WEST PLAINS, Mo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team had hopes of bringing home another national title, but it wasn’t in the cards as the Cougars had to settle for a –runner-up finish at the NJCAA national tournament on Saturday in West Plains, Mo.
College of Southern Idaho played an almost flawless contest in earning the national championship with a sweep over the Cougars 25-20, 25-21, 25-20.

The Golden Eagles finished the season with a 33-1 record with their only loss coming to the Cougars back on Aug. 31.

“Obviously we fought as hard as we could, but it didn’t seem to be our night,” fifth year WNCC coach Giovana Melo said. “But I am happy with the team. We have come a long ways and the players learned so many other things besides on the volleyball court and that is what I am so much proud of. The people they have become, the family we have created is more important to me than winning a national title.”

The WNCC players need not be upset with a runner-up finish with the season they had. The Cougars finished with s another 40-win season and they have the longest streak of attending the national tournament at 14 straight.

Luiza Martins and Danika Youngblood each put in stellar performances to be placed on the all-tournament team. In the championship match, Martins finished with 27 set assists and eight digs, while Youngblood 11 kills and six digs.

Youngblood, who already committed to play at Cal State-Bakersfield and will join former Cougars Debora Araujo and Fernanda Goncalves, cherished being a part of the all-tournament team.

“That honor feels good because I was working on it all season and I wanted to be a part of that just because I saw Debora and Fernanda get it last year,” she said. “And as a player, I wanted to work for that also.”

WNCC also had plenty of outstanding performances during the tournament. Saturday night in the championship match, the Cougars just couldn’t buy a break as Southern Idaho was on the top of its game.

Saturday’s Results
9th Place – MSU-West Plains over Temple, 20-25, 25-11, 25-14, 25-18
7th Place – Hillsborough CC over North Idaho, 25-23, 25-20, 29-27
5th Place – Tyler JC over Central Florida, 25-14, 25-21, 25-18
3rd Place – San Jacinto over Iowa Western, 23-25, 28-26, 25-13, 25-22
Championship – Southern Idaho over Western Nebraska, 25-20, 25-20, 25-21

 

Six players scored in double figures and Lubbock Christian, the No. 1 ranked team in NAIA, shot over 58 percent from the field to turn back Chadron State 80-43 during the final day of the Holiday Inn Classic at the Auraria Event Center.

Lubbock had beaten tournament host Metro State…ranked 7th in NCAA Divisison-II by 18 points on Friday night.

Against Chadron State, the Chaparrals built a large first half lead – 45-16 – thanks in large part to their strong shooting. They hit 18 of 32 from the field, while limiting Chadron State to just 6 of 33.

For the game, Lubbock Christian sank 33 of 56 (58.9%) and Chadron State hit 17 of 56 (30.4%). The Chaparrals did much of their damage in the painted area, outscoring the Eagles 54-18.

Haley Burton led Lubbock Christian (8-0) with 14 points but five others joined her in double digits.

Kattie Ranta scored a game-high 20 points to lead Chadron State. The junior from Rapid City, S.D., also added 14 of the Eagles’ 29 rebounds to secure her first career double double.

Five other players scored for Chadron State, including Jazmin Lopez with seven and Sadie Waugh with six.

CSC        16 27 – 43
LC           45 45 – 80

Alex Helmbrecht, Sports Information Director

WEST PLAINS, Mo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team captured their 40th win of the season, but more importantly, the Cougars are headed to the championship match of the NJCAA national tournament in West Plains, Mo., after a four-set win over Iowa Western Community College Friday night.

The Cougars, 40-2, had three players finish with 20 or more kills and had a 21-kill performance from sophomore Danika Youngblood in registering a heart-stopping, emotion 34-32, 20-25, 25-19, 25-18 to earn a spot in Saturday’s championship against No. 1 seed College of Southern Idaho.

Southern Idaho, 32-1, earned a spot in the title game by dropping San Jacinto College in four games 25-23, 27-25, 14-25, 25-20 at 5:30 p.m. The match will be broadcast on Double Q Country Radio and will be available on the Internet at www.njcaavbd1.com.

