Your future, our focus
Lady Trapper Volleyball Wins Region IX Tournament
CASPER - Casper College had already collected one surprising victory.
The Northwest College volleyball team wasn’t going to give the Thunderbirds two.
Likely preparing for a second match against NJCAA Division I’s No. 8-ranked Western Wyoming Community College, the Lady Trappers instead faced upset-minded Casper in the championship match of the Region IX Tournament on Saturday at Casper College in Casper.
And rather than allowing the Thunderbirds’ Cinderella run continue on to the national tournament, which will be played Nov. 20-22 also at Casper College, NWC survived the pesky Thunderbirds in a 20-25, 25-15, 27-29, 25-15, 15-7 victory to punch its own ticket to the nationals for the second straight year.
“This feels so great,” said Trapper sophomore Megan Huddleston, who had 27 assists, eight digs and six kills. “We knew that no matter who we were playing for the championship, they would come at us hard and that’s exactly what Casper did. They are a great team and we had to fight for this victory.”
No. 13-ranked NWC (28-8) came into the tournament as the top seed after winning the Region IX conference outright. The Trappers started their tournament with a 25-10, 25-21, 25-17 sweep of Central Wyoming College on Thursday to set up a match with Western Wyoming on Friday. Like their previous two battles, the match between NWC and WWCC was tight, and as Western had done to the Trappers on Oct. 25 in Powell, NWC defeated the Mustangs in five sets, 27-25, 23-25, 25-19, 20-25, 20-18 to secure a championship berth.
Casper (21-18) had lost to WWCC in the winners’ bracket on Thursday, but rebounded in the consolation field by defeating Laramie County Community College Friday and rallying from a two-set deficit Saturday to shock WWCC in five sets to advance to the region title match.
“We knew that Casper was going to play inspired volleyball, especially being here on their own court in front of their fans,” NWC coach Shaun Pohlman said. “And we expected a battle. I’m happy for the girls that they answered a challenge against a hungry opponent who wanted nothing more than to upset us.”
The match tiptoed toward upset territory after the Thunderbirds won the first set. The Trappers recovered in game two only to fall short in the set three marathon. But NWC reassembled early in set four, stepping on a gas pedal it wouldn’t let up on.
“There is so much love and so much passion on this team, and we used that tonight,” NWC freshman Aleksandra Djordjevic said. “We wanted to win this tournament, but we knew that every team wanted to win this tournament ... so we needed to play our best and play together as one.”
Leading the charge was Djordjevic, who posted 24 kills, 10 digs and seven aces (all team highs). With NWC attempting to pull away from a 7-7 tie in the fourth set, the Serbian product knocked down back-to-back spikes to give her team a 13-10 lead. The Trappers would secure the win with an 18-8 run following the tie, and the momentum carried over.
“I think after that fourth set, we just knew that we could do this,” NWC sophomore Krystalyn Sloan said after registering eight blocks and five kills. “When you work so hard all season long, you know when something’s in reach, and we really battled hard to reach this goal.”
The Trappers made it apparent in the fifth set that its goal was the national tournament. Teodora Tepavac and Vera Horstmann started the game with kills, and a Casper error had the Trappers ahead 3-0 in the 15-point set.
Tepavac added another kill moments later before Djordjevic’s booming spike made it a 5-1 cushion. Djordjevic added three more kills before the set concluded, and also served during a stretch of six straight NWC points in which she scored three aces.
After two of those aces came consecutively, Tepavac notched a kill and Jamila Biglow blocked a Casper hit to make it 14-6. The Thunderbirds’ final serve sailed into the net to give NWC the victory.
“It was a relief to win that match,” Pohlman said. “I’m not going to say I am surprised we won, but I wasn’t expecting to win this tournament. There were a lot of good programs competing this weekend, and to expect to have this title handed to us would’ve been crazy.
“But I’m happy for the girls because they had the mentality of having confidence while also staying modest to take each game one at a time.”
Djordevic was named Region IX Player of the Year, while also making the region’s all-tournament team with teammates Huddleston and Tepavac (18 kills, 13 digs against Casper).