Members of the Northwest College Trapper volleyball team wracked up a large list of honors following the team’s championship performance at the Region IX North tournament.
Lauga Gauta has been named Player of the Year for Region IX of the NJCAA Division I — which includes schools in Wyoming, Nebraska and eastern Colorado.
In addition, Gauta was also named Player of the Year in the Wyoming Community College Athletic Conference; Maliyah Tela was honored as the conference’s Setter of the Year.
Gauta, Tela and Lauryn Dela Cruz all earned places on the All-Region IX team and on the WCCAC All-Conference 1st Team. Mikayla Sellers-Wiebe and Olivia Jarvis received Honorable Mention for the WCCAC team.
Named to the Region IX North All- Tournament Team were Gauta, Dela Cruz, Sellers-Wiebe and Jelena Slijepcevic.
Coach Shaun Pohlman was named Coach of the Year by both Region IX and the WCCAC.
Pohlman noted that a Trapper has been the Player of the Year in each of the past four years, which coincides with the team’s four straight Conference Championships.
“Having a player of the year has a pretty big impact,” Pohlman said. “(A championship) is not guaranteed, but it helps.”
Pohlman also said he realized recently that he coached his 200th win early in the season, “back when we were just kind of plugging along,” but didn’t think about it.
“That was one thing that was kind of cool this season,” he said. “I hope we can make more wins happen.”