WNCC will be looking for its third national title in six years. The Cougars won the title in 2007 and 2010. And, for the Cougar players they are fighting with emotion to get the title and there plenty of tears of joy as Danika Youngblood sent the final point blazing to the floor in moving the Cougars one win away from another title.

“I do not even know what to say, there are no words to describe this feeling,” freshman Allora Tanner said. “We are there. We are in the championship. We are going all the way as a team and we will fight hard and fight here right now. It is coming together. We just came out tonight and fought with all our heart. We just played our game and we went forever strong together as a team.”

Tanner and Taylor VanderWerff each came in off the bench to provide a spark in the later sets. It was their two kills each that help ignite the team even more. VanderWerff cannot believe how much energy there was on the court.

“We played phenomenal,” VanderWerff, the sophomore from Louisiana said. “We were able to come back [many times] and the energy that we had was so amazing. This feeling is indescribable right now. There was so much energy from everybody and it was so electrifying.”

There certainly was plenty of energy in the building from both squads. The last time these two squads played was back in the opening weekend of the season in August and the Reivers swept the Cougars pretty easy. The semifinal match on Friday was a battle between two talented teams as either team could have won. The difference was not only the energy level of the Cougars, but how the Cougars have come together from the opening two weekends of the season when they lost two games.

VanderWerff and Tanner said this team has grown leaps and bounds.

“This is so unbelievable of how we have come together from the beginning of the year,” VanderWerff said. “Our chemistry works well together then it did in the beginning. We are a team and a family now and that is what makes this feeling of going to the championship so much better than what we were feeling in the beginning.”

The Cougars’ first set victory was the different in the contest. WNCC jumped out to a 5-0 lead and led by as much as 17-12. WNCC was even close to closing out the set at 24-21 before watching Iowa Western come back for a 25-24 lead. From there both squads had a number of important kills to stop match points from both teams.

In the extra play, Youngblood came up big with four big kills including the game winner to give the Cougars the set 34-32. Youngblood finished with nine kills in the set, but they also got clutch kills from Kat Agson, and some key blocks from Yoro Tovar.

The Cougars then stumbled in game two, falling 25-20. It was the third and fourth set that the Cougars defense stepped up as the defenders were digging up balls left and right. Alex Rivera, Tasha Meyer and Priscila Mendes finished with at least 20 digs in the match. Rivera had 23 digs to lead the team while Mendes and Meyer each had 20 digs.

Tanner said the defense was key.

“Alex and Tasha, along with all of were stepping up in playing our game,” she said. “We had everything to lose so we just had to go out there and give it our all. We just had to go out on the court and play.”

In the third set, Luiza Martins opened up a tight set with three straight service points for a 20-15 lead. WNCC then just kept strong for the 25-19 win.

The fourth set was tied at 7-7 before Mendes served four points behind two kills each from Youngblood and Agson for a 12-7 lead. Iowa Western sliced the lead to four points a couple times, but never could get any closer as Youngblood hammered home the match-winning kill.

Youngblood, Mendes, and Martins each had double-doubles. Youngblood finished with 21 kills, 10 digs, three blocks and five points; while Mendes had 10 points, 20 digs, and five kills; and Martins had 46 set assists, 18 digs, and five points.

Also for the Cougars, Alex Rivera had 23 digs and four points; Yoro Tovar had nine kills, eight points, and six blocks; Meyer had 20 digs and eight points; Tanner had five kills, and VanderWerff had two kills.

WNCC will now take on Southern Idaho for the title. The two squads met back on Aug. 31 when the Cougars handed the Golden Eagles their only loss of the year. But, for Tanner, competing for a championship means the world to her.

“I have not played for a championship before and there is a lot of emotion because of that,” she said. “I have come so close yet I have not gotten there so there is a lot emotion because I have come so close and yet I never gotten there. This is a huge step with this team. I love my team. It is my family and to come out and do it with these gals would mean a lot.”

Lincoln – (Huskers.com) Jordan Hooper erupted for 22 first-half points, including 15 in a 16-0 run to open the game, to shoot the No. 15 Nebraska women’s basketball team to an 77-55 win over Northern Arizona on Friday night at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

With the victory, Nebraska improved to 3-0 on the young season, while Northern Arizona slipped to 0-3.

