Also for WNCC, Bewley had six digs and three points; Taylor Tyser had three digs; Pszanka had a point with an ace; Dessiah Christopher had two kills along with Maya Angelova. Angelova also had four digs, while Tanika Eastman had a dig.  

                WNCC, 13-12, will be back in action next week with three matches beginning with a non-conference contest on the road at Casper College on Tuesday followed by home match-ups with Lamar on Friday and McCook on Saturday afternoon. 

                Hardy said they have to keep working hard to have a successful next week. 

                “I think we have to go into practice having a good attitude,” she said. “Coming off these two wins will definitely be better. Our focus is to clean up the little things when we go to Casper and then we are back at home and hopefully do the same things we did this weekend.” 

WNCC women’s soccer nets seven goals in win 

                Lesley Vasquez had a hat trick and Tania Razo scored twice as the Western Nebraska Community College women’s soccer team had a must conference win to keep their playoff hopes alive with a 7-2 win over Trinidad State College Friday afternoon at the Landers Soccer Complex. 

                “This was a very important win for us because this win could possibly give us a shot for the playoffs,” sophomore Aileen Perez said. “But, the win was good most importantly for us as a team and our mentalities.” 

                Perez said the keys to the game was finishing and taking shots. 

                “The keys for victory was finishing the opportunities we have and we did that today,” she said. “The team played very well today. We touched the ball just how we practiced and it resulted to a great outcome.” 

                WNCC dominated on the offensive end with 30 shots to Trinidad’s 14. The Cougars also had nine cornerkicks to the Trojans zero. 

                WNCC wasted little time in scoring as Vasquez scored an unassisted goal off a free kick that just trickled in under the Trinidad State’s goalkeeper’s hands for the 1-0 lead with 32:58 to play in the opening half.  

                Trinidad knotted the score at 1-1 with 24 minutes to play as Yaddelis Alderete scored. WNCC went up 2-1 with 13:09 left in the first half when Tania Razo fed Vasquez with a pass and Vasquez found the net. That is where the match stood at halftime. 

                The Cougar women went on a scoring spree in the second half. Vasquez netted her third goal just two minutes into the half when Razo delivered her the ball and she found the net. 

                WNCC made it 4-1 when Razo picked up her third assist in the game as she delivered a nice ball to Perez who finished it into the net with 33:03 to play. 

                The Cougars made it 6-1 as Razo score twice. The first came with 29:22 to play as Vasquez got the assist on a beautiful connection between the two. 

                Razo made it 6-1 with 16:51 to play as Perez got the assist for the goal. 

                Trinidad came back and scored to make it 6-2 with 16:22 to play as Litzy Mendoza scored. 

                The Cougars went up 7-2 with under two minutes to play when Perez took the corner kick and delivered the ball into the box and Alejandra Rodriquez headed the ball into the net for the final goal of the game. 

                WNCC goalkeeper Emily Villagomez had seven saves in net. 

                WNCC will be back in action Saturday when they host Otero at 1 p.m. Perez said they need to play like they did against Trinidad and then some. 

                “We need to stay compacted and play the way we did today (Friday),” she said. “We also need to be strong because this game Saturday is going to be tough but we can do it.”