Your future, our focus
Lady Trapper head volleyball coach Shaun Pohlman hadn’t seen quite enough of the progress he’d hoped for in the season’s opening weeks.
But things may have taken a turn for the better, as his squad went 3-1 at last weekend’s Wyo-Braska Tournament in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.
Up first was Pratt Community College, where Northwest came away with a 3-1 win. They took the first game 25-21, dropped the second 25-27, then rebounded for a 10-point win in the third set, 25- 15, and a 25-18 win in the fourth to clinch the win over the Lady Beavers.
Three Trappers reached double figures in kills: Lauga Gauta smashed home 19, Samantha Waite 12 and Mikayla Sellers-Weibe 10. Olivia Jarvis just missed with nine.
Two more players hit double figures in digs with both Alye Wagner and Gauta totaling 11.
Lake Region State College was next on the docket and the Lady Trappers took care of business, sweeping the Royals in three straight sets, none of which were close.
A 25-8 beatdown was followed by 25-13 and 25-14 wins to end the match in quick fashion.
Maliyah Tela dished out 39 assists. Of those, 15 resulted in Gauta kills, with eight more going to Waite. Wagner led the back-line defense with 12 digs.
Northwest then made it three straight wins as they opened Saturday slate with a 3-1 victory over Seward County Community College.
The Lady Trappers stormed out in a 25-13, first-set win, but saw the Saints answer with an eight-point win at 25-17.
Things got tighter in the final two games, but Northwest hung on to win 25-20 and 25-23.
Gauta had a match-high 22 kills, with Mikayla Sellers- Weibe getting into double figures with 10. Tela set up the offense with 43 assists.
The final match of the tournament was the lone loss for the ladies in red, who kept it close early against the host Western Nebraska Cougars.
A 22-25 loss in the first set was followed by the Trappers eking out a 26-24 game to knot the match at 1-1.
But the Cougars pulled away a bit with a 25-19 win in the third set and closed it out with a 25-15 win.
Gauta again had 22 kills to lead the offense, guided by Tela’s 39 assists. The defense at the net saw Nevena Pejovic, Olivia Jarvis and Sakoya Jones each blocking three shots.
“We picked up some wins, but we’re still working our way up,” coach Pohlman said, adding, “Early on we got knocked out of the top 20 in the national rankings and have work to do to get back in there. We’ve also had some issues within the team, regarding team rules that need some fixing. You go through periods like this every year at some point. Let’s just hope it’s early enough so we can get back to our goal of reaching the national tournament.”
Next up for Northwest is a road trip to Rock Springs to face Western Wyoming on Friday and then to Riverton Saturday to play Central Wyoming College.