Hooper, who went just 7-for-32 on opening weekend for the Huskers, went 7-of-12 in the first half alone, including 4-of-7 from three-point range. Hooper’s third three-pointer of the game gave NU a 16-0 lead and capped a personal string of 15 points in just 3:35. Hooper finished the half with 22 points. The 6-2 junior forward from Alliance, Neb., added 2-for-2 shooting in the second half, including her fifth three of the night, to finish with 27 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Sophomore Emily Cady added eight points and six rebounds in the first half, combining with Hooper on NU’s first 23 points of the game. Senior Lindsey Moore did not score in the first half but dished out eight assists.

Cady, a 6-2 forward from Seward, Neb., finished the night with 13 points, seven boards and four steals, while Moore scored all 10 of her points in the second half. The 5-9 point guard from Covington, Wash., just missed her fifth career double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.

Freshman guard Sadie Murren continued her hot shooting off the bench early in the season by knocking down 3-of-4 three-pointers on the night to finish with nine points.
With Hooper, Murren and Moore combining to go 10-of-16 from three-point range, the Huskers finished the night 11-of-22 from beyond the arc. NU finished 25-of-61 (41 percent) overall from the field, and a solid 84.2 percent (16-19) at the line.

After jumping to a 16-0 lead in the game’s first 5:20, the Huskers settled for a 42-27 halftime lead. NU quickly put the game out of reach with a 13-0 run to open the second half, pushing their edge to 55-27 on Cady’s three-point play with 16:05 left.

NU pushed the edge to 30 at 77-47 on a Brandi Jeffery layup with 7:33. Jeffery finished with two points, three rebounds, two steals and an assist in the third start of her career.
Tyler Stephens-Jenkins led the Lumberjacks with 16 points, while Aubrey Davis added a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Amy Patton, who entered the game averaging 31 points per contest, managed just nine points against and five boards.

Nebraska outrebounded NAU, 37-33, and controlled the turnover department, 23-14. The Huskers converted the Lumberjacks’ turnovers in 25 points on the night.
NAU hit 41.8 percent (23-55) from the field field, but just 6-of-21 from long range. The Lumberjacks also went 3-for-3 at the line.

Nebraska hits the road for the first time on Sunday when the Huskers travel to Brookings, S.D., to battle South Dakota State. The Jackrabbits have won the Summit League title four consecutive years and advanced to four straight NCAA Tournaments. Tip-off at Frost Arena is set for 2 p.m.

Gina Mancuso led the Huskers on the night with 18 kills, while Hannah Werth notched 16 kills and Meghan Haggerty put away 10. Lauren Cook paced the offense with 47 assists, and Werth led the defense with 14 digs as Hayley Thramer recorded seven blocks.

Nebraska notched a .263 hitting percentage in the match, while the Gophers posted a .287 hitting percentage. The Huskers out-blocked Minnesota 11-10, but were out-dug 56-54.

Minnesota started the match with a 3-0 lead over NU, while a kill by Thramer put Nebraska within one at 7-6. The Gophers stretched their lead to 12-7 as Nebraska used its first timeout of the match. A string of runs gave Minnesota a 10 point lead at 18-8, and the Gophers went on to close out NU in the first set 25-12.

Haggerty and Mancuso both tallied two kills in the first set, but the Huskers hit .080 as a team. Minnesota came out of the gate with a .520 hitting percentage and out-blocked NU 3-1.

Nebraska came out fighting in the second set, taking a 4-0 lead as Minnesota used a timeout. A double-stuff block by Cook and Haggerty, followed by a hitting error on the Gophers put NU up 10-3. A kill by Werth made it 19-9, Huskers, as a kill from Thramer gave Nebraska the second set at 25-15.

Mancuso and Werth both had four kills in the second set, while Cook recorded nine assists. The Huskers hit .400 in the set, while Minnesota hit .138. Nebraska had two team blocks, while Minnesota had zero.

