WNCC Athletic Newsletter -- Nov. 16, 2022 -- Number 3

Off to nationals

The Western Nebraska Communi ty College volleyball team left for the national tournament Monday morning with hopes of bringing home the schools’ third national title.

The Cougar women enter the tour nament as the No. 4 seed and will play 13th-seeded Blinn College Thursday, No vember 17 at 2 p.m. MST in West Plains, Missouri. The players said they need to play their game and play with a lot of ener gy to be successful at nationals to accom plish the next goal for the season and that is a national title.

“I think we have had a lot of high ex pectations for this season in general,” Ogallala graduate Jenna Curtis said after the college held a send-off celebration for the team. “So going down to nationals, we are expected to win.”

The Cougars captured their 22nd Region IX title and have national titles in 2007 and 2010. The team also finished runner-up at the national tournament three times in

2006, 2012, and 2015. The Cougars have been in the Final Four 10 times.

“Our first goal was to win the region and that is what we were here to do,” Curtis said. “But now, we are on to the next step and that is to win the nation al tournament. It is pretty cool that we have come this far especially since last year, so to finish it would be so much better.”

The Cougars goal is to finish the un finished business and that is exactly what they have plans to do. Last year, the Cou gars finished fourth at the regional tourna ment and that feeling left a bitter taste in the players’ mouths.

NJCAA

National

First Round in West Plains, Mo. #11

The WNCC women’s volleyball team practiced at Lincoln Northwest High School on their way to the national tourna ment. Lincoln Northwest is coached by former Cougar volleyball player and assistant coach Whitney Roth.

Continued on next page

n Volleyball team competes at nationals ...

something really special and I think the unfinished business is something that took us to where we are now.”

WNCC enters the national tournament at 32-3 while Blinn has a 33-9 record. The last time these two teams played was back in April 2021 at the national tournament in West Plains, Missouri, and the Buccaneers earned a sweep over the Cougars. This will be the fourth time that WNCC and Blinn have faced each other with Blinn winning twice in those three matches.

Gordon-Rushville graduate Jayla Breh mer said they have high expectations this weekend.

“We have high expectations to go in there and do our thing and get that dub,” Brehmer said. “I feel all the hard work has paid off.”

For the team to be successful at nation als, they need to play with a lot of energy and not play like they did in a five-set win over Casper College at regionals. They, in fact, need to play like they did in the four-

set win over Central Wyoming for the Re gional title in which it was one of the best matches they played all season.

“We can’t afford to play a game like we did against Casper,” Curtis said. “It will take our energy and the energy from the bench. It will take everybody.”

The tournament runs Thursday through Saturday with the championship game slated for Saturday evening and the championship will be televised on ESPN Plus.

The volleyball team poses for a group picture before attending the tournament banquet Wednesday evening in West Plains, Missouri.

The volleyball team poses with the Region IX trophy after capturing their 22nd Region IX title in program history in Casper Wyoming.

Keoho excited to be playing at the national tournament

Defensive effort will be key to winning

WNCC defensive specialist

Lexi Keoho is excited to be playing at the national tour nament and realizes that the defensive effort will be crucial if the team hopes to bring home a third national title.

“I think it is a really big deal to be go ing to nationals, especially with the team that we have now,” Keoho, who is from Hawaii, said. “We have such a stacked group of girls and they are all talented, so I think we have to figure out how to put everything together to become suc cessful.”

The WNCC Cougars won their 22nd Region IX title back on Nov. 4 when they played one of their best matches in a four-set win over Central Wyoming Col lege to earn the automatic berth into the national tourney.

The Cougars garnered the fourth seed into the tourney and will face No. 13 Blinn College at 2 p.m. MST on Thurs

day. A win against Blinn will move the Cougars into a quarterfinals match lat er Thursday evening against the winner of the Missouri State-West Plains and Northeastern Junior College contest. A loss moves the Cougars down into a con solation game Friday afternoon.

Keoho said they can make some noise down there if they play like they are capable because they have improved so much from a year ago when WNCC finished fourth at the regional tourna ment.

“I think the big difference is we fig ured out how to be a team and to always have each other’s back and back each other up no matter what the situation.”

