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Team Picks Up 10th Win Of Season Over Weekend
The Northwest College volleyball team overcame injuries to win two out of four games at the Wyo-braska tournament played in Torrington and Scottsbluff, Neb., last weekend. The Trappers defeated Lamar and Dawson, but fell to defending Division II national champion Cowley County and nationally ranked Western Nebraska.
The team is now 10-10 overall this season. The Trappers also sport a 2-1 record in Region IX play.
“We can’t get this .500 mark off our back,” said Northwest College head coach Shaun Pohlman. “We’re a better team than .500, I truly believe, but we can’t seem to get over that hump.”
The Trappers played the weekend without the services of freshman outside hitter Felicity Zegarelli, one of their top hitters on the season. Freshman setter Mikaela Heble similarly missed large segments of the weekend due to a possible concussion.
Despite the jumbled lineup those injuries created, Northwest rallied from being down 23-19 in game one against Lamar to post a 26-24, 25- 23, 25-18 victory to start the tournament weekend. They followed that with a 25-14, 25- 18, 24-26, 25-21 loss to Cowley County.
Ana Jakovljevic finished with 14 kills and 11 digs to lead the Trappers in both categories against Lamar. Jakovljevic, Katie Burnett and Allyson Mahon each finished with two ace serves.
Jakovljevic also picked up 17 kills against Cowley while Burnett led the way with 26 digs. Triniti Taylor had a career-high 30 assists as she capitalized on some of the extra opportunities Heble’s absence from the lineup provided.
Northwest bounced back from the Cowley loss on Saturday to breeze past Dawson 25-12, 25-15, 25-7. Jakovljevic was close to a triple-double with nine kills, nine ace serves and seven digs in the contest. Olivia Rogers added eight kills for the Trappers. Becky Downs and Ainsley Oates each had seven kills. As a team, the Trappers registered 5.5 blocks at the net for the game.
Northwest concluded the tournament with a 25-14, 25- 13, 25-20 loss to No. 3 Western Nebraska. Jakovljevic finished with eight kills. Nicolette Bloomer added six kills.
“Nicolette played just great against them,” said Pohlman, who voiced concern with his team’s defensive presence at the net in the match. “We stressed in the first two sets for our blockers to do more, but we didn’t really start to do that until the third set. We had five block assists in the third set after only getting one in the first two sets combined.”
Burnett finished with 12 digs for Northwest.
The Trappers return to Torrington this weekend for a game at Eastern Wyoming on Friday night before playing at Laramie County Community College on Saturday. Both games are Region IX contests.
Trappers earn votes
The Northwest College volleyball team received mention in the national NJCAA volleyball poll released on Wednesday. The Trappers did not crack the top 20, but were one of 13 additional teams to receive votes this week.
This week’s rankings:
1. San Jacinto-Central 20-1
2. Western Nebraska 21-2
3. Southern Idaho 17-1
4. North Idaho 14-1
5. Iowa Western 20-2
6. Salt Lake 16-4
7. Tyler 16-2
8. Central Florida 14-4
9. Miami Dade 5-3
10. SCFManatee-Sarasota 16-3
11. Western Texas 18-2
12. Arizona Western 12-3
13. Central Wyoming 14-4
14. Blinn 13-4
15. Western Wyoming 12-9
16. Paris 16-5
17. Florida State-Jacksonville 10-6
18. Hillsborough9-5
19. Pensacola State 10-1
20 .Snow 10-5
Receiving votes — NORTHWEST, Trinity Valley, Laredo, Midland, Redlands, Seminole State, Casper, Hutchinson, Kaskaskia, Lake Land, Indian Hills-Ottumwa, Wallace State-Hanceville, Missouri State-West Plains.