Three former Western Nebraska Community College volleyball players are participating in the NAIA National Volleyball Tournament in Sioux City, Iowa this week.

                Gering graduate Olivia Schaub has already helped her Northwestern College team advance out of the Pool F bracket after capturing two wins on Tuesday.

                The other two former Cougars all play Wednesday with their teams. Sarena Bartley, who is a key contributed to 30-2 Corban University, helped her team top Ottawa University out of Arizona in four sets 25-16, 18-25, 25-22, 25-18. Corban will face Bellevue (Nebraska) University at 2:30 p.m. (MST) on Wednesday and a win earns the Warriors a berth in the Elite 8.

                Bartley, who played at WNCC in the 2017 and 2018 seasons, finished the match with a .278 hitting efficiency with six kills, two block assists, and a dig.

                Bartley, the 6-foot-1 rightside hitter from Ridgefield, Washington, had 169 kills this season and 214 kills her junior year in 2019.

                The other former Cougar is Laura Ferrao, who played last year at WNCC. Ferrao transferred to the Cougars from Florida Southwestern Community College.

                Ferrao’s team, Park, won its opening game on Tuesday at the NAIA tournament, taking down Grand View University in four sets 25-22, 21-25, 28-26, 25-18. Park will play its second match of their pool play action on Wednesday at noon (MST) against Dakota Wesleyan University. Park has a record of 31-2 on the season.

                Schaub’s Northwestern team took care of their business all on Tuesday in capturing two wins to advance to the quarter finals.           

                Schaub and her Northwestern College Raiders opened Pool F with impressive matches. The Raiders started the day topping College of Saint Mary in straight sets 25-17, 25-16, 25-21 and then needed five sets to get by Eastern Oregon 25-22, 20-25, 25-16, 22-25, 15-8.

                The two wins on Tuesday moved Northwestern into the quarterfinals with a 2-0 record from their pool. The Raiders play at 6:30 p.m. (MST) on Thursday, but they do not know who they will play yet.

                Schaub said making the quarterfinals is exciting.

                “Making it to the quarterfinals is such a surreal feeling,” she said. “Growing up, I dreamed about playing on teams like this. I am so proud of my teammates and so happy to make it to the Elite 8.”

                Schaub said it is amazing that Northwestern got to the tournament.

                “It is a huge honor to make it to the NAIA National tournament in Sioux City, Iowa,” Schaub, who led WNCC to the national tournament in April, said. “That has been the goal for our team since the beginning of the season, so we are excited to be able to compete for a national championship.

                Schaub said as the number three seed, the team knew they had to play at the top of their game. They did just that, too.

                “As the third seed in the pool, we knew we would have to play really tough [Tuesday],” she said. “We came out with tons of energy to start the first game and it carried on throughout the day. We played as a team and worked together to get the job done even when we were tired.”

                The College of Saint Mary match was a rematch of a conference game that Northwestern lost in five sets. Tuesday morning, it was all Northwestern as they got the win in straight sets.

                Schaub finished that match with six kills with a block and a dig.

                The second match against Eastern Oregon was a humdinger. Both teams battled hard. Northwestern took a 2-1 lead but Eastern Oregon won the fourth 25-22 to force a fifth set. The fifth set was close for a few points and then the Raiders started to pull away. Schaub hammered down a kill to make it 10-5 and Northwestern won 15-8.

                Schaub finished that match with 10 kills, four blocks, and two digs.

Former WNCC coach Chris Green leads Alaska-Anchorage into the post-season

               Former Western Nebraska Community College volleyball coach Chris Green is back in the post-season once again after the University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves earned a bid to the NCAA Division II national tournament.

                The Seawolves, who have made the Division II championships 10 of the last 13 tournaments that Green has been coaching, will open up play Thursday, December 2 when they face the top seed from the West Region Cal State Bernardino at 6:30 p.m. (AST) and 8:30 p.m. (MST)

                “Our team is excited to still be competing,” Alaska Anchorage head coach Chris Green said. “There are only 64 teams still practicing in Division 2 and we are one of them, so our team knows that is an accomplishment to be proud of.  There are about 300 D2 Volleyball programs across the country.”

