Your future, our focus
BY SETH ROMSA TRIBUNE SPORTS WRITER
Courtesy of the Powell Tribune
Two weekends on the road saw the Northwest College volleyball team sweep through competition Aug. 29-31 in Gillette before battling against top competition in Idaho this past weekend.
After nine wins, the Trappers have already matched last year's total.
Northwest defeated Colorado Northwestern Community College, Miles Community College, Dakota College at Bottineau and Dawson Community College in Gillette.
The Trappers then went to Idaho and upset No. 5-ranked Salt Lake Community College, defeated Edmonds Community College 3-1 and swept Jefferson College before losing a close match 3-2 to hosts College of Southern Idaho.
"It's a huge deal for this program [beating SLCC]," coach Scott Keister said. "We're shooting for that to be the expectation and not the exception."
Northwest then swept the Rocky Mountain JV Tuesday night.
NORTHWEST 3, COLORADO NORTHWESTERN CC 0
(25-23, 25-13, 25-18)
Kicking off the action on Thursday the Trappers (9-1) matched up with the Spartans (1-4) in the first match.
In a close first set, where the Spartans hit better than the Trappers but had significantly less attempts, Northwest escaped with a 25-23 win behind 14 kills compared to 12 for Colorado Northwestern.
In the second set the Trappers took control, once again finishing with more kills on a better hitting percentage, finishing with nine kills on a .300 hitting percentage compared to six with a 0% kill percentage for the Spartans, resulting in a 25-13 Northwest win.
Finishing out the match the Trappers hit an efficient .370 as a team in the third set, running away with a 25-18 win to complete the sweep.
Aidann Mottishaw led the Trappers with 13 kills while hitting .545.
Devree Gines led with 24 assists, and Holland Stowe added 10.
Brooke Larsen led with nine digs, just ahead of Sierra Kilts with 8.
Tilli Danczyk recorded three blocks and Taylor Wilson led Northwest with three aces out of 12 total.
NORTHWEST 3, MILES CC 0
(25-14, 25-12, 25-21)
Heading into Friday the Trappers came up against an already familiar face in the Pioneers (6-5), a team Northwest beat in the first game of the season at home.
Northwest came out swinging, committing only two errors combined in the first and second sets while hitting .545 and .533 respectively to take a commanding 2-0 lead after wins of 25-14 and 25-12.
In the third set the Trappers continued to hit well, finishing with a 25-21 win to complete the sweep.
Northwest had 10 different players record a kill in the match.
"I think every player got some significant time through the whole weekend which was good," Keister said. "Not that it was scrimmages, but it gave us the opportunity to do that and give a lot of kids some match time."
Larsen led with eight kills, just ahead of Mottishaw and Kennedy Oman who had six each.
Gines led with 18 assists, just ahead of Stowe with 14.
Kilts led with seven digs, Danczyk had 2.5 blocks and Jordynel Anderson led with three aces.
NORTHWEST 3, DAKOTA COLLEGE AT BOTTINEAU 0
(25-11, 25-14, 25-12)
Kicking off Saturday the Trappers matched up with the Lumberjacks (1-6) out of North Dakota, as Northwest continued to roll through the competition.
Another strong hitting day followed, as Northwest committed only eight hitting errors the entire contest and finished with a straight set win 25-11, 25-14, 25-12.
Northwest had 11 different Trappers record a kill, led by Anderson with seven just ahead of Burkelle Field, Wilson and Alexis Grgich who each had six.
"It's such a great feeling to look down at the bench and go, 'I can go with any of these players and they'll go in and do just fine,'" Keister said. "Which is a tough thing to manage also, because you've got lots of talent on the bench that's not playing that, you know, if they were somewhere else, maybe they'd be playing. So that says something about our kids to be able to step into that role and do it well and be ready when called on."
Gines led with 27 assists while Stowe had 12.
Kilts led with eight digs, Taylee Carlson led with 2.5 blocks and Gines led with three aces.
NORTHWEST 3, DAWSON CC 0
(25-22, 25-18, 25-21)
Heading into the final match the Trappers came up against the Buccaneers (2-10), looking to finish the weekend unbeaten.
A closer match than the ones previously ensued, but Northwest earned a 25-22 first set victory despite seven errors.
In the second set a similar theme followed, as the Trappers held on to a 25-18 win to take a 2-0 lead.
The third set followed suit to the first two, as Northwest escaped 25-21 to finish the sweep.
Northwest was led by Larsen for the second time in kills, finishing with 10 while hitting .409.
With three different kill leaders in four matches Keister is hopeful this is a sign of things to come for the Trappers early in the year.
"[It's] wonderful," Keister said. "I love it, and I hope that continues throughout the year, and not, you know, 'oh, I'm having a bad game or a good game.' I think everybody had pretty good games. There were a couple players that had a couple of off sets, but other than that, I think we played pretty even and consistent, which is good."
Gines led with 22 assists and Stowe had 10.