Keoho said this team has all the mak ings to bring home the school’s third na tional title and that is something that is on the team’s radar.

“This team can definitely bring home a national title,” Keoho said. A big key to the team’s success is how the defense plays and that was evident in the championship match against Central Wyoming where the team played one of

All in the Numbers

2The number of national tournament championships that the volleyball team has won. They were in 2007 and 2010. The team has also finished runner-up three times in 2006, 2012, and 2015.

The number of times the Cougar volleyball team have won the Region IX title and gone to the national tournament. The first time was in 1988.

24Number of blocked shots the WNCC wom en’s basketball team have after just four games. Rashaan Smith leads with seven followed by Ola Duda with six and Faith Walker and Yara Garcia each with three. The record for blocks in a season is 83 set by Beatrice Perez in 1990-91.

117The number of re bounds the WNCC men’s basketball team has after three games. Rodney Sawyer leads with 22 followed by Carl Thorpe with 15.

The number of total wins by the men’s soccer team since they started in 2003. The most wins in a season for the team was 12 back in 2017 and 2003.

On the Cover:

Cougar volleyball players are all smiles as they show off their Re gion IX championship and District trophies while the team gets a new team photo taken. It was the pro gram’s 22nd regional title.

Lexi Keoho gets ready to play defense in a match against NJC in October.

n Keoho brings defensive spark to the team ...

Cougar volleyball players garner region honors

The WNCC volleyball team practices at the national tournament site on Wednesday as they get ready for the opening day of the tournament on Thurs day. (photo courtesy of Chuck Schwartz)

their best defensive matches of the sea son.

WNCC finished with 62 total digs and had three players with double-figure digs and several more right around 10 digs. Shanelle Martinez led the way with 16 digs followed by libero AK Chavez with 12 and Erica Fava with 10. Jenna Curtis had nine digs, while Keoho and Ale Meoni each had seven.

“I think defense will be what wins us our games,” Keoho said. “It is a huge part of volleyball and it is the first step to everything else that comes into play. It will be key like that (Central Wyoming) match. It is important to play like that and it is huge. That game we were one. We were not individuals and we played together as one and it was amazing to watch everyone come together and play.”

Blinn College is a team that seems like they are about the make-up of the Cou gars heightwise.

The difference is the Cougars have eight sophomores on the team while Blinn is young with just two sophomores in 5-foot-5 Ellie Turner and 5-10 Ki erslyn Wright. Turner is one of the top liberos as she has had 27 matches with over 20 digs and another seven with over 30 digs.

Wright is the team leader in kills with 605 kills this season. She is also an allaround player as she has 417 digs and 74 aces served.

Keoho said besides watching some

film, they really don’t know much about Blinn.

“We don’t know much (about Blinn),” she said. “We watched some of their vid eos. We will take some time to break ev erything down so we are 100% ready to play them.”

The one thing that might be in the Cougars favor is depth and how much offensive production they get from the team. Blinn had just four players with over 100 kills on the season. WNCC has five players with over 100 kills this sea son. Fava leads with 380 kills followed by Curtis with 357, Meoni at 278, Emmalei Mapu at 225, and Alex Hernandez at 164.

The setters on both teams are both freshmen, WNCC’s freshman Martinez has 1,252 set assists this season and is av eraging 10.43 per set. Blinn has a pair of setters that have shared that duty in Kelsi Wingo with 531 assists (6.03 per set) and Darby Nash with 872 (7.86 per set).

Keoho said this year has been special and she said she has really improved a lot as a player and person in her two years at WNCC.

“Over my two years here, I think I have improved a lot. I have become a better communicator, a better teammate, a better leader, and I think this program has helped in all-around skills.”

Keoho is hoping to go on to play vol leyball at a four-year school and will see what schools will be interested in her tal ents after the national tournament.

A day after the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team captured the Region IX Northwest Plains A championship with a fourset win over Central Wyoming Col lege, the Cougars picked up several honors from the tournament and the season that were released following the Northwest Plains B championship match that saw Northeastern Junior College earn a berth to the national tourney with a four-set win over Cen tral Wyoming College.

