Your future, our focus
Trappers win Once, Lose a Pair at NJCAA Tournament
By RANDAL HOROBIK
Tribune Sports Editor
The Northwest College Trappers learned what separates the college's volleyball program from the nation's elite at the 2009 NJCAA National Volleyball Tournament over the weekend. The answer - not much.
"If you look at the points scored, we were only outscored by one point in each of our two losses," said Northwest College head coach Flavia Siqueira. "I think a lot of it came down to a matter of us being there for the first time. Many of our players haven't competed at that level before, so the intensity, the size of the arena and so many factors were new for us."
Northwest College sandwiched a 25-21, 25-14, 25-20 victory over Temple College between losses of 18-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-23 to Missouri State University-West Plains and 25-22, 25-17, 18-25, 21-25, 15-13 to San Jacinto-Central. West Plains would go on to finish as the 2009 NJCAA national runner-up.
"Overall, we're sad and disappointed that we didn't finish as high as we thought we could," said Siqueira. "It was great to win a game and be so close to winning our other games. It proved we were there to compete and that we didn't just go to take the trip."
The Trappers' coach noted it was the first time in a number of years that a Region IX team other than Western Nebraska had won a game at the national tournament.
Northwest College opened the tournament strong, jumping out to a 15-3 lead in game one against West Plains and eventually winning 25-18. Unfortunately, the Trappers were unable to duplicate that quick start in subsequent games, eventually falling in four games to the Grizzlies.
"Emotion played a big role against West Plains," said Siqueira. "We came out focused and got some points, then we'd relax and they'd score five or six points before we refocused. In the end, we made too many errors that you can't make at a national tournament in the second, third and fourth games."
After suffering a loss on the tournament's opening day, Siqueira said the Trappers had some difficulty focusing for Friday's games as the team tried to cope with being on the consolation half of the bracket.
"West Plains took everything we had in some ways," Siqueira said. "We didn't play as well as we could have against Temple. Even against San Jacinto, we started the game a bit unfocused and without a lot of heart, and it showed in the first two games."
The Trappers' coach said a quick pep talk before game three against San Jacinto helped turn things around.
"We just said that they had to try harder and to realize that this might be the last game they play together as a team, so to give it their all," Siqueira said. "They did that and we were able to win the third and fourth games. In the fifth game, we wanted it too much, I think. We tried to do too much on every point and made some mistakes we don't normally make."
For instance, the Trappers' coach noted her team was guilty of a pair of passing errors in the abbreviated fifth game, including one where two of her players collided trying to get to a free ball.
"Those are things we don't normally do," said Siqueira. "We're usually a sound passing team."
Sophomore Irelis Ilarraza finished with 40 total kills at the national tournament. Freshman teammate Paula Barros added 34 kills and 63 assists. Katie Gregg and Randi McInerney each tallied 23 kills. Gregg was also credited with five ace serves in the Trappers' win over Temple.
A total of six sophomores will graduate off the Trappers' roster this year. Of that number, at least half are expected to continue their playing careers at four-year schools. Nine freshmen will return from the national tournament team.
"Recruiting starts today," said Siqueira. "Our goal is to move on and keep improving. This was a great experience for all of our players. Next time they'll know more of what it is like. The butterflies won't be as bad and we'll have that experience."
"I want to thank Northwest College and the community for its support before and during the national tournament. I'll do my best to get another good team together next year. We're happy with our returning players. We have some great players that will be returning."
The Trappers finish the 2009 season with a 27-10 overall record.