LAMAR, Colo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team received 10 kills from Dani Cruz and 10 service points from Emma Hergenreder as the Cougars swept Lamar Community College 25-15, 25-18, 25-18 Saturday on the road in a key conference contest.

                WNCC moves to 11-18 on the season but, more importantly, the Cougars are in second place in the South conference standings at 9-2 and a full two games ahead of Trinidad State (7-4) and three games ahead of McCook and North Platte (both at 6-5.

                The top four teams advance to the Region IX tournament that begins November 5 at WNCC's Cougar Palace.

                The Cougars will have a full week of matches this week at home, including two key conference contests. The week begins with the Highway 26 non-conference battle between WNCC and EWC on Tuesday. That contest is WNCC Alumni Night with free admission for all the Cougar alumni.

                Then, the Cougars will have back-to-back conference games when they face Otero on Thursday at 6 p.m. and then Trinidad State on Friday at 5 p.m. Thursday's contest is Breast Cancer Awareness Night while Friday's contest is Sophomore Recognition.

                WNCC will wrap up the regular season on October 29 when they travel to face Northeastern Junior College.

                On Saturday, the Cougars played strong in all three sets. In the first set, WNCC ran to a 5-1 lead after three Natalia Nowak points. The Cougars led 10-4 and led 20-12 after two Hergenreder points and finished off the set as Alex Gonzalez-Orozco served the final two points for the 25-15 win.

                WNCC trailed in the second set 5-4, but turned things around with an 8-1 run to lead 13-6 after four Hergenreder and three Reese Fleck points. The Cougars cruise to the 25-18 win.

                WNCC trailed 9-6 in the third set when Nadiyyah Northern got a kill and then Hergenreder had three points for a 10-9 lead. Lamar came back to tie the set at 14-14, but Kyana Gabriel had three points for an 18-14 lead. Eli Braithwaite put the Cougars up 23-16 after four service points and then Anika Davidson ended the match with a kill and the 25-18 win.

                WNCC finished with 43 kills and hit .248 for the match. Cruz led the way with 10 kills followed by Keira Zelada with seven, Maria Niedzwiecka and Northern each with six, and Gabriel with five.

                Eight Cougars had a service point. Hergenreder finished with 10 points with two aces, while Natalia Nowak had eight with two aces. Gabriel also tallied eight points with an ace.

                Also for the Cougars, Gabriel chipped in 11 digs while Gonzalez-Orozco had nine, Cruz and Nowak each with six, and Hergenreder with five. Nowak tallied 35 set assists.

Region IX Standings
South Conference
Team                                  Conf.         Overall
Northeastern                      11-0            25-3
WNCC                                9-2              11-18
Trinidad State                     7-4              14-12
McCook                              6-5              10-15
North Platte                        6-5              12-14
Lamar                                3-8              3-19
Otero                                 1-10            3-20
Southeast                           1-10            6-27

North Conference
Casper                                8-0              20-7
LCCC                                  7-1               15-10
Central Wyoming                 5-3              11-16
Eastern Wyoming                4-4              10-21
Gillette                               3-5              17-6
Northwest                           1-7               9-12
Western Wyoming                0-9              2-24