That means that two teams from the South sub-region earned automat ic berths to the Nov. 17-19 national tournament in West Plains, Missouri. Central Wyoming College will have to wait to see if they will receive one of the two at-large bids to the national tournament.

But, after the final match, the awards showcased how deep the Cou gar volleyball team is. Ale Meoni was named the Region IX tournament MVP with a strong performance in the three matches the Cougars played. Meoni finished the tournament with 41 kills and 19 digs including an 18kill performance against Casper and 13 kills in the win over Central Wyo ming.

“Being named the tournament MVP is a huge honor. There are so many talented athletes in this region and to be selected MVP is a feeling so unreal,” Meoni said. “I am beyond grateful. I couldn’t have done it with out all the support from Cougar na tion.”

Three other Cougars were also named to the All-Tournament team including sophomores Jenna Curtis and AK Chavez along with freshman Shanelle Martinez.

Other members of the All-Tour

Volleyball players earn post-tourney honors ...

nament team include Central Wyoming’s Alicia Jaryszek and Brinley Smith; NJC’s Allie Schumacher, Annika Helf, and Kay tlin Smart; LCCC’s Rigan McInerney and Brooke Parker; McCook’s Fernanda Mer ancio and Victoria Thomas; and Otero’s Valerie Allen and Logan Conlin.

McCook Community College received the Sheila Worley Sportsmanship award from the tournament.

While these four Cougars received all-tournament recognition, WNCC had plenty of mentions on the All-Region IX South team. Erica Fava received the big gest honor in being a First Team selection as well as being named the South Player of the Year.

Martinez was also placed on the First Team while earning the South Setter of the Year and Freshman of the Year.

Curtis, a sophomore, was named to the South First Team while Emmalei Mapu, a freshman, was named to the South Second Team.

Also, WNCC head coach Binny Ca nales was named the South Coach of the Year.

The other South honor given out was Libero of the Year and that went to NJC’s Grace Yoder.

The other members of the South First team include NJC’s Helf and Gabby Oos, McCook’s Merancio; and Otero’s Nicole Gartner.

Other members of the South Second Team besides Mapu included NJC’s Yoder and Taylor Wisecamp; McCook’s Thomas, Jessie Jerome, and McKenna Crews; and Otero’s Riley Davis.

The North also announced their All-Region Team and Eastern Wyoming College had a First Team selection in Ana Djurovic.

The other North First Team selections included Central Wyoming’s Smith, Haru ka Sugimoto, and Lauren Arnold; North west’s Megan Pannell; and LCCC’s McIn erney and Demi Stauffenberg.

North Second Team honors went to Casper’s Mia Hutchinson and Siri Banks; Northwest’s Sidney Parker, Ellie Thomas, and Jocelyn Sanders; and Central Wyo ming’s Megan Hardman.

The North also handed out their special awards with the Setter of the Year going to

Central’s Hardman; Libero of the Year to Central’s Sugimoto; Player of the Year to Central’s Smith; Freshman of the Year to LCCC’s Stauffenberg; and Coach of the Year to LCCC’s Zach Shaver.

Meoni said the team is still taking in the fact that they won regionals and receiving all these special accolades from the season and tournament

“This was one of the best weekends for the team,” Meoni said. “So many were se lected for awards and it really goes to show the amount of time and dedication we put into this team. We played our hearts out and we came to accomplish the goal we set for ourselves and we didn’t stop until we achieved that. Every player gave it their all this weekend.”

Meoni said what they did still feels un real that they accomplished what they set out to do. Now, they have to see what seed they get to the national tournament.

“It still feels so unreal. We woke up this morning and it wasn’t a dream. We really are Region IX champs,” she said. “We are so excited about this accomplishment but we are ready to focus and prepare for the

next step: the national tournament.”

Meoni added that she and the players want to thank everyone that supported them on this journey to be regional cham pions.

“I want to thank all the people that were supporting and watching the game,” she said. “I can assure you that we were able to feel all of you and that I believe we wouldn’t have made it if so many people didn’t believe in us. Thank you all so much. Next stop nationals.”

