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Northwest Finding Groove In Conference Play
Visits to conference opponents in Riverton and Rock Springs proved fruitful for the Northwest College volleyball team last week, as they returned home with a pair of wins against Central Wyoming College and Western Wyoming Community College.
“When you go on the road, it’s intense, so to win on the road is always a good thing,” said Lady Trappers head coach Shaun Pohlman. “I’m glad we won.”
LADY TRAPPERS 3, CENTRAL WYOMING COLLEGE 1
On Friday, the Lady Trappers beat the Lady Rustlers in four sets — winning the first two 25-12 and 25-18, losing the third 25-22 and taking the fourth 25-19.
“Anytime you play on the road, it’s tough,” Pohlman said, citing the Central Wyoming College student body. CWCC had students in onesies doing backflips when the Lady Rustlers scored and yelling at the Lady Trappers in an attempt to distract them.
Pohlman said he was proud of how the players responded to the distractions from the stands and said a couple players who had been struggling really stepped up, notably Holly Pittman and Elena Takova.
Pittman had seven kills, and though her kills didn’t lead the team, Pohlman said “just the mentality of [Pittman] had been different.”
Takova had 10 kills and one error in 22 swings, doing “a great job,” the coach said.
Luana Rezende led with 15 kills in the game, followed by Aleksandra Saric with 13. Bre Donarski had six digs per set for a total of 24.
“That’s right where we want her to be,” Pohlman said of the Powell athlete.
LADY TRAPPERS 3, WESTERN WYOMING COMMUNITY COLLEGE 0
It was another conference matchup for the Lady Trappers on Saturday, as they took on the Lady Mustangs of Western Wyoming. Northwest won in three sets, 25-23, 25-23 and 27-25.
There is a win by two rule and “we took advantage of it,” Pohlman said. “Those are some tight games and that third set, I didn’t know how well we would do.”
In the final set, the Lady Trappers went down 5-1, then caught back up only to trail again at 15-10. NWC quickly rebounded to tie the game at 16, but lost the lead one more time before winning 27-25.
“Watching them come back, that was pretty incredible to see that change of pace,” Pohlman said. He explained that previously in the season, when the team was down, they would not fight back.
“Seeing them start to battle back and really start to push back has been pretty rewarding and I hope that they continue to get rewarded in that way,” Pohlman said.
Saric led with 15 kills followed by Rezende with 11. Donarski had 15 digs, followed by Jess Ruffing with 12 and Rezende with 10.
Pohlman said he is happy with “the progress we are making in the last two weeks and I really hope we can continue to make it over this week.”
The team is about a third of the way through the conference season.
“Taking some big steps back is not something we really have time for, so I hope that we can continue to improve,” Pohlman said.
The Lady Trappers are now back at home: They’ll host Sheridan College today (Thursday) at 7 p.m. game, then play Casper College on Friday at 7 p.m. They’ll then face Miles Community College at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Cabre Gym.