WNCC volleyball falls to Central Wyoming

               After playing so competitively against No. 2 Iowa Western Community College Friday night in the five-set defeat, the No. 16 Cougars struggled Saturday afternoon in falling to No. 13 Central Wyoming College 25-22, 25-18, 25-20.

                Central Wyoming opened the day on Saturday in falling to Iowa Western in straight sets 25-18, 26-24, 25-22.

                WNCC, 17-12, will look to get back on the winning track with a home contest on Tuesday against Eastern Wyoming College, a team the Cougars lost to a week ago in four sets in Torrington, Wyoming.

                “With a day off tomorrow, I think it’ll give the girls some time to relax their bodies and mind,” assistant coach Brooke Kaawa said. “We played three tough teams this weekend. The girls need to come in mentally prepared to play and to compete. We’re gonna get everyone’s best game, but we need to prove to ourselves and others that we can respond well.  Tuesday night, EWC is going to be a tough match. We are hoping that the girls take the previous loss to EWC as motivation, especially since we’re playing at home in front of our crowd this time.”

                Saturday was a mixed bag of momentum for the Cougars. WNCC never could get any long service runs put together all match long. On the flipside, the Cougars had some stellar defensive plays that saved points that stood out.

                Holleigh Jaime, who came in and had some big defensive saves in the third set, said they played well, but just fell short against a good Central Wyoming squad.

                “I think we did a lot of great things today,” Jaime said. “We had a lot of hard hits, some awesome blocks, and good defense. There is always a lot to learn when you fall short on two hard fought matches. We will continue to put in the work, learn from our losses, and grow as a team for our next game.”

                What makes the Central Wyoming loss hard to swallow is just how great the team played in the 5-set loss to Iowa Western on Friday.

                “The big difference between Friday night and today was definitely the consistency of intensity,” Kaawa said. “Friday night was the best they played by far and it gives them a look as to what they are capable of doing, but we have to try to play like that consistently.”

                Jaime said that each match they play, they play as hard as they can and they will continue to do that.

                “In every match we give our best effort for the win. Friday night our energy was high and our entire team was contributing to the energy on the floor which helped propel the momentum,” Jaime said. “Today was a great match. We gave it our all and left it totally on the court. On Monday, we will come together at practice and refocus on our upcoming matches. If we continue to trust in each other and our abilities, we will have a great match on Tuesday.”

                Saturday against Central Wyoming definitely saw a different team from Friday night against Iowa Western. WNCC did, however, stay neck-and-neck with the 13^th-ranked Central Wyoming as both teams played hustling defense and traded sideouts constantly. The Rustlers led 7-5 early in set one on four points from Kaylee Nielsen only to watch WNCC come back and lead 12-9 after three points from Macey Boggs.

                The Cougars led 16-14 on an Ale Meoni point only to watch Central Wyoming come back to grab a 20-18 lead on a Sofie Langer ace. The Cougars battled back to tie the set at 20-20 on a Jenna Curtis kill and Boggs point.

                WNCC couldn’t get any closer as Central Wyoming won 25-22.

                The second set saw WNCC grab a 5-2 lead after four points from Curtis. WNCC led 8-7 on a Meoni ace serve. Central Wyoming came back to lead 12-10 on a Langer point and then went up 17-11 on four points from McKenzie Templeton.

                WNCC battled back after three Boggs points to cut the lead to 17-15. The Rustlers went back in front by six points, 21-15, on three points from Alondra Hernandez and won the second set 25-18.

                The third set was really competitive as the two teams were trading sideouts left and right early on. Curtis finally gave the Cougars a 2-point lead at 9-7 and WNCC went up 14-10 on two Meoni points.

                Things change after that as Nielson had two points to cut the lead to 14-13 and then took the lead at 17-16 on three Ava Rasmussen points. WNCC cut the deficit to 22-20 on an Erica Fava kill and Hyleigh Fornstrom point, but Hanuka Sugimoto had the final two points for the straight set win.

                WNCC finished with just a total of 35 kills in the match. Fava led the way with a double-double of 10 kills and 14 digs. Curtis was next with kills along with eight digs and five points. Meoni had eight kills, seven digs, and five points, while Fornstrom tallied seven kills, three digs, and three points.

                Boggs also had a double-double with 20 digs, 34 set assists, and seven points.

                Also for WNCC, Mariah Fukumoto had 15 digs; Jaime had 10 digs; AnaKaren Chavez had four digs; and Julia Moccellin had three digs.