Jenna Curtis, Ale Meoni, and Erica Fava show all the all-region and all-tour ney honors they received after the Region IX tournament on November 5. Me oni was named the tournament MVP while Fava was the South region Player of the Year

The WNCC team poses with NJC, who also won the other regional title and automatic berths to nationals. (photo by Shawn Hergenreder)

Men’s basketball team ready to get going

The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team had a strong season a year ago reaching the semifinals of the Region IX tournament and this year the outlook is to go even further than a year ago.

After a rigorous October full of scrim mages and a season-opening 101-58 win over the Adams State Junior Varsity, head coach Billy Engel has to like what he is see ing right now with the plethora of talent that is on the team.

“I think we are ready to go (to get the season started),” Engel said. “We have had a good long pre-season and definitely had some good, intense moments and did a lot of learning and facing adversity in some of our jamborees and scrimmages. But it is exactly what you need going into opening night.”

This year’s team will have a different make-up of players as well. The Cougars return plenty of players from a year ago, but they also have a lot of new blood. En gel is excited for the talent on the team and what the returners add.

“The returners were not only import ant compartments of our offense and de fense but they were impact players in the postseason last year,” Engel said. “Our goals this year have a lot to do with going

further in the postseason than last year so that should mean a lot to those returners. We hope they can use some of that lead ership to pass on that mentality and ide ology going into this season. But I think it is nice to have some incoming players that are transfers from other schools that have had different levels of success at their previous schools and they can bring that with them and some leadership with them from those schools. We also have some freshmen that have never been in college before but still have their level of success from where they came from so I think it is a nice mixture of winning experience and we hope that leadership kind of connects.”

The Cougars return five players that saw plenty of action a year ago and anoth er two that red-shirted a year ago.

The five key returners include 6-5 Rod ney Sawyer from Pennsylvania; 6-4 CJ Johnson of Atlanta, Georgia; 6-5 Dimitri je Nikolic of Serbia; 6-3 Biko Johnson of Carson, California; and 6-7 Carl Thorpe of Rabun Gap, Georgia.

The two red-shirts are 6-3 Caio Mon teiro of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and 6-3 Sergio Burchell of Canutillo, Texas.

With those seven players, the Cougars also have three transfers. Those include

6-3 Camryn Dennis from Tulsa, Okla homa, who played at Northern Okla homa-Tonkawa; 6-2 Enzo Clouvel-Urie of Franconville, France, who played at Eastern Wyoming College; and 6-9 Zach O’Callaghan of Crystal River, Florida, who played at Bryant and Stratton College. The freshmen on the team include 6-1 Tristin Thomas of Houston, Texas; 6-4 Ahmari Samuel of Sumtor, South Caroli na; 6-9 Stephen Ovia of London, England; 6-5 Daniel Bula of Belgium; and 6-4 Mau rice Walker of Denver, Colorado.

After the season-opening win, the depth really stood out with five players finishing in double figures and only two of those five saw action a year ago. Biko Johnson continued his stellar Cougar ca reer with 15 points in the season-opener. Johnson averaged 12.4 points a year ago. The other sophomore that finished in dou ble figures in the season opener was Ni kolic with 11 points, including three treys.

The other double figure scorers were all freshmen as Dennis, Ovia, and Bula all had 14 points in the win.

The athleticism on the Cougar team is very high but as the next four months go along, the road to a Region IX title will get tougher as the Cougars have contests with preseason-ranked No. 16 Seward Coun ty Community College, No. 5 Salt Lake Community College, along defending Re gion IX champion Trinidad State College. The Cougars are hoping to build upon their season-opening win going forward.

“For the most part, I was fairly satisfied with our effort, with our consistency of fensively and defensively,” Engel said. “We are going to need to see improvements, but in the first official game of the year, for the most part we did what we needed to do tonight. We just need to take it one game at a time and overall I will take it.”

Engel said there are things to work on, but he was pleased with the effort of the team on November 4.

“As our season goes along, I don’t think we will have many off nights and I think there is talent all over the country,” Engel said. “There is talent in our conference and we don’t want to look too far past (the Adams State game) because right now that is the only one that matters.”

Rodney Sawyer looks to drive to the basket while being guarded by a LCCC player during a game in November.

