This week in athletics -- Oct. 3, 2017

This Week in Cougar Athletics

COUGAR BEAT

Oct. 3, 2017 Issue 1

Western Nebraska Community College

Volleyball team at home this weekend for 3 matches

WNCC Athletes of the Week -- Female Athlete of the Week for week ending Oct. 1 -Joise Maldonado, a sophomore from Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, had a big match in helping the Cougars to their 20th win of the season against McCook. Joise came up with a 15-kill performance while recording solo blocks in the four-set win against the Indians on the road. Both were season highs. Her previous best as a 9-kill performance back on Sept. 1 against Clarendon.

Female Aug. 27........Brooke Kaawa, Vball Sept. 4...... Genesis Benitez, Vball Sept. 14... Jayme Commins, Vball Sept. 21.... Kadara Marshall, Vball Sept. 28......Syenna Masaki, Vball Oct. 1....... Joise Maldonado, Vball

-- Male Athlete of the Week for week ending Oct. 1 -Silvio Xavier, a freshman from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, helped the Cougars to a big win over Otero Junior College on Saturday by scoring a hat-trick of three goals. Silvio scored twice in the first half and then scored the go-ahead goal in the second half to help WNCC top Otero 6-3. Silvio has scored 10 goals this season and delivered six assists for 26 points.

Male Aug. 27....... Lawan Abary, Soccer Sept. 4....Thomas Franze, Soccer Sept. 14. Ramses Atahaulpa, Soccer Sept. 21...Andre Matzuda, Soccer Sept. 28.....Ade Oshikoya, Soccer Oct. 1........... Silvio Xavier, Soccer

Cougar Athletics Upcoming Events Thursday, October 5

l Volleyball HOME vs. Otero Junior College, 6 p.m.

** PAWzitively Pink Night -- T-shirt orders due by Sept. 28 to Amy

** Cancer survivors get in free

** Raffle for volleyball autographed breast cancer T-shirt ** Video: http://thecube.com/e/750173

** Radio: Sunny 99.3FM or www.bluffsbroadcasting.com Friday, October 6

l Volleyball HOME vs. Lamar Community College, 6 p.m. ** Video: http://thecube.com/e/750174

l Men’s Basketball @ Dallas Jamboree scrimmages Saturday, October 7

l Women’s Soccer HOME vs. Western Wyoming C.C., 11 a.m.

l Volleyball HOME vs. Trinidad State Junior College, 1 p.m. ** Video: http://thecube.com/e/750177

** Radio: Sunny 99.3FM or www.bluffsbroadcasting.com

l Men’s Soccer HOME vs. Western Wyoming C.C., 1 p.m.

l Baseball @ Kearney, Nebraska, scrimmages

l Men’s Basketball @ Dallas Jamboree scrimmages Sunday, October 8

l Baseball @ Kearney, Nebraska, scrimmages

l Softball @ Kearney, UNK at 11 a.m., Garden City at 1 p.m.

Tuesday, October 10

l Volleyball AWAY @ Casper College, 6 p.m.

Wednesday, October 11

l Women’s Soccer AWAY @ Northeastern Junior College, Sterling, Colo., noon

l Men’s Soccer AWAY @ Northeastern Junior College, Sterling, Colo., 2 p.m.

Thursday, October 12

l Volleyball AWAY @ Northeastern Junior College, Sterling, Colo., 7 p.m.

Friday, October 13

l Men’s Soccer HOME vs. Central-Columbus, 1 p.m.

Saturday, October 14

l Women’s Soccer HOME vs.Gillette College., 1 p.m.

l Men’s Soccer HOME vs.Gillette College., 3 p.m.

** Radio: Sunny 99.3FM or www.bluffsbroadcasting.com

l Men’s Basketball @ Ft. Collins Jamboree scrimmages

l Women’s Basketball @ Sheridan College Jamboree scrimmages Thursday, October 19

l Volleyball AWAY @ Otero Junior College, La Junta, Colo., 6 p.m.

