Now, with all of his own recruits on the team, Keister has been able to mold the team to his desire. It’s paid off.
“It’s been really fun, feeling that change, feeling that chemistry,” sophomore Jacie Walker said, who leads the conference averaging .52 service aces per set, 13th in the nation.
The Trappers are 21-5 (5-3) and have clinched at least a top-3 finish in the Region IX North conference. Their sophomore night win over Eastern Wyoming on Oct. 16 was their fifth in a row.
The Trappers came out strong with a dominant 25-10 win in the first set. But in the second set the Lancers came back from an early Northwest lead, holding off the Trappers at the end despite crucial blocks from sophomore Baylee Peterson and freshman Sidney Parker for the 25-22 win.
“It was a weird balance no doubt and things weren’t going quite our way at times,” Walker said. “It was a good match, not ideal, but it was good.”
From there, the Trappers overcame a slow start in the third set and managed to pull out back-to-back 25-20 wins thanks to Parker, who led the team with 13 kills and 13 digs.
“We’ve just been grinding and bonding all season long,” Parker said. “We knew they were going to come out and fight. We just kept playing our game.”
Northwest had trouble with No. 11 Central Wyoming last Friday, losing 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-16). Baylee Peterson led the Trappers with eight kills and eight digs.
The Trappers will look to bounce back in their two final matches of the regular season this weekend at Casper College and Western Wyoming. Walker said her team has no specific goals for the postseason besides looking to keep playing as long as they can, taking Keister’s motto of “give it all you’ve got” to heart.
“Because why not? We don’t know how far we can go so why not find out? Give it all we’ve got,” Walker said.