Women’s basketball team under new leadership

The Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team had a remarkable year a year ago finishing in the Final Four of the NJCAA national tournament and this year will have a little bit of a different flare under interim head coach Isaac Lu.

Lu took over the reigns as the interim head coach from Chad Gibney, who left to be an assistant at St. Bonaventure Univer sity.

A year ago, the Cougars finished last season at 30-3 and finished third in the country after falling to national champi ons Tyler Junior College.

So far this season the Cougars are off to a 3-1 start with wins over Yavapai Col lege 74-46, Western Wyoming 71-67, and Laramie County 83-73.

WNCC will be back in action with a big road trip up to Casper where they will face ranked Casper College and Salt Lake Commnity College Nov. 18 and 19. After that they return home to host EWC on Nov. 22.

WNCC’s season is a litter different this season, but they are having success. The Cougars graduated a slew of players onto the four-year level but the cupboard is not bare as the Cougars return five players from a year ago and have a slew of talent with transfers and freshmen ready to carry on the Cougar women’s basketball nation al tourney success.

The Cougars opened the season the first weekend in November at a classic in Twin Falls, Idaho, where they went 1-1, topping Yavapai College 74-46 and falling to No. 10 College of Southern Idaho 8761.

Lu, who has been the assistant under Gibney the previous two season, record ed his first head coaching win against Yavapai. Lu said he thought they played well, but there are things they need to still work on during the early part of the sea son.

“I thought we played pretty well overall,” Lu said. “We had some nerves in the first quarter to start the game, but once we got going and got in the flow, we shot the ball really well, knocking down shots. We came out with a victory and it was great to see that. We still are working on things

defensively but I am confident that we will make the progress that we need to become the team that we want to become.”

The team did show some depth among the returners and the newcomers. Against Yavapai, four players finished with double figures. Returner Mia Jaye Sarkodee-Adoo had a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds, while returner Yara Garcia had 10 points. Freshmen Jayla Owen and Ola Duda each had 14 points.

“We have a lot of weapons offensively,” Lu said after the opening-season win. “I thought a lot of our players had nice games. We had 15 assists today so that is a great sign. As long as we continue to play together, play unselfishly, we will consis tently take good shots every time down the court.”

It is how the returners and newcomers mesh together as the season goes along is the key part. Lu said they have plenty of talent on this team.

“We have a lot of really good players on this team. We got forwards that can real ly shoot the ball, score inside, and make plays,” Lu said. “We have point guards that can throw the ball and contribute and share it well and we have wings that

can shoot the ball. We have overall players that can do a lot of different things with the basketball in their hands. I feel really confident of putting players into the game and giving them full conscious to go and be basketball players and make plays.”

The five players that were a part of last year’s Final Four team include Scottsbluff Scottsbluff graduate 5-foot-8 Yara Garcia. The other four include 6-2 Mia Jaye Sar kodee-Adoo from London, England; 5-8 Bre Fowler from Berthoud, Colorado; 5-8 Martrice Brooks from Springfield, Illinois; and 6-4 Rashaan Smith from Auckland, New Zealand.

The Cougars also have two transfers Shiho Isono, a 5-6 guard from Fukuoko, Japan, that played at Tacoma Communi ty College, and Imani Harris, 5-6 from Bronx, New York, who played at Sienna College.

While these seven will be key returners, the freshmen are just as talented. Leading the list is 5-6 Jayla Owen from Dorval, Quebec; 6-0 Emmie Persson-Bandh of Koping, Sweden; 5-7 Jamie Caron of Rifle, Colorado; 6-0 Gal-La Font of Barcelona, Spain; 5-11 Mackenzie Joseph of Vinton, Louisiana; 6-4 Ola Duda of Porazyn, Po

Emmie Persson-Bandh passes the ball to Mackenzie Joseph during their game with Western Wyoming Community College in which the Cougars won 71-67 with a strong second-half defensive effort.

n Women’s basketball team ready for season ...

land; 6-0 Faith Walker of Grand Rapids, Michigan; and 5-6 Natalie Barry of Craw ford.

Of the freshmen, there are several that are standing out so far, but all of them are capable of doing big things in the games.

Lu said he likes what the freshmen have to offer along with the sophomores.

