CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team’s run for a national tournament berth came to an end Saturday after falling to Northeastern Junior College 25-18, 25-12, 27-25.
                The Cougars end the season at 28-10. NJC went on to earn the second Region IX championship trophy and berth to the national tournament after they swept past Laramie County Community College 25-17, 25-15, 25-23.
                NJC joins EWC, the two Region IX champions, will compete in the NJCAA national tournament in a couple weeks at Austin Paey University in Tennessee.
                The Cougars had several post-tourney awards. WNCC placed two on the all-tournament team with Tamika Eastman and Taylor Tyser.
                The other members of the all-tourney team included Una Stepic, Siale Unufe, Amarie Huntsman, and Boden Liljedaho from Eastern Wyoming; Neree Alvarez-Jorge, Natalie Moore, and Smantha Mosley from NJC; Lea Susoy and Savannah Cummings from Laramie County; Darleen Petersen and Shayna Quenga from Western Wyoming; and Khloe Hobson and Hallie Reeder from Central Wyoming.
                The tournament MVP went to EWC’s Liljedahl.
                WNCC also had four members of the team selected South All-Region. First team members included Lilly Zwart and Nora Marginean, while Second Team honors were bestowed upon Finja Schul and Taylor Tyser.
                Zwart, a sophomore, was named the Region IX South Player of the Year. Other South Player of the Year’s included McCook’s Cibeles Bothwell at Libero of the Year; NJC’s Nerea Alvarez Jorge as Setter of the Year; and Trinidad’s Jaedyn Fuqua as Freshman of the Year. The South Coach of the Yeat was NJC’s Mackenzie Chrisman.
                As for the WNCC and NJC game itself, WNCC finished off the season with a good showing against NJC, especially in the third set as they almost force a fourth set.
                WNCC hit just .138 for the contest while NJC hit .292. NJC had two players with double figure kills, led by Samantha Mosley with 14 and Rosa Brencic with 11. WNCC was led by Chloe Grady with seven kills followed by six each from Lilly Zwart and Tamika Eastman.
                Nora Marginean had a triple-double in the contest, tallying 31 set assists, 11 digs, 10 service points, along with three kills and two aces.
                Taylor Tyser finished with 13 digs while Alex Gonzalez-Orosco had six digs.
                Also for the Cougars, Ahleejah Tovo-Sunia had six digs; Zwart had four points and two digs; Grady had three blocks; Eastman had an ace serve with seven digs and two solo blocks; and Finja Schul had three kills and two points.
                WNCC came ready to play as the two teams were knotted at 7-7 early in the first set. After that, NJC went on an 8-1 service run to lead 15-8. WNCC got to within four points at 21-17 on a Eastman ace serve, but it wasn’t enough as NJC won the first set 25-18.
                WNCC held a 2-1 lead in the second set, but fell behind 9-3 after two big service runs. WNCC trailed 15-9 on a block, but the Cougars couldn’t get a service run going and fell 25-12.
                The third set was one of the Cougar’s best sets against NJC this year, according to the video commentators. WNCC started as Marginean served five straight for a 5-0 lead. The Cougars led 9-6 but fell behind 11-10 on an ace serve.
                WNCC stopped the service run on a block and then led 15-12 after two points each from Schul and Marginean. WNCC trailed 22-21 when Eastman got a solo block to tie the set. WNCC went on to lead 24-22 after two Marginean points and was one point from winning the set.
                NJC came back to go up 25-24, but a missed serve after a WNCC time out put the set at 25-25. NJC got the final two points for the win.
 
WNCC women fall to Casper at home
 
                The Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team dropped its first game of the season to Casper College 74-61 Saturday at Cougar Palace.
                The contest was one of runs by both teams. Casper shot 45 percent from the field while WNCC was 36 percent.
                Casper had four players in double figures, led by Luna Ueda with 17 and Andi Schissler with 13, while WNCC was led by Zozefine Sipolina with 14 followed by Helena Kuck with 11 and Nataly Dunka with 10. Laura Montiel and Adelina Urtane also poured in nine points.
                Other than that, the statistics were pretty equal between the two teams. WNCC was out-rebounded 42-38, led by Urtane’s seven boards. The Cougars also buried eight treys to seven for Casper. Kuck hit three triples while Sipolina and Dunka each had two.
                WNCC started the contest where they had trouble making a shot as the T-birds raced to a 13-5 lead. WNCC found their groove as they scored seven straight, beginning with a trey by Kuck to trail 13-12. WNCC trailed after the first 10 minutes 17-14.
                The second quarter was back and forth as WNCC took their first lead of the game at 26-25 on a Siplolina trey with 3:23 to play. Casper, however, closed out the half on an 8-0 run to lead 33-26 at intermission.
                Casper went on a 12-2 to start the third period to lead 45-28. WNCC battled back to slice the deficit to seven, 49-42, on five points from Montiel. Casper led 58-47 after three periods.
                The final period saw Casper outscore the Cougars 16-14 to get the win.
                WNCC, 2-1, will be back in action next week with three contests. The Cougars will travel to Torrington, Wyoming, on Tuesday to face Eastern Wyoming College. They then will host the Cougar Classic on Friday and Saturday when four teams come to town. WNCC will play Laramie County Community College on Friday night and EWC Saturday afternoon.
 
Casper               17 16 25 16 – 74
WNCC                14 12 21 14 – 61
CASPER
Andi Schissler 13, Saioa San Francisco 12, Arantxa Concepcion 6, Adama Badjie Coly 10, Luna Ueda 17, Hassana Amadu 2, Marina Concepcion 2, Alexandra Acs 2, Olivia Ogston 2, Csenge Szomszed 8.
WNCC
Helena Kuck 11, Laura Montiel 9, Adelina Urtane 9, Zozefine Sipolina 14, Lidia Hernandez 4, Asia Mitchell 4, Nataly Dunka 10.