Friday, October 20

l Volleyball AWAY @ Lamar Community College, Lamar, Colo., 6 p.m.

l Women’s and Men’s First Round of Soccer Regionals, at higher seeds Saturday, October 21

l Volleyball AWAY @ Trinidad State Junior College, Trinidad, Colo., 1 p.m.

l Men’s Basketball HOME vs. Chadron State scrimmage

l Women’s Basketball HOME vs. Metro State

l Women’s and Men’s First Round of Soccer Regionals, at higher seeds Wednesday, October 25

l Volleyball HOME vs. Northeastern Junior College, 7 p.m.

** Radio: Sunny 99.3FM or www.bluffsbroadcasting.com

Men’s basketball opens official practices The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team opened up official practices on Sunday and they have a busy October of scrimmages to prepare for the season Nov. 3 at Williston, North Dakota.

WNCC second-year coach Cory Fehringer said practices are going good in the few days they had official practices.

“I would say our sophomores are doing a tremendous job of leading,” he said. “We have 11 freshmen so transfer learning rom high school to college there is a gap that they are trying to shorten up. But I think practices have been intense. I think there has been a lot of teaching going on and I think the group is learning identities and personalities.”

WNCC will get into the competition zone quickly as they have three weekends of scrimmages beginning this weekend when they travel to Dallas for a scrimmage jamboree.

Fehringer said the players are ready to get into the competition zone.

“This is the earliest we have had a team compete in my coaching career,” he said.

“This is the first week of practice and we are going on the road. There is a lot of anticipation for the opportunity. We have a great schedule against high level teams. It will be an early morning wake up call for this group and hopefully it propels us to increase our intensity and increase our ability to take on information and apply it.”

The Cougars will face some top junior college teams this weekend in Dallas on Friday and Saturday. WNCC will face Indian Hills Community College, Odessa, Kilgore, Barton, and Seminole State.

Fehrniger said this will help the team get better by playing the tough competition.

“If you come to practice and you will see a lot of break-down drills on a situational learning and not a lot of 5-on-5, so the fact that we get to go on the road, get to play five 5-on-5 games in two days, i think it will give us great opportunity to get some stuff on film and then start learning from our mistakes.”

Fehringer said this weekend schedule will very similar to the test they will get the next weekend at Ft. Collins.

“We requested a difficult schedule and we received one,” he said. “It will be very similar to the following weekend when we go to Fort Collins and we play teams like

Djodje Dimitrijevic looks to pass while being guarded by two Cougars during the first of week of practice on Monday. WNCC will compete in five scrimmages in Dallas this Saturday.

New Mexico Junior College and some other people like that.”

Fehringer said there is plenty of depth on this year’s team.

“I think every player that we went out and recruited brings something to the team that we need,” Fehringer said. “i think we have a deep enough lineup that we can compete against quality opponents. We will have to see how some of these freshman adapt to college basketball. i think it is really hard to predict where this team will be at on Oct. 3 compared to February 3.”

WNCC returns five players from a year ago Trent Harris of Scottsbluff, Vinnie Shahid from Minneapolis, Minnesota, Milos Popovic of Serbia, Marlon Sierra of Miami, and Djordje Dimitrijevic of Serbia.

The freshmen or newcomers include Zane Bender of Hastings, Austin Hoffman, a transfer from Nebraska Wesleyan, of Gering; Petar Cherry and Bryce Sanchioius both of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Rashad Gillion of Oakland Park, Florida, Marko Rajanovic of Serbia, Dillon Waikle of San Clemente, California, Shaheem Speers and Jervay Green both of Denver, Martin Roub of Czech Republic, and TJ O’Connor of Miami, Florida.

Head coach Cory Fehringer shows how to defend during a drill.

Women’s basketball opens practice with hopes to repeat ad Region IX champins The Western Nebraska Community College opened practice this week with hopes of capturing a second straight Region IX title.

The Cougars opened practice under head coach Chad Gibney, who had the interim tag removed from after leading the Cougar women to their 13th Region IX title.

Gibney said the team looks strong.

“Right now we are trying to come together as a unit and figuring out what style of play will be most effective for us this upcoming season,” Gibney, who went 17-2 as interim coach second semester last year. “We have a talented group that is a little bit banged up right now. We are trying to do our best to figure out the best way to come up with most with our talent.”

