The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team opened the WNCC Classic Friday with a 25-22, 25-14, 25-14 sweep over Laredo Community College.

                The second-ranked Cougars will wrap up the regular season on Saturday when they face No. 3 Iowa Western Community College. The Reivers also opened the classic with a 3-0 win over Laredo.

                Saturday's schedule has Laredo taking on Northeastern Junior College at 9:30 a.m., NJC meeting Iowa Western at 11:30 a.m., and then the top five showdown between WNCC and Iowa Western at 1:30 p.m.

                Friday's win was special for the five sophomores as it was sophomore recognition as they play their final home games at Cougar Palace this weekend.

                Barbara Briceno said this weekend is special but they have to come ready to play Saturday against Iowa Western.

                "It will be our last game here and I am excited for it but also a little sad, too, because it is my last year here and I have learned a lot of new things. We have a really good team."

                Saturday's regular season finale will definitely be a battle and Briceno and the team know that they have to be ready.

                "Tomorrow [Saturday] will be a really good game and everyone should come and watch us play," the sophomore from Lima, Peru, said. "We are playing a team that is behind us in the polls in third and we will have to come with everything. The key for us is right know is not to make the errors and keep the ball in play. We have to keep working hard and do what coach says."

                WNCC started Friday's contest slow as Laredo had a 13-10 lead at one time until the Cougars decided to warm up.

                "We didn't get excited as much but we still played pretty good," Briceno said. "We are still making those errors and we have to keep working on it. Tomorrow will be a really good game and we need more energy and not have as many errors that we had today."

                In fact, WNCC did start slow but it didn't take them long to get warmed up as everyone that suited up saw time on the court.

                After WNCC won the first set 25-22 and jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the second set. WNCC pushed the lead to 11-6 on back-to-back Brooke Kaawa kills. The Cougars went up 18-10 on two Lara Picht points and won the set 25-14.

                The third set saw the Cougar lead 4-1 and then 11-6. WNCC went up 18-10 on two Kirstee Trees points. Later, Gering's Lauren Shaul hammered home two kills and Danika Daum served the final two points, the last one being an ace, for the match.

                Briceno paced the Cougars with a triple-double, tallying 11 kills, 14 points, and 11 digs. Kaawa finished with eight kills, three points, and three digs; while Picht had seven kills, eight points, and four digs.

                Kaylee Spreier and Joise Maldonado each pounded home four kills, while Kadara Marshall had three kills and three digs.

                Also for the Cougars, Alwaise Villa had two digs; Bia Berti had 35 set assists, two points, and three digs; Shaul had two kills; Daum had two points with an ace; Trees had two points and a dig; and Genesis Benetiz had six digs.