Kilts led with 10 digs and three aces, just ahead of Larsen with nine digs.
Ellianna Baumstarck led with three blocks.
NORTHWEST 3, SALT LAKE CC 2
(25-27, 22-25, 25-23, 25-14, 15-12)
Kicking off the competition in Idaho, the Trappers matched up with the Bruins (9-4).
In the first two sets the slight advantage went the way of the Bruins as they won the first set 27-25 and the second set 25-22.
Another close set followed in the third, with the edge going to the Trappers this time after a 25-23 win.
That win gave Northwest momentum in the fourth, as Northwest hit .444 and pulled away for a 25-14 win.
Another battle ensued in the fifth set, as Northwest pulled just far enough ahead to win 15-12.
"That was fun, I think we played really well," Keister said. "It wasn't the perfect game by any means, and it wasn't our greatest game by any means but they battled them point for point … They got pretty emotional after it, because not only did you beat a traditional powerhouse, but the sophomores were emotional after last year and only having nine wins. They've been waiting to have some success like this."
Larsen led with 13 kills, just ahead of Mottishaw with eight while Oman and Field each had seven.
Stowe led with 23 assists just ahead of Gines with 22.
Kilts led with 14 digs, Larsen added 10.
Oman had 4.5 blocks, while Stowe and Kilts led with four aces each.
NORTHWEST 3, EDMONDS CC 1
(22-25, 25-17, 25-23, 25-13)
After the big win the Trappers turned around on Friday to take on the Tritons (7-11).
A strong first set by the Tritons gave them the lead 1-0, before Northwest got things figured out in the second.
"We came out a little flat. You always worry about the big win letdown," Keister said. "We just came out flat, but they turned it around. Once they got the ball rolling they did just fine."
After the 25-17 second set win, the Trappers won a narrow third set 25-23, before a dominant fourth set gave Northwest the win 25-13.
Larsen led the Trappers with 17 kills and Wilson had nine.
Kilts had 16 digs while Larsen had 15.
Carlson led with three blocks and Gines led with eight aces.
NORTHWEST 3, JEFFERSON COLLEGE 0
(25-19, 25-20, 25-23)
Turning around later on Friday the Trappers matched up with the Vikings (1-9).
Northwest came out strong, winning all three sets 25-19, 25-20 and 25-23.
"Jefferson was a nice team," Keister said. "We battled point for point with them."
Anderson and Mottishaw led with nine kills just ahead of Larsen with eight.
Kilts had 14 digs and Larsen had 11.
Oman led with two blocks, while Gines led with five aces.
CSI 3, NORTHWEST 2
(7-25, 25-15, 24-26, 25-23, 13-15)
Wrapping up the weekend in Idaho the Trappers took on the host Eagles (4-8) and attempted to continue their undefeated start.
A dismal start gave the hosts a dominant opening set win, as Northwest hit negative .280 and CSI hit .846 in a dominant 25-7 first set.
"We came out that first set and just, nothing went our way, and everything went their way," Keister said. "Nobody really panicked at that moment, which was nice to see. It was just like, 'wow, they're playing out of their minds volleyball, and can they really keep that up?'"
Northwest responded with a 25-15 win, before the Eagles won 26-24.
The Trappers followed with a two-point win of their own, winning the fourth set 25-23 before a narrow fifth set gave CSI a 15-13 win.
"They battled the crowd and they battled everything, and we just came up two points short. I was very proud of our effort," Keister said.
Larsen led with nine kills just ahead of Anderson with eight.
Kilts led with 14 digs and 10 aces, while Anderson led with five blocks.
"She [Kilts] was serving rockets," Keister said. "I don't know where it came from, we just cut her loose. That was fun to watch. I saw the stats after and I thought it was a typo, and I had to go ask their statistician like 'hey, is this right?'"
Anderson was named to the All-Tournament team voted on by the coaches.
NORTHWEST 3, ROCKY MOUNTAIN JV 0
(25-20, 25-20, 25-22)
Wrapping up the long adventure away from home, the Trappers made a quick trip up to Billings on Tuesday night to take on the Battlin' Bears.
The Trappers came out strong, rebounding from their first loss of the season despite missing one of their primary setters in Gines due to injury, earning two 25-20 wins in the first two sets.
Rocky continued to keep it close throughout, as Northwest finished with a 25-22 third set win.
"We hadn't seen them yet so you never know what you're going to get," Keister said. "We got everybody some time and some experience."
Stats for the Rocky game were not available as of press time.
HOME TOURNAMENT
Northwest will remain at home this weekend, hosting the Trapper Invitational starting today (Thursday) and running through Saturday.
The Trappers will take on the Carroll College JV at 7 p.m. today, before taking on Colorado Northwestern CC Friday at 6 p.m. and the Rocky Mountain JV at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
“These guys, they’re pretty tired from all of our traveling,” Keister said. “We’re just looking to build on all those weaknesses that were exposed while we were at the CSI tournament.”