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Rebounds With Win Against Sheridan
Having reached the top of the standings in the NJCAA Region IX North, the Northwest College volleyball team dropped back to No. 3 after losing to Casper College on Friday in five sets. The Lady Trappers rebounded to beat Sheridan in five sets and Miles City, Montana, in three sets.
Going into the game against Casper, the Lady Trappers had a 10-10 record on the season.
“This was a chance for this team to have a new opportunity to make it something different, and on Friday we found out that this team is not ready for that,” said NWC head coach Shaun Pohlman.
Taking into consideration the team’s 1-8 start, and how the team has bounced back in a big way, the loss “was heartbreaking to watch unfold,” Pohlman said.
CASPER COLLEGE 3, NWC 2
The Lady Trappers traveled to Casper College Friday, where Pohlman said that “it was the same show,” or a repeat of what happened when Casper came to play in Powell on Sept. 29.
NWC was up 23-20 in the first set then dropped five straight points to lose 25-23.
Then, “[we] took care of business in the second set,” Pohlman said of the Lady Trappers 25-12 set win.
But the third set played out similar to the first, as the Lady Trappers went up 20-16, gave up five straight points, and lost 26-24.
In the fourth set, the Lady Trappers gave up five straight points late before winning 25-21 to force a fifth tiebreaker set.
“So in three different instances, we were up late in the set and then ... lost five straight points,” Pohlman said. “And then [we] didn’t show up in the fifth, and that’s what happened in the first time around.”
Casper won the fifth set 15-10 to close out the match.
Luana Rezende led the Lady Trappers in kills with 15 followed closely by Shania Warren with 14. Aleksandra Saric added 13 kills and Holly Pittman and Kiandra Franklin each added 11.
Jess Ruffing had 40 assists and Demery Dean added 10. Bre Donarski anchored the defense with 21 digs.
Rezende notched a double-double picking up 14 digs while adding four aces, while Ruffing tallied three aces of her own.
Franklin finished with a team-high of four blocks.
The loss to Casper College dropped the Lady Trappers to third place in the conference after Laramie County Community College’s win over Western Wyoming on Friday.
NWC 3, SHERIDAN 2
Saturday found the Lady Trappers in another hard-fought battle, finally pulling out the victory in five games.
In the first set, NWC initially fell behind 6-2, but rallied to turn it into a back-and-forth battle. The teams were tied at 23-23 before Sheridan inched the Lady Trappers out of the victory 25-23.
The Lady Trappers also began the second set behind, but trailing 19-16, NWC “actually showed a little fight to get back to 22-22,” Pohlman said.
The Lady Trappers went on to win 25-22.
In the third set, Pohlman said his squad “just really took care of their business like we should have” and won 25-18.
The Lady Trappers were up 9-2 in the fourth set, but allowed Sheridan to tie things at 17- and 22-all. Sheridan claimed a 25-22 victory to force a fifth tiebreaker game.
The fifth set was neck and neck to 8-8 before the Lady Trappers went on a run to win 15-10.
Five Lady Trappers hit double-digits in kills in the Bruce Hoffman Golden Dome. Rezende and Saric each led with 15 kills, followed by Shania Warren, Pittman and Franklin with 12, 11 and 10 respectively.
Franklin’s 0.471 hitting efficiency was a team-high. She and Saric also paced the Lady Trappers with seven blocks. Pittman added four blocks.
Pohlman said his team had inconsistencies throughout the match and that he continued to be disappointed with the group.
“If you look at the stats, we shouldn’t be that way, but this sport and college in particular requires a lower level of selfishness and a higher level of sacrifice for the team — something this group as a whole has refused to do despite being challenged on their functional behaviors,” Pohlman said. “It’s sad and it’s wrong,” Pohlman said. “They have teammates, coaches, fans and most importantly the alumni of Trapper Volleyball that have built this program to what it has been. If anything is gonna happen with this team, it better happen fast. The clock is ticking.”
The win over Sheridan kept the Lady Trappers in third place in Region IX North. The Lady Trappers (12-11, 8-2) will close out the regular season at home with back-to-back weekends of competition. On Friday at 7 p.m., NWC will host Central Wyoming College and at 3 p.m. Saturday, it will go head to head with Western Wyoming Community College.