“Ola Duda from Poland has done a re ally nice job at our five spot. She is a real ly good team defender. She is big, she is skilled, and she can shoot the ball a little bit. I am excited to see how she grows this season. We also have Jayla Owen on the team from Canada. She is going to do a really nice job for us as a combo guard

and someone that can score the ball and get downhill and make plays for not only herself but her teammates. We have Mack enzie Joseph from Louisiana who can shoot the ball and brings a toughness to the team, and then we have Emmie Bandh from Sweden, who can really shoot the ball. I am excited to see how all our fresh men grow throughout the season. They really have developed a bunch from when they first got to campus. I think they all have potential to be really good players.”

While there are plenty of talented freshmen, Lu said the sophomores are key. The returners saw action in different roles a year ago. Brooks averaged 10.1 points a

Former Cougar doing well at

DI

Former Cougar Shayane Poirot-Allard had a successful Western Carolina University debut as the sophomore guard led the team in scoring with 17 points, including hitting five of the the Catamounts’ six 3-pointers in a 48-47 win.

The five 3-pointers that Poirot-Allard hit in the game is tied for 10th in program history for 3-pointers in a game.

Western Carolina is 2-2 on the season. After starting the season with two wins, the Catamounts dropped an 107-34 contest to No. 16 LSU and then fell 68-67 to Presbyterian on Nov. 15.

Poirot-Allard is averaging nine points a game for the Di vision I program and has made seven 3-pointers so far this season.

Cougar Athletes of the Week

Female Athletes of the Week

Sept. 2

Jenna Curtis, Vball

game a year ago followed by Smith at 5.2, Garcia at 3.4, Sarkodee-Adoo at 2.7, and Fowler at 2.5.

Lu said it also helps that there are play ers that know what it takes to win that were a part of last year’s strong run into the national tournament.

“It is always valuable to have experience on your team just because we also have a pretty big group of freshmen as well,” he said. “The returners have done a tremen dous job of guiding the way and showing the new players of how we want things done here with the culture and expecta tions that we have in order to be successful at the level that we are successful at.”

Cougar Thoughts

With Thanksgiving coming up, what does Thanksgiving mean to you and what do you do for Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving to me just means be ing thankful to the people around you and enjoying a graceful day with people that you love. Usually we as a family just spend the day together laughing, eating great food, and just enjoying our time together.

Enzo Clouvel-Urie, Sophomore Basketball

Lesley Vasquez, Freshman Soccer

To be close to the people I’ve met in the United States and spend time with them as my family here.

Sept. 8

Lesley Vasquez, Soccer Sept. 15 Emmalei Mapu, Vball

Oct. 11

Erica Fava, Vball Oct. 24

Lesley Vasquez, Soccer Nov. 7 Volleyball Team Nov. 14

Mackenzie Joseph, Wbball

Male Athletes of the Week

Sept. 2 Men’s Basketball Team

Sept. 8 Luis Escobar, Soccer

Sept. 15

Rodrigo Cercal, Soccer

Oct. 11 Matheus Nascimento, Soccer

Oct. 24 Rodrigo Cercal, Soccer

In Australia we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. However, what it means to me here is to be thankful for the opportunities I have been given and be grateful for how far I have come as an athlete and person.

Tania Razo, Freshman Soccer

Yasmin BairdWatson, Freshman Soccer

Thanksgiving to me is appreciating people around me like family and friends. It also means to eat a lot of food.

Biko Johnson, Mbball Nov. 14 CJ Johnson, Mbball

Nov. 7

WNCC Cougar Men’s Basketball Team

WNCC Cougar Women’s Basketball Team

Former Cougar volleyball player named 2nd team all-conference

Former Cougar Karen Cordero is hav ing a fantastic senior season at Dela ware State as the Hornets head into the MEAC conference tournament with the championship game set for ESPNU on Sunday, November 20.

Cordero picked up some post regular season honors as she was named to the 2022 All Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Volleyball second team, which is voted by league head coaches and sports information representatives announced.

Cordero is having a stellar all-around season, ranking second in the MEAC and 24th nationally in service aces (0.51 per set), eighth in the MEAC in points (2.98 per set) and hitting percentage (.252), and ninth in the league in kills 2.37 per set) entering post-season play.