                The West Region is one of the toughest in the tournament field to get out of and Cal State-San Bernardino is the defending national champions from 2019. Division II did not hold a national championship in 2020 because of the pandemic.

                “Cal State Univ. San Bernardino is the defending national champs with their star player, the reigning National Player of the Year, still playing for them as a senior,” he said. “We lost to them in 2019 in the second round of the NCAAs and they went on to win the whole thing.  They are very good again this year, ranked #2 in the country.

“We have been to the NCAA Tournament 10 of the 13 years that I have been coaching. The West Region (with Hawaii and California) is a tough region to compete, so we have been fortunate enough to have the players and the administration in our history to do very well. In 2016, we played for the National Championship but lost, but it was our most successful season.”

The winner of the West Region will qualify for the Elite Eight December 9-11 in Tampa, Florida.

                Alaska Anchorage has had a good season. The Seawolves enter with a 19-11 record and they will face a Cal State-San Bernardino team that is 25-3 on the season. The Seawolves have a young team with just one senior listed on the roster in 6-foot-2 rightside hitter Vera Pluharova from the Czech Republic. Pluharova earned all-GNAC honorable mention honors while juniors Eve Stephens and Ellen Floyd earned first-team honors.

                Cal State-San Bernardino will be making their 21st straight NCAA tournament appearance. This past season, the Yotes went 19-0 in CCAA competition and return 3-time CCAA Player of the Year Alexis Cardoza.

                Green knows that they will have to be at the top of their game to continue playing after Thursday.

                “We will have to be at our best as a team,” Green said. “And, individually, our players will have to collectively be at their bests for this upcoming weekend. The competition in the West Region is very tough this year, so we know the challenge is a big one.”

                Green said the Seawolves bread and butter this season is their service game, but for them to advance they will need to play strong offensively.

                “We have had some very good games,” Green said. “We have also struggled offensively at times.  We are a very tough serving team, and that has helped us win a lot of games. If we can control the first contact--both in serve receive and with our defense, we have been very good.”

                Anything is possible for the Seawolves under the coaching guidance of Green, who has secured himself as one of the top volleyball coaching masterminds in NCAA Division II and Junior College. Green has had winning records in all 13 seasons at UAA and in 2016, Green led the Seawolves to its first appearance in the NCAA Division II national title match. Green is 275-108 at UAA heading into the West Region.

                At WNCC, Green built a powerhouse program in his nine seasons at WNCC, compiling a 453-55 record that culminated in the 2007 NJCAA Div. I championship. The Cougars finished in the top 10 at the national tournament in all of Green's seasons. In his final three seasons, WNCC went 163-7 and finished national runner-up in 2006.

Under Green's tutelage, the Cougars earned a total of 10 first-team and six second-team All-America certificates and regularly placed players at NCAA Div. I and II programs. WNCC's players also found success in the classroom, with the team maintaining a cumulative 3.0 grade-point average in all nine of his seasons. In 2011, Green was inducted into the NJCAA Hall of Fame.

Green is a graduate of Gering High School and coached the Bulldogs volleyball team for a spell before spending four years as the head coach at Kauai High in Lihue, Hawaii.

Green always finds a way to win games and that is what he did this season at UAA. Green said the reason he has been successful at the collegiate level is because of the support he has had.

“The past support system and our amazing fans have made it fun to coach here,” he said. “We led the country in attendance for several years, with UN-Kearney right behind us in attendance.  I love Alaska and the outdoor adventures that I am able to do outside my job.”

The NCAA Division II West Region will be streamed for free at CCAANetwork.com.

WNCC former coaches Melo, Benatti and player Cordero heading to NCAA Volleyball Invitational tourney this weekend

                Western Nebraska Community College volleyball will be well represented in the NCAA National Invitational Volleyball Championships that begin Friday at regional sites.

                Former WNCC player and coach Giovana Melo will be leading her Cal State-Bakersfield team into the NIVC. Cal-State Bakersfield, at 18-10 on the season, will be in the Weber State region where they will face the host school Weber State on Friday at 6 p.m. The other teams in the region are Pacific and Portland State, who battle at 3 p.m. on Friday.

                “It means a lot for our program [to play in the NCAA post-season],” Melo said. “! We have been working hard to make post season a goal every year. It is extremely special for our team.”