WNCC’s first scrimmages are not until October 14 at the Sheridan Jamboree, but in the meantime the team is working to get ready.

Gibney see plenty of talent on this year’s team.

“This is a talented group,” he said. “We have a lot of skill, a lot of athleticism, and we have the ability to play very fast and pressure teams. We have some players that can really score the basketball and a handful of players that know how to impact a game.’

WNCC returns seven teams from last yera’s national tournament team. Six of those seven will be playing this year while one will be red-shirting after suffering a knee injury.

The six that will suit up are Melisa Kadic of West Valley City, Utah; Jaleesa Avery and Anastacia Johnson both of Aurora, Colorado; Sophie Agorakis of Melbourne, Australia; Olivia Wiberg of Hyrum, Utah; and Giovanna Silva of Brazil. Kellie Gaston of Tampa, Florida, also returns but is injured.

There are five freshmen that should help the team. 5-foot-7 Josie Perez of Gordon is the western Nebraska recruit on the team.

The other four also will bring depth. They include Merle Wiehl 6-1 of Gottingen, Germany; Fabi Alexandrino, 6-0 of Brazil; Eva Langton 6-1 of Strafford, New Zealand; and Karli Seay, 5-7 of Flossmoor, Illinois.

Gibney is excited to see what the team can do at the opening scrimmages in Sheridan on Oct. 14.

“After practicing against and competing against each other day in and day out, everyone wants to go see where we are at at this point of the year,” he said. “To play against somebody else is always exciting because it is a challenge.”

Sophomore Melisa Kadic goes to the basket as head coach Chad Gibney plays a little defense. The Cougar women open the season Nov. 3 at the Williston State Invite in North Dakota.

Freshman Karli Seay works on a dribbling and driving drill during practice on Tuesday at Cougar Palace.

The Cougar women open the season Nov. 3 at the Williston State Invite in North Dakota.

Volleyball home for three games this weekend Cougars hold PAWzitively Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Thursday against Otero Western Nebraska Community College will hold its PAWzitively Pink night on Thursday, October 5 when the No. 2-ranked WNCC Cougars battle Otero Junior College in a Region IX South conference match.

This is the 10th year that WNCC has hosted a Breast Cancer event in October for Breast Cancer Awareness. East year it is estimated that over 246,660 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and more than 40,000 will die according to the National Breast Cancer website. There are over 2.8 million breast cancer survivors alive in the United States today.

During the volleyball match, which begins at 6 p.m., there will be information available about breast cancer and all cancer survivors will be admitted free into the game.

WNCC comes into the match with a No. 3 ranking in the NJCAA and winners of their last 14 matches.

WNCC last lost back on Sept. 1 to Indian Hills Community College. The Cougars are 2-0 in Region IX South Conference play

Come and Cheer on the Cougars PAWzitively Pink Night Breast Cancer Awareness vs. Otero Junior College Thursday, Oct. 5 @ 6 p.m.

Cougar Palace

while Otero will be playing their first conference match.

After Thursday, WNCC will host Lamar Community College at 6 p.m. on Friday and then Trinidad State Junior College on Saturday at 1 p.m.

WNCC will four days of home games left -- all in one week. The Cougars will start the final home stretch on Oct. 25 against Northeastern Junior College followed by a match with San Jacinto College on Oct. 26, Larado and Iowa Western on Oct. 27, and then Barton on Oct. 28. The Barton match will be sophomore recognition day with the match starting at 3 p.m.

WNCC moves up to No. 2 The WNCC volleyball climbed another notch in the NJCAA national polls to No. 2 in this week’s rankings.

The Cougars, 20-2, only trail No. 1 Miami Dade, who is 17-0 on the season.

Rounding out the top five includes Iowa Western (18-1), Southern Idaho (19-2), and Seward County (22-1).

WNCC, who has 14 straight matches, has played three other schools in the rankings in No. 14 Laramie County, No. 18 Utah State-Eastern, No. 19 Colby, and RV Indian Hills.

