Your future, our focus
The Northwest College Lady Trapper volleyball team opened their season in positive fashion when they hosted the NWC Invitational Friday and Saturday at Hank Cabre Gym.
The Lady Trappers, who only had a week's worth of practice time before the event, showed a great deal of promise as they were matched against teams that started preseason preparations as much as two weeks before the Lady Trappers even reported to campus. Despite other teams getting an earlier start, NWC was able to record a third-place finish in the event and left head coach Sue Pollart feeling optimistic about what the team can accomplish in 2006.
Pollart said it would have been nice to get an earlier start as far as practice is concerned, but she said budget considerations forced NWC to start later than many other junior college teams.
That fact may have translated into NWC's competition being a little bit ahead of the Lady Trappers, but Pollart also commended her squad for being competitive throughout the two-day event.
"Our kids played real well, and I saw a lot of positives," Pollart said. "The girls only had seven days worth of practice going into the tournament, but they were eager to get on the court and play.
"Overall, I thought it was a really good weekend for us. The thing that impressed me the most was the improvement we made from Friday to Saturday. I thought they started out pretty well on Friday, and it was good to see them get more comfortable with their positions. They looked so much more confident Saturday, and that made them even more competitive. As far as first weeks are concerned, this was one of the better ones I've had as a head coach."
NWC opened the tournament with a match against the junior varsity squad from the University of Great Falls at 11 a.m. Friday. The Lady Trappers won the match with scores of 30-22, 30-24 and 15-7.
At 2 p.m. Friday, NWC was matched up against Central Wyoming College, the eventual tournament champions. NWC dropped the first two games 30-20 and 31-29 but did rally for a 15-11 win in the third and final game. During pool play, Pollart said the third game was implemented to allow teams to experiment with different lineups.
Those games to 15 did count toward seeding for Saturday, but more importantly, Pollart said it helped all the squads at the tournament because it allowed coaches a chance to find the perfect mix of players for their lineups.
The Lady Trappers finished their Friday schedule with a setback to Williston State College. NWC dropped the first two games 30-19 and 30-24 before picking up a 17-15 win.
"We didn't play as well against Williston State, but the girls rebounded and played well Saturday," Pollart said. "Williston has been playing for several weeks, and you could tell they were pretty sharp."
NWC finished Friday's pool play ranked third behind Central Wyoming and Williston State. That set up a rematch with Williston State College Saturday, and NWC posted two wins in five games against the Tetons. NWC lost the first game 30-21, but charged back for a 30-23 decision in game two. The see-saw battle continued with the Tetons winning the third game 31-29. The match closed with the Lady Trappers winning 30-17 in game four before dropping a 16-14 decision to end the match.
"We played so much more competitively in the rematch," Pollart said. "On Friday, we had a hard time finding an opening in their defense. On Saturday, we did a better job of finding the holes and we put a lot more hits down. We also had a lot more digs and our serves were better."
While the Tetons advanced to the title match with Central Wyoming, NWC earned a second matchup with Great Falls. After such a hard-fought contest with Williston State, NWC suffered a bit of a hangover and dropped the first game against the Argos by a score of 30-28. However, the Lady Trappers closed the match with wins of 30-11, 30-20 and 30-16.
"Saturday was a real test," Pollart said. "We started at 11 in the morning and played straight through and didn't finish until 3:30. After a tough loss like the one against Williston, it's common for a team to drop the first game of the next match when you're playing in a tournament. But after dropping that first one, the girls rallied and finished strong."
As far as individual play, Pollart said she got strong leadership from sophomores Heather Drick, Whitney Kelsey and Jessica Fabrizio.
All three are playing in different positions this season, and the trio showed signs of making the transition smoothly. Kelsey, who played libero last season, played on the right side during the tournament. Fabrizio played outside last year, but looks to be the anchor in the middle in 2006. Drick, who played on the back row last season, was moved to the outside for 2006 to take advantage of her height and jumping ability.
Pollart said she is confident those three will continue to make great strides as the season progresses, and she pointed to Friday and Saturday's action as the reason for her optimism.
As far as the freshmen, Pollart said many of them are learning new positions as well. Maggy Stephenson is playing setter for the first time since her junior year in high school. Though a newcomer, Pollart commended Stephenson's play and her leadership on the court.
At libero, Charcie Peabody played consistently and covered a great deal of terrority much like Pollart hoped she would. Pollart added that she is expecting more vocal leadership from Peabody as she gets more settled in that position.
Other freshmen who had a solid performances, according to Pollart, were Whitnie McDonald and Shawna Sutherland.
Pollart allowed her team to rest their legs Monday morning but did conduct practice Monday from 4 to 6 p.m. The Lady Trappers were scheduled to resume morning practices today, Wednesday and Thursday before traveling to Sheridan for the WCCAC Preseason Tournament, which begins Friday and concludes Saturday.