McCOOK, Neb. - Dani Cruz pounded down 14 kills and Natalia Nowak had 22 service points as the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team captured a key South Conference match over McCook Community College Tuesday in McCook. The scores were 11-25, 25-19, 25-20, 25-12.
The Cougars move to 10-18 overall and remain in second place in the conference with an 8-2 record. WNCC will be on the road Saturday for another conference game when they take on Lamar Community College.
Maria Niedzwiecka, who tallied seven kills, three digs, two solo blocks, and five service points in the win, said it was a big win for the team.
“In the match, we started down with the energy that we usually have and it definitely showed in the first set,” Niedzwiecka said. “We hesitated and made some silly mistakes and we just didn’t play our game. In the second set we managed to shake it off quickly, found our rhythm and we started to believe in ourselves again. Then we played with passion and the communication was much better. It wasn’t easy but we fixed what we needed to and played as a team. Overall, I am proud of the team that we showed real character and volleyball skills and we won the match.”
The win was one where the team played not to their potential in the first set where McCook led from start to finish after McCook’s No. 6 had a 5-0 run to start the first and then No. 6 led 1-9 after she had another 4-point run. No. 5 closed out the first set for McCook with a 5-point run at 25-11.
The second set saw Natalia Nowak start off with three points and then Cruz had two points for a 6-1 lead. WNCC would never trail in the second as they had a 21-16 lead after two Alex Gonzalez-Orozco points and then Nowak closed out the set with three points, including two aces.
The third set saw WNCC take a 5-1 lead after four Nowak points and the Cougars led 13-8. McCook came back, outscoring the Cougars 9-1 to lead 17-14. WNCC came back as Niedzwiecka had a kill and then three points for a 20-18 lead. WNCC led 24-19 after three Emma Hergenreder points and won the third 25-20.
Nowak started the fourth with 11 straight service points for an 11-0 lead and the Cougars led 19-5 after Kyana Gabriel had two points. WNCC easily won the fourth set 25-12.
WNCC finished with 45 kills with three in double figures. Cruz had 14 while Gabriel had 11 and Keira Zelada had 10. Cruz had a double-double in the match adding 10 digs to go with two solo blocks and five points.
Nowak had a double-double with 34 set assists, 22 points, four digs and a solo block. Gabriel had a near double-double tallying nine digs and two points to go along with her 11 kills.
Niedzwiecka had seven kills, three digs, two solo blocks, and five service points.
Also for the Cougars, Nadiyyah Northern had two kills and two assist blocks, while Alex Gonzalez-Orozco had 10 digs and two set assists.