Region IX Volleyball Standings

Team

Conference Overall Record Win % Home Away GB PF PA Record Win % Home Away PF Region IX JUCO South Division Western Nebraska 2-0 1.000 1-0 1-0 - 6 1 20-2 .909 8-0 12-2 62 Northeastern 0-0

0-0 0-0 1 0 0 12-5 .706 5-2 7-3 40 Lamar 0-0

0-0 0-0 1 0 0 12-5 .706 4-2 8-3 40 Trinidad State 0-0

0-0 0-0 1 0 0 11-13 .458 3-1 8-12 44 Otero 0-0

0-0 0-0 1 0 0 8-9 .471 0-2 8-7 33 McCook 0-2 .000 0-1 0-1 2 1 6 12-12 .500 2-7 10-5 44 Region IX JUCO North Region Laramie County 4-0 1.000 2-0 2-0 - 12 4 19-5 .792 5-0 14-5 58 Casper 3-1 .750 1-1 2-0 1 11 6 6-16 .273 1-2 5-14 29 Northwest 3-1 .750 1-1 2-0 1 11 4 6-9 .400 1-1 5-8 22 Western Wyoming 3-2 .600 1-1 2-1 1.5 11 10 7-11 .389 1-1 6-10 31 Sheridan 2-2 .500 1-1 1-1 2 6 6 6-12 .333 2-2 4-10 23 Eastern Wyoming 1-3 .250 1-1 0-2 3 6 10 3-19 .136 3-5 0-14 20 Central Wyoming 1-4 .200 1-2 0-2 3.5 7 12 4-11 .267 1-2 3-9 17 Miles 0-4 .000 0-2 0-2 4 0 12 2-17 .105 2-4 0-13 8 Region IX JUCO Division II Central-Columbus 2-0 1.000 1-0 1-0 - 6 2 21-5 .808 8-1 13-4 69 North Platte 1-1 .500 0-1 1-0 1 4 4 10-16 .385 1-3 9-13 41 Southeast 0-2 .000 0-1 0-1 2 2 6 7-16 .304 2-5 5-11 29

PA Last 10 Streak 12 10-0 Won 14 22 7-3 Won 2 24 8-2 Lost 1 46 6-4 Lost 2 33 3-7 Lost 3 42 2-8 Lost 1 29 9-1 Won 6 52 4-6 Won 2 30 6-4 Lost 1 40 6-4 Won 1 40 4-6 Won 1 60 3-7 Lost 1 33 2-8 Lost 3 53 0-10 Lost 16 31 6-4 Lost 2 58 4-6 Lost 6 55 2-8 Won 1

Soccer men split over weekend, women fall WNCC soccer teams host Western Wyoming on Saturday beginning at 11 a.m. for women After a weekend of conference matches, the Western Nebraska Community College men’s and women’s soccer teams will be back at home to host Western Wyoming Community College on Saturday.

Saturday’s matches will be the first of the final month of the season. While the contest isn’t a conference game, it has importance in the season with the regional tournament coming up in about three weeks.

The women will start Saturday against the Mustangs at 11 a.m. followed by the men at 1 p.m.

Over the weekend, the Cougar men split a pair of Region IX South Conference matches. Silvio Xavier scored three goals and the Cougars topped Otero Junior College 6-3 in a high-scoring contest on Saturday. Sunday’s game against Trinidad was a little different with the Trojans scoring two, second-half goals to register the 2-0 win.

Despite the split, the Cougars and Trinidad are still tied atop the South Conference standings at 4-2. WNCC has two conference games left, a road trip to Northeastern Junior College and a home match against Central-Columbus.

Saturday’s win was an offensive match in the first half as both teams went into intermission knotted at 3-3.

Otero grabbed a 2-0 lead after goals by Artuaro Chaurez in the 13th minutes and Garnale Essacu three minutes later. WNCC came back to tie the match after Xavier scored off an assist from Alan Pinho in the 22nd minute. Ramses Atahualpa tied the match at 2-2 when he scored off an assist from Francisco Gonzalez.

WNCC took its first lead of the contest when Xavier found a pass from Lawan Abary to put the Cougars up 3-2 in the 38th minutes. Lead didn’t last as Kevin Chavez scored in the 44th minutes to tie the match 3-3 heading into intermission.