Cordero has 226 kills this season and for her two years at Delaware State, she had 370 kills, 268 digs, 66 aces, and has contributed to 448.5 points.

Delaware State, the 2022 MEAC Tournament host, is the No. 3 seed in this year’s conference tourney. The Hornets will face No. 6 North Carolina Central in their tourney opener on Fri. (Nov. 18) at 8:30 p.m. Delaware State swept the season series with the Eagles, winning each match in three sets.

The DSU / NCCU winner will face either number No. 2 and defending champ Howard or No. 7 Morgan State in the semifinals on Saturday (Nov. 19) at 8:30 p.m.

The championship match is set for Sunday (Nov. 20) at 8:30 p.m. at Del aware State’s Memorial Hall and broadcast live on ESPNU.

Former Cougar coach earns conference coach of the year at UAA

Former WNCC volleyball coach is having a successful year in guiding the University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves to a 27-2 record so far as they enter the West Regional tournament in Bellingham,Washing ton, this weekend.

UAA earned the No. 1 seed in the regional, but because of a conflict with their arena, they couldn’t host the regional tournament.

The top-seeded Seawolves will face a rematch with 8th-seeded Cham inade (24-7) in the first round Thursday at 1:30 p.m., having defeated the Silverswords 25-15, 25-20, 25-22 on Aug. 20 in Honolulu. Should the Sea wolves advance, they would play the winner of the Cal Poly Pomona/Cal State San Bernardino match on Friday, with the championship match set for Saturday night.

Green is leading his UAA team to their eighth NCAA appearance in nine seasons and 11th in the last 13 seasons.

Green was also named the conference coach of the year. Green has more than 750 combined victories at WNCC and Alaska Anchorage and has established himself as the most successful coach in program history and one of the top mentors in the NCAA Div. II ranks, earning his sixth GNAC Coach of the Year award in 2022.

What is coming up in Cougar Athletics

Thursday, November 17

MBB -- @ Colorado NW, Rangley, Colorado, 7 p.m.

VB -- NJCAA National Tournament, West Plains, Missouri – WNCC plays Blinn College at 2 p.m. MST

Friday, November 18

MBB -- AWAY vs. Salt Lake Community College 7 p.m. WBB -- @ Casper College, Casper, Wyoming, 5:30 p.m.

VB -- NJCAA National Tournament, West Plains, Missouri

Saturday, November 19

MBB --AWAY vs. Taylormade Prep, 1 p.m. in Utah

WBB – vs. Salt Lake C.C. at Casper, Wyoming, 12 p.m.

VB -- NJCAA National Tournament, West Plains, Missouri

Tuesday, November 22

WBB – HOME vs. Eastern Wyoming College, 5:30 p.m.

MBB – HOME vs. Eastern Wyoming College, 7:30 p.m.

Friday, November 25

WBB – at McCook Thanksgiving Classic, McCook, Ne braska – vs. Ft. Scott C.C., 4:30 p.m.

Saturday, November 26

WBB – at McCook Thanksgiving Classic, McCook, Ne braska – vs. New Mexico J.C., 12 p.m.

Friday, December 2

High School – @ WNCC – Western Conference BB Tour ney (boys and girls)

WBB – vs. Dawson C.C. at Gillette, Classic in Gillette, Wyoming, 1:30 p.m.

MBB – vs. Dawson C.C. at Gillette, Classic in Gillette, Wyoming, 3:15 p.m.

Saturday, December 3

High School – @ WNCC – Western Conference BB Tour ney (boys and girls)

WBB – vs. Miles C.C. at Gillette, Classic in Gillette, Wyo ming, 10 a.m.

MBB – vs. Miles C.C. at Gillette, Classic in Gillette, Wyo ming, 11:45 a.m.

Sunday, December 4

MBB – vs. Williston State at Gillette, Classic in Gillette, Wyoming, 10 a.m.

WBB – vs. Williston State at Gillette, Classic in Gillette, Wyoming, 11:45 a.m.

