The No. 1-ranked Salt Lake Community College Lady Bruins started off the NJCAA National Championship volleyball tournament in strong fashion, defeating Northwest Shoals Patriots in three straight games, and then following it up with a second-round victory over the 10th-ranked Blinn Buccaneers.

"It went smoothly," SLCC head coach Shay Goulding said from Council Bluffs, Iowa, after the first match. "I thought that for being the No. 16 team, they gave us a better game than we expected, but I saw what I needed to from my team. I saw a lot of confidence."

SLCC swept Northwest Shoals 30-19, 30-24, 30-10. The Bruins came out playing tenacious ball and won the first game fairly easily, but the Patriots battled back to make it close in the second.

"In game two, it was really tight. I never thought we were going to lose, I just didn't like the way we were winning," Goulding said.

The Bruins completely decimated the Patriots for a 30-10 win in the third game.

Cinthia Silva had 11 kills and three aces, Tela Burnett added nine kills, and Samantha Richard and Talita Santos pounded eight kills apiece to lead a balanced offensive attack for the Bruins.

In the second match of the day, SLCC defeated Blinn 30-20, 30-22, 29-31, 30-21, avenging last year's opening-round tournament loss to the Bucaneers.

The Bruins kept the Buccaneers at a five-point deficit for most of the first game, but had to come from behind to take the second game. Down 14-16, SLCC went on a 7-0 run to flip the score to 21-16 and only expanded the lead from there.

In the third game, SLCC battled back from a 15-22 deficit to tie it at 27, but it wasn't enough as Blinn eked out the 31-29 win. The Bruins never trailed the fourth game, to take the 31-20 win.

Silva led SLCC with a season-high 28 kills, and Misa Hanakova tallied 59 assists. Three other Bruins--Santos with 14, and Richard and Burnett with 11--had double-figure kills in the match.

"Truthfully, we're right on track, but for the rest of the way, it's going to be even more of a battle," Goulding said.

The Lady Bruins are now 43-1 overall and play in the semi-finals tonight at 6 pm against the Western Nebraska Cougars. The Cougars handed the Bruins their only loss this year back in late August in tournament play. SLCC beat Western Nebraska in the same tournament, however, so the teams have split overall.

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E-mail: hbruce@desnews.com