NWC VOLLEYBALL DROPS REGION IX OPENERS
The Northwest College volleyball team stepped up its level of competition and couldn’t quite keep up, falling on the road in its Region IX openers to NJCAA No. 19 ranked Casper College 3-0 on Friday and Gillette College 3-1 on Saturday.
BY SETH ROMSA TRIBUNE SPORTS WRITER
Courtesy of the Powell Tribune
The Northwest College volleyball team stepped up its level of competition and couldn't quite keep up, falling on the road in its Region IX openers to NJCAA No. 19 ranked Casper College 3-0 on Friday and Gillette College 3-1 on Saturday.
CASPER COLLEGE 3, NORTHWEST 0
After a couple of weeks off to rest and prepare, the Trappers (8-6 overall, 0-2 Region IX North) made the trip to Casper to take on the Thunderbirds (14-7 overall, 2-0 Region IX North).
The two teams battled point for point early in the first set, which was tied 8-8 before a four-point push made it 12-8 Casper and forced a Northwest timeout.
That run extended to six before an Ellianna Baumstarck kill ended it. Unfortunately for Northwest, Casper College went on another 7-2 run to build a double digit lead at 21-11 and finished the first set with a 25-12 win.
In the second set the Thunderbirds built an early 10-2 lead and Northwest was unable to recover as the Trappers fell 25-13 to give Casper a 2-0 set lead.
Northwest again trailed throughout the third set, but kept it within four or five points for much of the set until the midway point, as Casper pulled away and earned a 25-15 win.
"I hope the girls really could see the speed and power that we're striving for and just learn how to match that and then eventually surpass it," coach Nicole Buck said. "But I just really hope that they learn from the experience of playing defense against really good hitters. The thing is we actually hung with Casper really well at times, and I want the girls to build on that and see we actually did really great things … Because really in the end, Casper was a good team there's no doubt about it, but in the end they got a lot of points off our errors because we just weren't capitalizing very well."
McKinlee Scammon led the Trappers with eight kills, Aidann Mottishaw had 17 assists, Shilah Arnold had 10 digs, Taylee Carlson had 2.5 blocks and Lexie Arnold had the lone ace for the Trappers.
GILLETTE COLLEGE 3, NORTHWEST 1
Continuing their road trip to Gillette the Trappers were hoping to split the weekend against the Pronghorns (15-2 overall, 1-1 Region IX North).
Both teams were going point for point early in the set before the Pronghorns started pulling away mid-set thanks to a hitting error by the Trappers which made it 16-9.
Northwest could not find a way to close the gap late in the set and fell 25-16.
In the second set the teams battled point for point before the Pronghorns started pulling away 15-10 and force a Northwest timeout.
The Trappers rallied and brought the match all the way back to a 17-all tie after a kill was tipped out by the Pronghorns.
Northwest took the lead on a block by Baumstarck and Mottishaw to make it 18-17.
Gillette tied the match again at 18 before the Trappers reeled off four straight points to pull ahead and eventually finished the set with a 25-19 win after a Trinity Frank ace.
In the third set the Pronghorns built a strong lead, pushing it as far as 16-6 midway through the set.
Northwest made the choice to shift back to a 5-1 offense after playing a 6-2 offense a majority of the season, attempting to simplify the attack and rotation for the team.
"It was just a tough decision that we made to move away from the 6-2 in the Gillette match, it wasn't really benefiting us at the moment so we just made the choice to simplify," Buck said.
Northwest trailed by as many as 11 before rallying to narrow the final scoreline down to 25-19.
Early in the fourth set the two teams exchanged points back and forth, before Gillette again pulled away, building a large lead and eventually finishing the match with a 25-14 win.
Scammon again led with 13 kills and two aces, as Carlson added 10 kills of her own.
Mottishaw had 32 assists, Shilah Arnold had 22 digs and Lexie Arnold added 11.
Baumstarck had two blocks.
"They are very good teams. I do think we can compete much better than we did," Buck said. "For sure not our best weekend. I think there were a couple of reasons for that. One, I think that was kind of some of these girls' first exposure to what that really looks like. We hadn't seen teams like that before. Then the other, I for sure wasn't the best version of myself. I was very sick and probably should have stayed home. It felt like they were kind of feeding off my energy or lack thereof."
REGION PLAY CONTINUES
The early conference season hits the Trappers with a flurry this week, starting with a pair of home games this weekend.
The Trappers welcome in Laramie County Community College (10-8 overall, 2-0 Region IX North) at 6 p.m. on Friday, before taking on Eastern Wyoming College (7-18 overall, 1-1 Region IX North) at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
"I'm expecting it to be potentially harder than last weekend was," Buck said. "My hope is the girls are more prepared for that intensity. I think we're gonna see two really good teams this weekend."
The busy week doesn't stop there, as the Trappers will also welcome in Central Wyoming College (7-14 overall, 1-1 Region IX North) at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
"They have played a lot of tough teams. And now that we're starting to get into conference play, I'm starting to see them for who they really are," Buck said. "They're a good, battling team, and I hope that we can hang with them. I've got a lot of studying to do, but after today's practice (Tuesday), I'm a lot more encouraged with the girls and their willingness to play more intense and more aggressive. So I think they took some lessons from the weekend and they're on fire right now."
CASPER COLLEGE 3, NORTHWEST 0
(25-12, 25-13, 25-15)
Total blocks then solo blocks in ()
Kills — McKinlee Scammon 8, Taylee Carlson 6, Lexie Arnold 4, Aidann Mottishaw 2, Natalee Hayder 2, Eva Murray 1, Ellianna Baumstarck 1
Assists — Aidann Mottishaw 17, Rylee Arnold 7
Digs — Shilah Arnold 10, Lexie Arnold 7, Aidann Mottishaw 4, McKinlee Scammon 3, Trinity Frank 1
Blocks — Taylee Carlson 2.5 (1), Eva Murray 1, Ellianna Baumstarck .5, Aidann Mottishaw .5, Natalee Hayder .5
Aces — Lexie Arnold 1
GILLETTE COLLEGE 3, NORTHWEST 1
(25-16, 19-25, 25-19, 25-14)
Kills — McKinlee Scammon 13, Taylee Carlson 10, Ellianna Baumstarck 9, Lexie Arnold 3, Aidann Mottishaw 3, Eva Murray 2, Natalee Hayder 2, Vinaya Vanderploeg 1
Assists — Aidann Mottishaw 32, Rylee Arnold 7, Shilah Arnold 1, Ellianna Baumstarck 1
Digs — Shilah Arnold 22, Lexie Arnold 11, Nevaeh Bell 8, McKinlee Scammon 6, Aidann Mottishaw 5, Ellianna Baumstarck 2, Taylee Carlson 2, Trinity Frank 1
Blocks — Ellianna Baumstarck 2, Taylee Carlson 1.5, Eva Murray 1, Aidann Mottishaw 1, McKinlee Scammon .5, Vinaya Vanderploeg .5, Natalee Hayder .5
Aces — McKinlee Scammon 2, Trinity Frank 1, Rylee Arnold 1