Your future, our focus
The Northwest Trappers opened the 2015 volleyball season in a big way, knocking off the top-ranked junior college team in the nation and surprising their coach in the process.
Not only did the Trappers knock off Iowa Western during the Holiday Inn Tournament in Rock Springs, they also beat No. 15 Snow College, and they led second-ranked College of Southern Idaho 2-1 and the fourth set 22-20 before the Golden Eagles rallied to win the set and dominate game five.
A 3-1 conquest of Northwestern Colorado sent the Trappers home with a 3-1 record after the first weekend.
Head coach Shaun Pohlman confessed to being taken off guard by the team’s play in Rock Springs based on how they looked in the week prior to the tournament.
“Going by our practices, I would never have predicted that we would play like that,” he said.
Pohlman said the level of competition may have been partly responsible, inducing the women to step up to the level of their opponents, but otherwise, “I’m still trying to figure this team out and see what makes them tick.”
Still, Pohlman said, the weekend indicated that this Trapper team has the necessary talent for an outstanding season.
Teodora Tepavac and Aleksandra Djordjevic drove the team’s offense, combining to score 140 kills in the four matches, with most assists coming from freshmen setters Jelena Slijepcevic and Maliyah Tela.
Tepavac and Djordjevic, both sophomore outsides, played a big role in the defense as well, with a combined 50 digs. In all, 15 Trappers saw some action and contributed to the team effort.
It didn’t look promising at the start for NWC when Snow College battled to a 29-27 win in the first set, but the Trappers recovered and won the next three sets convincingly — 25-15, 25-18, and 25-15. Djordjevic finished the match with 27 kills, Tepavac with 21 and freshman Lauga Gauta with 14. Slijepcevic finished with 60 assists.
Gauta, Slijepcevic, and sophomore middles Casey Rich and Tuiana Filiaga also scored kills.
Defensively, Gauta led with 14 digs while sophomore libero Aimee Molina and Slijepcevic contributed 12 and 10 respectively. Tepavac, Alye Wagner, Filiaga, Rich and freshman Kelsey Marchant all contributed digs.
After securing their first win of the season, the Trappers nearly made it two in a row when they took on No. 2-ranked CSI. As in the first contest, Northwest lost the first set 25-20, but again came back to win the second convincingly, 25-17, and took a 2-1 lead after holding the Golden Eagles off for a 25-21 win in the third set.
In the fourth set, the Trappers had a chance to finish the match when they built a 22-20 lead, the CSI allowed only one more score while scoring five of their own to tie the match at two games each. The Golden Eagles carried that momentum into the fifth set for a 15-4 match-clinching win.
Djordjevic again led in kills with 23. Tepavac scored 16 and Gauta 14. Others contributing kills were Filiaga, sophomore Emily Herrera, sophomore Kaite Johnson and freshman Easton Clements. Defensively, Tepavac and Molina were in double figures with 20 and 12 digs respectively. Other digs came from Djordjevic, Filiaga, Slijepcevic, Gauta, Wagner, Tela, Johnson, and Clements.
After losing to the second-ranked team, the Trappers might have been intimidated when their next opponent was No. 1 Iowa Western. Instead they stepped up and matched the Reivers point for point, winning the first set this time, 25-23. The second set was also closely contested and was extended when the teams were tied at 25. Northwest finally gained a two-point advantage at 30-28 and took a 2-0 lead.
The match continued to be close in set three, but Iowa Western was able to extend the match with a 25-20 win. The Reivers made a strong bid to tie the match, but in the end, the Trappers pulled out a 25-22 win and take the match.
Djordjevic notched 20 kills and Tepavac added 19. Each continued their barrage of digs with 13 and 15, respectively. Herrera, Rich, Clements and Gauta also scored kills. Tela contributed 10 digs.
The Trappers were finally matched with an unranked opponent in Colorado Northwestern to close out the competition, but the Spartans didn’t go quietly. NWC opened with a 25-20 win, but just squeaked by in the second set 25-20 and lost the third 25-23. In the end, though, they held on for a 25-22 win in the last set to take a 3-1 win. Nine Trappers were credited with kills, led once again by Tepavac with 21 and Djordjevic with 13. The duo also led in digs and, in addition, Djordjevic scored seven service aces.
Pohlman said the weekend was a boost for the team, but the season has a long way to go, and “we can’t sit back and chill.” He noted that the Trappers would meet both Southern Idaho and Snow next weekend along with highly rated Salt Lake City Community College.
“Things can turn around in a flash,” Pohlman said, citing an accident involving the New Mexico Military Institute team last week. “Nobody was hurt badly, but something like that can change things.”
Still, he is “cautiously optimistic” about the season, and knows one thing for certain.
“I now can officially say that we’re talented enough to go further in the playoffs. I’m excited to see what their future will be,” Pohlman said.
The Trappers played the Rocky Mountain College JV team Wednesday night (after press time), and will compete in Salt Lake City this weekend.