The two teams traded leads early in the third set, while a kill from Cook make it 8-6, Huskers. Nebraska went up 13-9 on a hitting error by the Gophers. Hitting errors continued to plague Minnesota as NU went up 17-11. A kill by Mancuso then gave Nebraska a 21-17 lead. Four set points later, Nebraska won the third set 25-22 and took a 2-1 lead in the match.

Mancuso notched four kills in the third set, while Breokhuis and Werth both had three and Cook paced the offense with 13 assists. Nebraska hit .379 in the set, holding Minnesota to a .281 hitting percentage.

Nebraska went up 3-0 in the fourth set on back-to-back kills by Broekhuis, while a kill from Werth made it 6-2, Huskers. An 8-0 run by the Gophers put them up 10-7, but a block from Cook and Thramer put Nebraska within one at 12-11. An ace by Dykstra tied the set at 16-16, but Minnesota regained the lead at 19-18. The Gophers would prove to be too much for the Huskers to handle down the stretch, as they went on to win the fourth set 25-19.

Mancuso and Broekhuis each had four kills in the fourth set, while Werth notched three. Cook had 12 assists, pushing NU to a .290 hitting percentage for the set. Minnesota hit .364, and both teams had two team blocks. 

Three hitting errors by the Gophers helped Nebraska to a 4-1 lead in the fifth set. A solo block by Werth put NU up 6-2, but Minnesota came inching back on a 5-0 run to tie the set at 7-7.  Minnesota led 11-8, but Nebraska came back to tie the set at 12 after back-to-back kills by Mancuso. Both teams would not quit, but seven match points later, Minnesota came out on top 21-19 and took the match 3-2.

Next up the Huskers will face the Wisconsin Badgers on Sunday, Nov. 18 at 1 p.m. at the UW Fieldhouse.

DENVER – The Colorado Christian University women have been among the D-II leaders in steals and forced turnovers the past two years, and Friday they showed Chadron State they’re just as dangerous as ever.The Cougars scored 42 points off 31 CSC turnovers…including 17 steals…en route to a to its 106-68 victory over the Eagles on the opening day of the Holiday Inn Select Classic, being played in Denver on the campus of Metro State.Shooting wasn’t a particular problem for Chadron State as the Eagles hit 40% from the field (27-67), but they did struggle from long range…making just 4 of 15…and from the foul line, where they were 10-17.  CCU shot shot 48% (38 of 80) from the field,  10 of 21 from 3-point range and 20 of 28 from the line.

Five players scored in double figures for Colorado Christian, led by Mariah Metoyer with 22 points and 8 rebounds and Taylor Torres with 20 points.

Only 8 CSC players got in the game and all scored.  Sophomore Dallas Shaw had a team-high 22 points while Kate Simonton chipped in a career-high 14 in just 19 minutes of action. Hattie Guzman scored 8 points, Kattie Ranta 6 with 8 boards, and Greer Babbe finished with 6 points.

Saturday won’t be any easier for the Eagles as they take on Lubbock Christian, currently ranked #1 in the NAIA with a 7-0 record after beating Metro State…ranked #7 in NCAA D-II, 81-63. The Chapparrals have an average margin of victory of more than 20 points and 6 players averaging in double figures.

Game time at the Auroria Events Center in Denver is 5:30.

CSC        32 36 – 68
CCU       52 54 – 106

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Five Colorado State University players scored in double figures and the Rams shot over 50 percent from the field en route to their 93-50 win over Chadron State College Thursday evening at Moby Arena.

Colton Iverson scored a game-high 18 points and added nine rebounds to lead the Rams’ potent offense. Greg Smith added 14 points, Jon Octeus and Gerson Santo combined to score 25 off the bench and Pierce Hornung finished with 11.

The Rams opened the game on a 10-0 run and took advantage of CSC’s shooting woes early on. In the first half, CSU hit 16 of 34 shots, while the Eagles made just three of 24 attempts.

The Eagles shot much better in the second half – connecting on 11 of 26 from the field – but still shot under 30 percent for the game. The Rams also dominated play inside the paint, outscoring CSC, 52-18.

David Downey led CSC with 15 points, including four 3-pointers, and Zac Bargen scored seven points and had a team-high six boards.

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CSU        43 50 – 93