Your future, our focus
Start Regional Conference Games Friday
The Northwest College volleyball team went 3-1 at the Wyo-Braska Tournament in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, over the weekend. With 13 matches played and 14 to go, the Lady Trappers are at the halfway point in the season, and will now transition from preseason to regional/conference play.
“What I liked about this weekend is if we were down like 2-6, typically you’d see that lead go to 2-8 and then 4-10 and you’d see that kind of just like hold,” said head coach Shaun Pohlman. “Seeing them not respond negatively like they had in the past, but actually responding in a positive way has actually been ... we really grew quite a bit this weekend.”
The Lady Trappers beat Colorado Northwestern Community College, Garden City Community College and Eastern Wyoming College. NWC’s only loss was to the No. 4 team in the country, Western Nebraska Community College.
The first game came against Colorado Northwestern.
“It felt like we were very mild mannered — like just even keeled in the head and didn’t freak out too much and just stayed on a good pace basically,” said Pohlman.
The Lady Trappers won 25- 20, 25-17 and 25-20.
“I just remember not panicking,” said Pohlman.
The next opponent was Western Nebraska Community College, the No. 4 ranked team in the country. During the first set, the Lady Trappers were down 16-12 but fought back to get the score to 17-16 before losing 25-20.
“So they are starting to learn to fight back,” Pohlman said.
The Lady Trappers led most of the second set, including 22- 21.
“Things were going pretty well, but then right there at the end they just started panicking — you could almost see the old team emerging,” Pohlman said.
NWC lost 25-22 in what Pohlman described as a learning experience. The Lady Trappers lost the third set 25-14.
The team’s third game of the tournament was against Garden City. NWC lost the first set 25-23 but came back to win the next three: 25-17, 25-20 and 25-20.
“Again, kept that even level headedness,” Pohlman said.
The Lady Trappers’ fourth and final opponent was Eastern Wyoming Community College, in a game that will not count toward regional/ conference standings.
The Lady Trappers won the first set 25-23 and the second set 25-20.
Of the second set, “you could see that momentum switch,” Pohlman said.
NWC lost the third set 25-20, but then responded to win the fourth, 25-16.
“I think we know a lot more about ourselves and about each other — not just as a team as a whole, but also individually,” Pohlman said of the weekend.
For the tournament, Luana Rezende led the team in both kills (with 39) and digs (with 62); she also added seven blocks. Bre Donarski of Powell added 58 digs.
“That’s pretty darn good,” Pohlman said of Donarski and Rezende’s digs. “It’s up there — right where we want to be performing.”
Andjela Bublic had 31 kills, Holly Pittman had 17 and Kiandra Franklin had 16. Pittman also had 10 blocks. Jess Ruffing picked up 83 assists while Demery Dean finished with 58.
The Lady Trappers are on the road for the next three games, with the first at 7 p.m. Friday at Central Wyoming College, followed by a 3 p.m. Saturday game at Western Wyoming Community College. Then, NWC faces the Rocky Mountain JV at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Billings.
The game against Central can be viewed online at http:// rustlerathletics.com/sports/ wvball/index and the game against Western at https:// www.westernwyoming.edu/ athletics/broadcasts.html.
“We are going from small crowds in neutral sites to big crowds and home sites,” Pohlman said. “There is a bit of a different atmosphere.”