TRAPPER VOLLEYBALL SPLITS HOME RETURN

BY SETH ROMSA TRIBUNE SPORTS WRITER
Courtesy of the Powell Tribune

A high-powered opponent and a come-from-behind victory highlighted the first action at Cabre Gym since Aug. 26 for the Northwest College volleyball team this past weekend. The Trappers were swept by Laramie County Community College on Friday before earning a 3-2 victory over Eastern Wyoming on Saturday.    

LCCC 3, NORTHWEST 0
(25-15, 25-11, 25-18)

Returning home brought one of the most difficult opponents to date for the Trappers (7-15 overall, 1-3 Region IX North) in the No. 18-ranked Golden Eagles (19-4 overall, 4-0 Region IX North).

LCCC came out swinging, building an early 10-4 lead and forcing a Northwest timeout.

That lead held and forced another timeout, before the Golden Eagles finished with a 25-15 first set victory.

The Golden Eagles finished with a .318 hitting percentage, while Northwest hit negative in the opening set.

Anything that might have gone right in the first set, did not follow suit in the second.

LCCC jumped out to an 8-1 lead, and used that to springboard the rest of the set and finish with a 25-11 victory.

The third set brought life for the Trappers, jumping out to a 5-1 lead.

That lead slowly dissipated throughout the set, until LCCC eventually captured a 12-11 lead.

Northwest was unable to recapture the early momentum, and eventually fell 25-18 to give LCCC the sweep.

"I wasn't too upset with our play for the most part," coach Scott Keister said. "There were a few plays where we just stood and watched and that's not OK. We are working on it."

Kamri Hutchings led with 18 assists for Northwest, Ellie Thomas had 12 digs while Tilli Danczyk had six kills with no errors.  

NORTHWEST 3, EASTERN WYOMING 2
(25-16, 11-25, 23-25, 25-15, 15-5)

Northwest remained at home on Saturday, welcoming Eastern Wyoming (7-15 overall, 1-3 Region IX North) to Cabre Gym.

Saturday brought a new groove for the Trappers, taking an early lead 10-5 and continuing to hold it throughout the first set.

The lead continued to grow and Northwest finished with a 25-16 victory with one of its best hitting sets in weeks with a .308.

That momentum did not carry into the second set.

Eastern immediately jumped out to a 7-1 lead, and continued to put the pressure on Northwest and never allowed the hosts back in — finishing with a 25-11 second set victory.

"I hate this game sometimes because you can win big and then you can turn right around and lose big," Keister said. "I think our only bright spot was Ellie just laying herself out for every ball — we would've gotten beat 25-0 if it wasn't for her."

A key third set had Northwest jumping out to an early 11-8 lead, and growing that further to 19-13 and forcing a timeout from the Lancers.

Out of the timeout Eastern battled back, quickly closing the gap until Northwest was only up 21-20 and took a timeout.

After the timeout Eastern continued to push until it was tied at 22, and scored three of the last four points to win the set 25-23.

"I thought we should have won that set, we were up the whole time until really late," Keister said. "We didn't freak out or anything that we lost. We were like OK, we are doing some things well and we need to keep doing those things."

Needing a response the Trappers dug deep in the fourth set, growing a small lead midway through the set into an 18-12 lead and forcing a timeout from Eastern Wyoming.

Northwest finished with a 25-15 win, figuring out its attack late while adjusting its serving to the Lancers.

"We changed the game plan just a little bit as far as our serving. That really got into Eastern's game plan," Keister said. "We started to make their No. 9 [best player] do everything."

A fifth and decisive set was needed between the two teams, and this time the Trappers carried the momentum from the previous set.

A 5-0 beginning jump started the Trappers, forcing a timeout from the Lancers.

It grew to 11-2 before another timeout, and Northwest finished with a 15-5 victory to earn its first Region IX victory of the year.

"In set five we were lights out," Keister said. "It's been our thing that we don't have hitters that can put the ball away but we have been focusing on it and getting better at it."

Kennedy Oman finished with 11 kills and Taylor Wilson finished with 10 as the only other Trapper in double figures.

Hutchings had 42 assists, Thomas had 27 digs and five aces while Oman had three of the 10 blocks for the Trappers.   

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
For the second time this season, Thomas earned recognition as the Region IX North defensive player of the week thanks to her 39 digs over eight sets of play.

"It's a cool deal that she gets that for a second time this year," Keister said. "I like to see that it's a Wyoming player doing good things at this level. It doesn't happen a whole lot especially at that position."

Thomas currently has the most digs in Region IX, sitting seventh nationally with 430 digs while also being at 11th in the nation for digs a set with a 5.24 average.    

BUSY WEEK AHEAD
Northwest will be back on the road starting today (Thursday), heading to Riverton to take on Central Wyoming College (3-17 overall, 1-3 Region IX North) at 7 p.m.

The road trip will continue on Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. with the Trappers heading to Gillette to take on newly formed Gillette College (7-14 overall, 0-4 Region IX North) in its first year of competition.

"Nobody has ever played there before. It's their first year and it'll be interesting to see," Keister said. "We aren't looking for certain results in either one of them, we are just focused on getting better in certain categories and hitting is one of them."

Northwest will return to Cabre Gym on Tuesday, taking on the Rocky Mountain JV with an early start of 11 a.m.   

LCCC 3, NORTHWEST 0
(15-25, 11-25, 18-25)
Total blocks then solo blocks in ()
Kills — Tilli Danczyk 6, Taylor Wilson 5, Kamri Hutchings 3, Alexis Grgich 3, Burkelle Field 2, Sierra Kilts 2, Kennedy Oman 2, Jordynel Anderson 2, Trinity Frank 1
Assists — Kamri Hutchings 18, Kamryn Jenkins 3, Ellie Thomas 1, Elsa Clark 1, Sierra Kilts 1, Taylor Wilson 1
Digs — Ellie Thomas 12, Sierra Kilts 8, Taylor Wilson 8, Kamri Hutchings 3, Elsa Clark 2, Kamryn Jenkins 2, DanniKa Barfuss 1
Blocks — Burkelle Field 1.5, Tilli Danczyk 1.5, Kamri Hutchings 1, Kennedy Oman 1, Alexis Grgich .5, Jordynel Anderson .5
Aces — Kamri Hutchings 1, Ellie Thomas 1, Sierra Kilts 1 

NORTHWEST 3, EASTERN WYOMING 2
(25-16, 10-25, 23-25, 25-15, 15-5)
Kills — Kennedy Oman 11, Taylor Wilson 10, Elsa Clark 9, Kamri Hutchings 8, Sierra Kilts 6, Jordynel Anderson 4, Alexis Grgich 3, Burkelle Field 2, Mikey Pilila'au 2, Tilli Danczyk 1
Assists — Kamri Hutchings 42, Ellie Thomas 4, Elsa Clark 4, Kamryn Jenkins 4, Sierra Kilts 1, Taylor Wilson 1
Digs — Ellie Thomas 27, Sierra Kilts 13, Taylor Wilson 12, Elsa Clark 7, Kamri Hutchings 5, DanniKa Barfuss 2, Alexis Grgich 2, Jordynel Anderson 2, Kamryn Jenkins 2, Kennedy Oman 1
Blocks — Kennedy Oman 3 (1), Kamri Hutchings 1.5, Sierra Kilts 1.5 (1), Mikey Pilila'au 1.5 (1), Burkelle Field 1, Elsa Clark .5, Jordynel
Anderson .5, Taylor Wilson .5
Aces — Ellie Thomas 5, Kamri Hutchings 3, Sierra Kilts 2, DanniKa Barfuss 1, Kennedy Oman 1