Your future, our focus
Not So Fortunate In Region IX Opener
After an opening week of frustration, the Northwest College volleyball team turned things around in impressive fashion over the weekend. The team won all four of its games at the Colby (Kan.) tournament to finish at the head of the class.
“We did a really good job of taking care of the first two games in each of our matches,” said Trapper head coach Shaun Pohlman. “We still struggled at times to finish things out, but you could see the improvement we’ve made.”
Northwest opened the tournament against host Colby Community College. After winning the first two games 25-23, 25-16, the Trappers dropped the next two games by scores of 25-27 and 19-25 to force a tiebreak. Northwest won 15-11 in that decisive fifth game to notch their first win of the year.
Freshman Felicity Zegarelli had 14 kills and 10 digs in the contest.
“It looks like she’s showing that she’s going to step up,” Pohlman said of his young outside hitter.
Zegarelli continued her roll in the Trappers’ second game, hitting .444 and finishing with 14 kills in a 25-23, 25- 9, 10-25, 25-16 win over North Platte. The Trappers followed that on day two of the tournament with a 25-19, 25-23, 25- 14 win over Trinidad State.
“The Trinidad State game was just a good game for us across the board,” Pohlman said.
The Trappers wrapped up their weekend with a 25-15, 25-20, 26-28, 22-25, 15-9 win over Southeastern out of Nebraska. Zegarelli again came out hot with 19 kills and 12 digs for another double-double. Triniti Taylor added 26 assists and 11 digs for NWC.
“The third set, we ran out of substitutions,” Pohlman said. “We were in a position to finish off Southeast in three, but then we got caught on a rotation with a 5-2 girl on the front row that we couldn’t sub for and they were able to finish it out.”
The Trappers’ middle hitters also had solid tournament performances across all four games. Becky Downs finished with a .415 hitting percentage for the weekend. Olivia Rogers connected for a .370 percentage for the Trappers.
The local college narrowly missed making it a sweep of the week’s action, falling in five games on Tuesday night to Central Wyoming in the Region IX North opener for the Trappers.
Northwest lost by a 25-22, 16-25, 25-27, 27-25, 15-7 final. In both the first and fourth games, the Trappers held 22- 16 leads, but failed to convert the final points needed to close out the game. Northwest played much of the fourth game without Zegarelli on the floor.
“Her ear popped and began bleeding,” said Pohlman. “We had to take her out.”
Zegarelli did return for the decisive fifth game and still finished the night with 14 kills and 14 digs. Ana Jakovljevic added 23 kills and 27 digs. Becky Downs had a stellar night blocking with three solo and five assisted blocks.
“Kayla (Van Hee) did an absolutely great job back as our defensive specialist,” said Pohlman. “She had 20 digs. She had a great night.”
Northwest returns to action on Friday at Western Wyoming. The Trappers carry a 4-6 mark overall and an 0-1 record in Region IX North play into that contest.