Friday, December 9

WBB/MBB – HOME – WNCC Classic

1:30 p.m. – WBB -- Central Wyoming vs. Northeastern JC

3:30 p.m. – MBB – Otero College vs. Jump State Academy

5:30 p.m. – WBB – WNCC vs. Northwest College

7:30 p.m. – MBB – WNCC vs. Northwest College

Cougar fall sports in pictures

November 17-19 in West Plains, Missouri

NJCAA National Tournament Bracket

ALUMNI ATHLETIC NEWS

Tsvetanova named co-setter of the year at Coppin State

Coppin State and former WNCC Cougar setter Andrea Tsvetano va received a big honor in the MEAC conference awards when the former Cougar was named a co-Setter of the Year in the conference. This is the same conference as former Cougar Kar en Cordero plays in.

Ashley Roman and Tsvetanova, along with Miajavon Coleman and Am maarah Williams received First Team All-MEAC honors while Kennedy Be atty was named to the All-Rookie Team.

for aces in a season under the current scoring system, Tsvetanova was a sixtime MEAC Setter of the Week and was named MVP of the Liberty University Tournament.

This season Tsvetanova is having an outstanding season with 1,103 set as sists for a 9.19 average. She also had 90 ace serves and 40 kills with 278 digs. For her 2-year career at the Division I level, Tsvetanova has played in 221 sets with 73 kills, 1,933 set assists, 141 aces, 504 digs, and 65 blocks.

Former Cougar Andrea Tsvetanova sets the ball for Coppin State during match. Tsvetanova was named con ference co-Setter of the Year. (photo from Coppin State athletic website.)

Tsvetanova led the MEAC with 1,048 total assists and leads the Nation with 90 service aces and 0.78 aces per set en route to earning First Team honors. A senior from Sofia, Bulgaria, Tsvetano va also ranked among the conference leaders in digs per set (2.26). Tsveta nova notched a league-high 12 dou ble-doubles, 22 matches with at least 30 assists and three matches with at least 50 assists. Breaking the MEAC record

Cougar Athletes of the Week

Female Athletes of the Week

Sept. 2 Jenna Curtis, Vball Sept. 8

Lesley Vasquez, Soccer Sept. 15

Emmalei Mapu, Vball Oct. 11 Erica Fava, Vball Oct. 24

Lesley Vasquez, Soccer Nov. 7

Volleyball Team Nov. 14 Mackenzie Joseph, Wbball

Male Athletes of the Week Sept. 2

Men’s Basketball Team

At WNCC, Tsvetanova had 353 digs, 327 service points, and 1,629 set assists.

Coppin earned the top seed in this weekend’s MEAC Tournament to be played on the campus of Delaware State University. The Eagles open with No. 8 South Carolina State on Friday, Novem ber 18 at 11:30 am with the Semifinals on Saturday evening, followed by the Championship Match at 8:30 pm on Sunday on ESPNU.

History of Cougar athletics will start over Christmas break

Over the Christmas break, I will start working on a history of Cougar Athletics writeup for the web and whatever.

To make this successful, if anyone has any informa tion to help make this Cougar athletic history project successful, such as former players that can be contacted, coaches that can be contact ed, or information that you know yourself about Cougar athletics, please let me know.

All information can be emailed to mrein@wncc.edu or texted to 308-631-0459.

Sept. 8

Escobar, Soccer Sept. 15 Rodrigo Cercal, Soccer Oct. 11

Matheus Nascimento, Soccer Oct. 24

Rodrigo Cercal, Soccer Nov. 7 Biko Johnson, Mbball

Nov. 14

CJ Johnson, Mbball

This is a project I have been thinking about for some time and I really want to make it special. I know there is some information out there that I can used from 1980 through today, but information about Cougar athletics from the 1970s and earlier is hard to come by with out looking in old college newspapers and yearbooks.

Former players, coaches, and fans have the best knowledge what it was like to have Cougar athletics from the first basketball teams in the 1930s to today when volleyball has won two national titles. Something on athletic history is started on the web at https://wnc cathletics.com/information/Cougar_Athletic_History

Scottsbluff Junior College l Nebraska Western College l Western Nebraska Community College

Cougar athletics from past years in photos

Baseball, softball alumni photos