The 4th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team swept through the Wyo-Braska Invite by rolling over Garden City Community College and Laramie County Community College in the second day of the invite at Cougar Palace.
The Cougars opened the day with a 25-11, 25-17, 25-15 win over Garden City before taking out LCCC in three, hard-fought sets 25-19, 25-22, 25-19.
WNCC finished the invite 4-0 having swept Central Wyoming and Northwest College on Friday.
"I think we game together as a team," Jayme Commins, said. "We might have started off a little rough but once we came together as a team and push forward, we knew we needed to get the wins."
Saturday's wins extend the Cougars match winning streak to 11 and their set winning streak to 29 straight sets won. WNCC is now 17-2 on the season. Commins said this team is handling all the pressure of being a nationally ranked team.
"There is pressure but I think we handle it well," Commins said. "We just play our game. Once we get in a groove, we push from there. We just play as a team and it is really fun."
A big key in the wins is the ability of any one player able to lead the team. Commins, who had a nice all-around game on Saturday with five kills, two solo blocks, two assist blocks, 56 set assists, 20 points, and 13 digs, said it is nice to have all the weapons.
"It is really fun because all the girls are calling the ball," she said. "I don't know how to really explain it, it is just really fun being on the court as they make it a fun game because they all want to play so hard."
WNCC had little trouble against Garden City, has Commins went on a 9-point service run in the first set to open a 10-8 lead to 20-8.
The second set was saw Aneta Faksova and Brooke Kaawa each have strong service runs in the middle of the set to push a 6-5 lead to 13-6 before winning 25-17.
The third set against the Broncbusters was very similar to the previous two. WNCC led a slim 11-10 lead before Syenna Masaki hammered a kill. Masaki then served nine straight pints to push the lead to 21-10.
WNCC finished the match with 39 kills and nine solo blocks. Masaki led the way with 11 kills, two solo blocks, four set assists, 12 points, two aces, and eight digs.
Kaawa tallied seven kills with two solo blocks, five points, and 12 digs. Also pounding down kills was Sarena Bartley with six kills; Commins with four kills, two assist blocks, 27 set assists, 18 points, and five digs; Kaila Tuisamatatele with three kills and two solo blocks; Faksova with three kills, three solo blocks, and four points; Kadara Marshall with three kills, and Logan Belford and Joise Maldonado with one kill each.
Also for the Cougars, Genesis Benitez finished with five digs and three points; Kirstee Trees had four digs and four points; and Lauren Shaul with three digs.
WNCC finished off the invite with a hard-fought sweep of a talented and feisty Laramie County team. The first set saw LCCC gram an 8-7 lead only to watch WNCC push the lead to 17-12 and later 21-14 on two Benitez service points. WNCC won the set 25-19.
LCCC started the second set on a roll with Kylie Martin had five straight service points for a 7-2 lead for the Golden Eagles. The Cougars fought back and grabbed a 14-11 lead on four points from Benitez. The Golden Eagles sliced the lead to 16-15 before Tuisamatatele had four points for a 21-15 lead.
WNCC had set point at 24-19 before LCCC came back to cut the lead to 24-22 before falling 25-22.
The third set was back and forth early. WNCC started to open the lead after Tuisamatatele's two service points. WNCC led 15-9 on a Tuisamatatele block. LCCC came back to cut the lead to one, 18-17, but the Cougars came back to win the match on three Benitez service points.
Against LCCC, WNCC had two players finish with double figure kills with Kaawa and Bartley each tallying 11. The Cougars also received seven from Masaki, three from Tuisamatatele and two from Marshall.
Also for the Cougars, Commins finished with 29 set assists, one solo block, eight digs, and two points; Masaki had three assist blocks, three set assists, nine digs, and six points; Benitez had 11 points and 16 digs; Trees had five points and five digs; Tuisamatatele had 10 points and two solo blocks; and Kaawa with five points and eight digs.
WNCC, 17-2 on the season, will jump into Region IX south play when they host McCook Community College on Monday beginning at 6 p.m. The Cougars will then travel to Eastern Wyoming College on Tuesday for a match-up with the Lancers.
"We have a lot of volleyball and not a lot of rest," Commins said.
In other scores in the Wyo-Braska Invite on Saturday at Cougar Palace, Laramie County topped Colorado Northwestern in four sets 23-25, 25-17, 25-20, 25-19 and Central Wyoming beat Miles 25-21, 25-14, 25-16.
At Torrington, The Lancers went 1-1, falling to Northwest College 25-23, 25-20, 20-25, 25-16 before sweeping Central Wyoming College 25-16, 25-23, 25-19. EWC went 2-2 in the tournament over the two days, spitting matches on Friday beating Garden City in five sets before falling to Western Wyoming in four sets.