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NWC Volleyball Goes 2-2 At National Tourney For Fourth Place
CASPER - The Northwest College volleyball team’s biggest match seemed to come a little early during the NJCAA Division I National Volleyball Championship at the Casper Events Center in Casper.
After rallying from a 2-sets-to-0 hole to win their opening-round match in five games early Thursday, hours later, the ninth seeded Lady Trappers were facing Iowa Western Community College, NJCAA DI’s No. 1 seed, and top-ranked team nationally.
“We had nothing to lose, no expectations,” said NWC head coach Shaun Pohlman of his team’s battle with Iowa Western.
That’s because at 29-8 and seeded ninth, it would’ve been fair to tab the Trappers as heavy underdogs against the then-41-1 Reivers. And yet, NWC looked less like an underdog and more like a team with something to prove.
Whatever it was, the Trappers proved it. Behind double-digit kill efforts from four players, NWC raced out to a two-set lead over IWCC before surviving in five games, 25- 15, 25-20, 18-25, 20-25, 15-8 to knock off the Reivers and enter the final four of the national tournament for the first time since 1989.
Although NWC went on to lose its final two matches to settle for a 2-2 tourney record and a fourth-place finish, the Trappers doubled their success from a year ago (eighth place in 2013) and went toe-to-toe with the nation’s best squad and came out on top.
“We wanted to prove who were are as a team, and I think our love and team passion carried us,” said freshman Aleksandra Djordjevic, who posted a match-high 20 kills against the Reivers. “We told ourselves before we got here that we would keep fighting until the end, and I think today showed that.”
For the Trappers, the tournament’s opening day provided more close calls and emotion than possibly the entire regular season’s slate of matches combined. NWC started play with eighth-seeded State College of Florida, and came out looking every bit the lower seed. The Manatees buried NWC into a two-set hole, and led the third set 3-1 early with a sweep in mind.
But a slew of SCF errors had the Trappers back in contention at 7-7, and NWC eventually took control to force a fourth set. The Lady Trappers again trailed early, facing a 5-1 hole before Nicci Bloomer’s kill started an 8-2 run that put NWC ahead 9-7.
The Trappers never trailed again to force the decisive fifth set. NWC’s momentum carried over into the final game, as the Trappers built a sustainable lead and used kills from Teodora Tepavac and Megan Huddleston at the end to cap off the 18-25, 20-25, 25-15, 25-19, 15-11 shocker.
“We just went balls to the wall there at the end because once we went down 2-0, we knew we had nothing to lose,” said Huddleston, who registered 10 kills to go with four service aces. “Losing in the first round wasn’t what we came here for, so we fought back and took things into our own hands.”
Vera Horstmann had a team-high 16 kills against the Manatees, while Tepavac added 11.
NWC then came close to experiencing some forced empathy, finding itself in the same shoes as SFC one round later. Against Iowa Western, the Trappers had the Reivers on the ropes thanks to an overwhelming offensive attack. But like good teams should do, IWCC found a way to temporarily stall the Trapper barrage for two straight victories to force a fifth game.
“We knew they were too good to just roll over in three sets,” Pohlman said of Iowa Western. “We knew they were going to fight back, and I knew it was going to be interesting to see how the girls responded.”
After IWCC forced the final first-to-15 set, NWC righted its ship after an early 3-2 deficit, and never looked back. Djordjevic pushed NWC ahead with back-to-back kills, and two straight Reiver errors had NWC in control at 6-3. IWCC used a Trapper error and an ace from Elly Targy to pull within 9-7 later, but five straight NWC points had the Trappers cruising at 14-7. An IWCC kill stalled the NWC celebration temporarily, but when Djordjevic went mid-court to return a volley, she drew the IWCC defense close to the net, and sent her spike over desperate, outstretched hands as the ball landed in bounds and sent NWC into a frenzy.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am to see these girls accomplish this,” Pohlman said of the victory. “You play for something like this all season. You play to put yourself in position to accomplish a goal like this. This is huge for Trapper volleyball.”
NWC’s trek toward a national championship ended in the semifinal round Friday, as Miami Dade turned the Trappers away with a 25-20, 25-20, 25-20 sweep. The Trappers moved on to the third-place match, but ended their season with a loss to the College of Southern Idaho on Saturday, this time in four sets.
Following their season-ending loss, several Trappers shared hugs and smiles. There were few tears, few signs of heartbreak, as it appeared that Pohlman’s players began to grasp what they had done for the future of NWC volleyball.
“Northwest College volleyball isn’t headed for a downward spiral,” said sophomore Jamila Biglow. “We’ve sort of put the school on the map, even more so than last year, and I think the success we had this weekend is going to make Powell and Northwest a place where great players are going to want to be.”
Pohlman reflected on the group of girls wearing Trapper red and white this season, and expressed hope that next year’s team can not only replicate this year’s squad’s success, but also its character.
“This was by far my best group of people, not just players, but people,” Pohlman said. “I didn’t have one rotten egg, not one kid that wasn’t all in and all about Trapper volleyball. I’m fortunate to have found all of them to play at Northwest, but I’m even happier that they existed in the first place.”