Your future, our focus
Losing Streak At Three
The Northwest College volleyball team endured its longest road trip of the season over the weekend, dropping straight-set matches to Region IX North foes Eastern Wyoming and Laramie County CC.
“It is normally hard for teams to travel such distances and come out on top of that,” said NWC head coach Valerie Rivera. “It’s no excuse, but it does take a toll on the team.”
Squaring off against Eastern Wyoming (19-9, 7-6 in conference) on Friday, the Lady Trappers struggled to find a rhythm, falling in straight sets (25-12, 25-18, 25-12).
“We just played on our heels the entire night,” Rivera said. “It was as if we were unsure of what was on the other side of the net. We were too worried about them instead of focusing on us. We never really got going in the offensive zone and lack of scoring equals failure in volleyball.”
Eirini Matsouka led the team with 10 kills, followed by Mollee Krum with six. Matsouka led in digs with seven, while Geena Graf had six.
Kaylie Critchfield finished with 16 assists.
Saturday’s effort against LCCC (6-20, 4-8 in conference) was more along the lines of what Rivera has come to expect out of her team.
“Against LCCC we came out ready,” she said. “It took the first half of the first set for the team to get comfortable and to realize that, again, taking care of our side is the most important. It doesn’t matter what is on the other side because they have just as many weaknesses as we do.”
LCCC took the match 3-0 (25-18, 25- 23, 25-14), but the Lady Trappers didn’t go down without a fight.
“We played well the whole match and there was a different team from the previous night,” Miller said. “We were communicating, we had fire, we had desire. We just weren’t able to pull it out. LCCC is good, don’t get me wrong, but they were beatable.”
Matsouka again led the team with 16 kills, followed by Mollee Krum with six. Madyson Chavez led in digs with 12, followed by Graf and Ryan Blaylock with eight apiece.
Kaylie Critchfield finished with 22 assists, to go along with two aces and six digs; Krum had three aces.
With just six matches left in the regular season, the Lady Trappers will be at home for five of them, beginning with Thursday’s contest against Sheridan. Rivera said she expects Sheridan to come out swinging. She said the keys to victory are simple: Be aggressive, take care of the NWC side of the net and play each game from zero to 25 and until the whistle is blown.
“Essentially, they have nothing to lose at this point and nor do we,” she said. “I think it is going to be a dog fight on Thursday and the team who ultimately wants it the most will come out on top.”