Your future, our focus
One of the longest road trips of the season resulted in one of the more difficult weekends for the Northwest College volleyball team, finishing 0-4 at the Utah State University Eastern Invitational on Friday and Saturday in Price, Utah.
SOUTHERN NEVADA 3, NORTHWEST 0Kicking off the weekend on Friday, the Trappers (5-8) came up against the College of Southern Nevada Lady Coyotes (2-5).
“The first day we did not play well,” coach Scott Keister said. “We didn’t hit well, we didn’t pass well, we didn’t serve well, we didn’t do anything well.”
Northwest dropped the first set 25-18, and did not recover in the second or third set losing 25-17 and 25-12.
The Trappers were unable to hit over .100 in any of the sets, including a negative .033 hitting percentage in the second set — committing 22 errors to 27 kills in the match.
Kamri Hutchings finished with 23 assists for the Trappers.
PIMA CC 3, NORTHWEST 1Continuing with play on Friday, the Trappers took on Pima Community College (5-6) out of Tucson, Arizona.
The Aztecs came out immediately and took a 2-0 lead on the Trappers with 25-20 and 25-17 wins.
The best hitting set of the day for the Trappers came in the third set, hitting .258 as a team and earning a 25-19 win to force a fourth set.
Unfortunately for Northwest, a difficult fourth set saw the Trappers finish with a negative hitting percentage once again and they lost 25-14.
“I thought we matched up really well with both teams,” Keister said. “We could have very easily won had we played well. CSN was good and Pima was good, but CSN just killed us with one girl.”
Split setting duties saw Kamryn Jenkins lead with 14 assists and Kamri Hutchings with 11 while Ellie Thomas led with 13 digs and Kennedy Oman led with three blocks.
EASTERN ARIZONA 3, NORTHWEST 0After regrouping Friday night, the Trappers came out on Saturday to take on two ranked opponents, starting with No. 13 Eastern Arizona College (10-5).
Northwest came out with a renewed focus despite still not playing at its best, and battled with the Monsters.
Each set was tight throughout, with the two teams battling each other into the early 20s in each set.
Unfortunately for Northwest, Eastern Arizona came out on top each time — 25-21, 25-22 and 25-21 to sweep the Trappers.
“We were tight with them the whole way point for point,” Keister said. “In the third we were up 21-17, but those last 5-6 points in each set were errors so we very easily could have had that one.”
Elsa Clark led the Trappers with 11 digs and eight kills, while Hutchings had 15 assists and Jenkins 13.
USU EASTERN 3, NORTHWEST 1The final match of the weekend matched the Trappers up with the hosts, No. 14-ranked USU Eastern (8-5).
“USU Eastern had a couple of tough losses to some good teams in Florida so it dropped their ranking a little bit. They are a legit top 10 team,” Keister said.
Northwest came out and battled over the first two sets, losing the first 25-16 before being the only team to take a set off the hosts all weekend with a 25-19 second set victory.
In the final two sets the hosts took advantage of a pair of negative hitting percentages by the Trappers, winning comfortably 25-14 and 25-15.
“Holy crap that is a big block, and they are good,” Keister said. “That was a fun match even though we lost, we came out of there going ‘OK, we are going in the right direction.’”
Keister said that the team did a sports psychology session before the match, which helped put certain things into perspective that allowed the Trappers to play better to finish the weekend.
Taylor Wilson led with nine kills for the Trappers, while Thomas led the way with 23 digs.
MONTANA SWINGNorthwest started another road trip on Wednesday, heading into Montana to take on the University of Providence JV in a doubleheader in Great Falls.
That road swing continues Thursday (today) with another doubleheader against the Carroll College JV at 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.
The Trappers conclude the road trip next week, finishing off early season non-conference play against the Rocky Mountain JV at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Northwest will then take a week-and-a-half break before starting conference play on the road against Casper College and Western Wyoming.
“We will have a nice break to evaluate what we have done and what has worked best along with recovering physically,” Keister said.
SOUTHERN NEVADA 3, NORTHWEST 0Total blocks then solo blocks in ()Kills — Sierra Kilts 7, Kennedy Oman 4, Burkelle Field 3, Elsa Clark 3, Taylor Wilson 3, Kamri Hutchings 2, Tilli Danczyk 2, Jordynel Anderson 1Assists — Kamri Hutchings 23, Ellie Thomas 1, Elsa Clark 1Digs — Ellie Thomas 10, Elsa Clark 6, Kamri Hutchings 5, Sierra Kilts 5, Kamryn Jenkins 3, Taylor Wilson 2, DanniKa Barfuss 1Blocks — Sierra Kilts .5, Tilli Danczyk .5Aces — Kennedy Oman 1
PIMA CC 3, NORTHWEST 1Kills — Elsa Clark 8, Burkelle Field 7, Kennedy Oman 4, Alexis Grgich 2, Mikey Pilila’au 2, Taylor Wilson 2, Sierra Kilts 1, Tilli Danczyk 1Assists — Kamryn Jenkins 14, Kamri Hutchings 11, Ellie Thomas 2Digs — Ellie Thomas 13, Sierra Kilts 7, Kamryn Jenkins 7, Elsa Clark 6, Kamri Hutchings 4, Burkelle Field 1, Alexis Grgich 1, Tilli Danczyk 1, Taylor Wilson 1Blocks — Kennedy Oman 3 (1), Alexis Grgich 2.5 (2), Mikey Pilila’au 2.5 (1), Burkelle Field 1.5, Elsa Clark 1, Taylor Wilson 1, Tilli Danczyk .5Aces — Kamri Hutchings 2, Kennedy Oman 2, Elsa Clark 1
EASTERN ARIZONA 3, NORTHWEST 0Kills — Elsa Clark 8, Tilli Danczyk 7, Taylor Wilson 6, Burkelle Field 4, Kennedy Oman 4, Kamri Hutchings 2, Sierra Kilts 2Assists — Kamri Hutchings 15, Kamryn Jenkins 13, Ellie Thomas 2, Elsa Clark 1, Sierra Kilts 1, Taylor Wilson 1Digs — Elsa Clark 11, Ellie Thomas 8, Taylor Wilson 7, Kamryn Jenkins 6, Kennedy Oman 2, Burkelle Field 1, Tilli Danczyk 1Blocks — Burkelle Field 2, Kennedy Oman 2, Tilli Danczyk 1.5, Taylor Wilson 1.5, Elsa Clark 1 (1), Sierra Kilts 1Aces — Ellie Thomas 3, Kamri Hutchings 1, Sierra Kilts 1, Kennedy Oman 1, Taylor Wilson 1
USU EASTERN 3, NORTHWEST 1Kills — Taylor Wilson 9, Elsa Clark5, Tilli Danczyk 5, Burkelle Field 3, Sierra Kilts 3, Alexis Grgich 3, Kennedy Oman 3, Mikey Pilila’au 1Assists — Kamri Hutchings 16, Kamryn Jenkins 10, Ellie Thomas 3Digs — Ellie Thomas 23, Elsa Clark 18, Kamri Hutchings 6, Kennedy Oman 5, Kamryn Jenkins 4, Taylor Wilson 4, Burkelle Field 2, DanniKa Barfuss 2, Sierra Kilts 2, Annika Bushman 1, Tilli Danczyk 1Blocks — Kennedy Oman 1.5, Burkelle Field 1, Sierra Kilts 1 (1), Alexis Grgich .5, Tilli Danczyk .5, Taylor Wilson .5Aces — Ellie Thomas 2, Elsa Clark 1, Mikey Pilila’au 1