WNCC volleyball falls to Snow, Utah State-Eastern
RIVERTON, Wyo. – The No. 8 Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team had a rough Friday in the second day of the Midway Classic in Riverton, Wyo., falling to two Top 5-ranked teams.
In the opening match of the day, No. 3 Snow College swept past the Cougars 15-17, 25-13, 25-18. The second match against No. 4 Utah State-Eastern, WNCC captured looked sharp in the first game winning 25-22. After that, Utah State-Eastern played tough winning the final three 25-12, 25-22, 25-20.
WNCC will wrap up the Midway Classic on Saturday with two matches, facing Central Wyoming College at 10 a.m. and then Colby Community College at 2 p.m.
The first match saw WNCC compete against Snow, but the Badgers used key service runs to earn the straight set win.
The first set saw WNCC and Snow tied at 4-4 before Snow scored six unanswered points for a 10-4 lead. WNCC sliced the lead to three at 12-9 but could get no closer in falling 25-17.
The second set saw the Cougars lead 5-3 before Snow went up 11-7. WNCC stayed close at 14-11 on a Erica Flava kill but a huge service run pushed Snow’s lead to 22-11 and the Badgers won 25-13.
The third set saw Snow run to a 9-4 lead before WNCC came back to take a 14-13 lead on three Jenna Curtis service points. WNCC trailed 17-16 when the Badgers scored six unanswered for a 23-16 lead and won 25-18.
Fava led the Cougars with 11 kills along with six digs and two service points. Ale Meoni had seven kills, four digs, and two points, while Curtiz had seven kills, two digs, and four points.
Also for the Cougars, Macey Boggs had 25 set assists, four points, and three digs; Holleigh Jaime had 10 digs; Angel Nahinu had three kills; Hyleigh Fronstrom had two solo blocks; and Mariah Fukumoto had two digs.
The Utah State-Eastern was close throughout. WNCC held a 17-12 lead after two Meoni points and led 24-19 before Utah State-Eastern came back to cut the lead to 24-22. Fava ended the set with a kill to give the Cougars the first set win.
The second set saw WNCC grab a 9-5 lead on two more Meoni points and the led 11-9 when Utah State-Eastern scored 14 unanswered points to lead 25-11 and won easily 25-12.
The third set was tight for the first three-quarters as the two teams were knotted at 17-17. That was when Utah State-Eastern had six answered for a 23-17 lead. WNCC came back to cut the lead to two points at 24-22 on three Jaime points, but Utah-Eastern got the final point for the set.
The fourth set was another close encounter as the Cougars cut the Utah State-Eastern lead to 9-8 before falling behind 18-12. Utah State-Eastern went up 20-14 to watch WNCC make a comeback, cutting the lead to 23-20, but that was as close as they could get.
Meoni paced the Cougars with a double-double of 21 kills and 10 digs in the match. She also had six points. Fava tallied 13 kills with eight digs while Curtis had 11 kills and seven digs.
Jaime finished with 12 digs and seven points while Boggs had seven digs and 38 set assists.
Also for the Cougars Julie Moccellin had seven digs and 15 set assists, Anakaren Chavez had 10 digs and three points; Fornstrom had two kills, and Nahinu had four kills.