                Also on Melo’s staff is former WNCC assistant coach Cesar Benatti, who is the head beach volleyball coach and assistant court coach for Melo.

                The other former Cougar is Karen Cordero, who was an NJCAA all-American in the spring for the Cougars.

                Cordero will lead her Delaware State team into the post-season when they head to the Boston College region. Delaware Stae will open play on Saturday against Boston College at 2 p.m. The other teams in their region will have North Carolina A&T facing UConn.

                Delaware State brings one of the top records into the NVIC after going 26-4 on the season before losing to Howard in the MEAC tournament. Howard earned the automatic berth into the NCAA tournament leaving the Hornets waiting for an at-large bid to the NCAAs, which didn’t come.

                Cordero said it means a lot for her team to be playing in the post-season, even though it isn’t the actual NCAA tournament.

                “It’s very important and basically we are having another chance thanks to our great work and record,” Cordero said. “It [playing in the NIVC tourney] was something that was not our goal to go to this tournament, the goal was to go to the NCAA tournament. But, it will be a tournament of much learning in addition with the opportunity we can prove our potential and high level.”

                All matches in the NIVC tournament will be available to watch on ESPN+.

                Melo, who has been the head coach at Cal-State Bakersfield since 2014, will be leading her team into the post-season for the third time. The Roadrunners played in the NCAA tourney in 2014 and 2017. Melo said they are starting to put that winning culture into the program.

“It’s a process of making the culture of our program better,” Melo said. “It’s a long time investment from every player who steps into this program. They dedicate themselves to make the program better.”

Melo said her team will need to play at the top of their game since it is a single-elimination format tournament. Weber State is 20-9 on the season and won the Big Sky Conference regular season title, but lost to the University of Northern Colorado in the Big Sky Tournament.

“They have a great program and had a lot of success this season winning their regular season conference championship but losing in the tournament,” she said. “We will have to be play good for a long period of time. Our team knows that’s what it takes to win against high-caliber teams.”

If Cal-State Bakersfield wins Friday, they will play either Pacific or Portland State on Saturday to advance in the NIVC tournament.

“We played Pacific in a scrimmage this year and they are very good. They beat two ranked teams in conference and Portland State had a great season,” Melo said. “All of these teams who qualified are high caliber teams.”

Melo said her team kept getting strong as the season went along and a lot of the success goes toward the administration at Cal State Bakersfield and the student athletes.

“For starters, we have an administration that is invested in helping the volleyball program succeed and that’s huge,” Melo said. “Then, I have an extremely dedicated coaching staff that puts in countless hours to help us get better every year. And, lastly, we recruit student athletes who want to make a difference. We train them to be better people and consequently better athletes.”

While Melo will be leading her Roadrunners into the NVIC tournament, Cordero will be leading her Delaware State team into the post-season. Cordero said when they face Boston College on Saturday, they know it is another opportunity to show everyone how strong of a team they have.

“All teams are strong so we know that Boston College is a team that will not leave this opportunity,” Cordero said. “Like us, we are ready to compete.”
                Cordero helped lead Delaware State to another chapter in what has been an historic season for the Hornets, who will be making their first post-season appearance in team history.

“I am so proud of this team and all that we have accomplished this season,” Cordero said. “The good results are showing our hard work and dedication. We are ready for what is next.”

Cordero, who hails from Chula Vista, California, had an outstanding last spring for WNCC, helping them to the NJCAA national tournament while making First Team All-American. Cordero led the NJCAA in total kills with 588.

In her first year at Delaware State, Cordero has 142 kills and a season-best 22 kills in a match November 7 against Coppin State.

Cordero said playing at the Division I level is a challenge, but she is adjusting to it.

“It is very difficult,” Cordero said. “The practices are longer and you have almost no free time. Basically, more responsibility and more discipline.”

That responsibility is something she had to learn quickly.

“Discipline in school and volleyball is what I learned the most,” she said.

Cordero said while is coping, she still misses her family and Scottsbluff.

“I am very far from my family and I miss them a lot. I miss my mother’s food,” she said. “I also miss everything about WNCC/Scottsbluff; my friends, coaches, dorm parents and even the teachers. I miss playing for the Cougars. WNCC is a school that I will always carry in my heart.”