WNCC wasted little time in dictating the second half, scoring three second half goals. Xavier collected the hat trick with his third goal off an assist from Atahualpa in the 53rd minute. Andre Matzuda put the Cougars up 5-4 with a goal in the 66th minute before Abary added an insurance goal

in the 78th minute for the 6-3 win.

Sunday’s match with Trinidad was another battle. In the first meeting between the two schools, the Trojans recorded the 5-4 win. This match was a defensive encounter. Both teams failed to score in the first half.

The second half saw Biska Biyombo record two goals, both headers, for the Trojans. The first came in the 47th minute and the second in the 52nd minute.

The WNCC women lost two close matches over the weekend. The Cougars fell 3-0 to Otero Junior College on Saturday and then lost 1-0 on a first-half penalty kick on Sunday. It was the second time this season the Cougars lost 1-0 to Trinidad, falling to the Trojans back in September.

Both matches were competitive match-

es with WNCC just not finding the back of the net. Against Otero, the Rattlers had 15 shots on goal while the Cougars managed just two. Otero scored all three of its goals in the first half off the feet of Whitney Boehm, Mattie Alpert, and Chloe Craig.

The second half was defensive as neither team scored.

WNCC continued its defensive game in Sunday’s contest against Trinidad. The only scoring came in the first half on a penalty kick when Corina Enriquez scored with 16 minutes to play in the opening half.

WNCC finished with four shots on goal, two each from Morgan Smith and Juliana Stratford, while Trinidad 13 shots on goal.

Jordyn Rivera had 12 saves in net for the Cougars.

COUGARS in the COMMUNITY Cougars help with Geil Elementary Back to School Bash

Cougars in the Community:

If anyone sees any Cougar athlete helping in the community in some fashion, making a difference in someone’s life or activity, please send information and a photo of what the athlete or coach of what they did that was a positive role model for the community. You can email information to Mark Rein at mrein@wncc.edu or text to 308-631-0459.

Parting Shot

Region IX Standings

Volleyball South

Overall Conf.

WNCC 20-2 2-0 Lamar 12-5 0-0 NJC 12-5 0-0 McCook 12-12 0-1 Trinidad 11-13 0-0 Otero 8-9 0-0 _______________________ Men’s Soccer South

Overall Conf.

WNCC 8-4-0 4-2 Trinidad 8-6-0 4-2 Central-CCC 4-3-3 2-2 NJC 7-6-0 2-4 Otero 5-5-2 2-4 _______________________ Women’s Soccer South

Overall Conf.

Otero 8-3 5-0 Trinidad 5-4 3-1 NJC 2-8 1-3 WNCC 1-10 0-5 To see complete standings and scores, go to Regionixathletics.com

Cougar Frontline Sponsors

Platinum Sponsors Absolute Painting B&C Steel Bellevue University FBG Fremont Motors Ideal Linen LOGOz Peerless Tire Pepsi Perkins Platte Valley Bank Quick Care Regional West Medical Center Runza Scottsbluff Screenprinting Steel Grill TEAM Chevrolet/Toyota Western States Bank Gold Sponsors Ameri-Co Carriers

Arby’s Bluff ’s Sanitary Supply Douglas, Kelly, Ostdiek, Ossain Law Firm First National Bank Gary’s Cleaning Inland Truck Monument Smiles NTC US Bank Blue Sponsors Backaracks Bid It Bob Chaloupka, Holyoke, Snyder, Chaloupka, Longoria & Kishiyama Law Firm First State Bank Floyd’s Truck Service Hampton Inn & Suites Hurst Sports Racquet Intralinks Monument Physical Therapy Panhandle COOP

Pinnacle Bank Reganis Auto Regional West Medical Center Roosevelt Public Power Safetyline Consultants Sandberg Implement Schank Roofing Simmons-Olsen Law Firm Vertex Western Sugar

White Sponsors Chadron State College Carr-Trumbull Lumber Dominos Kriz Davis Company Ole’ Restaurant Rusch’s General Contracting Route 26 Mart Scottsbluff Star-Herald Valley Dental Center