Your future, our focus
The Trappers volleyball team relinquished two double-digit leads in the second set and needed five tries to score the match point but ultimately beat the Casper Thunderbirds for its fourth-straight win Saturday afternoon.
The Trappers (13-8, 5-2) didn’t let their second-set collapse derail them, and freshman Vera Horstmann’s season-best performance helped right the ship for a 25-15, 27-29, 25-12, 25-23 victory.
“I think that takes a winner to do that, and our team showed character today,” said head coach Shaun Pohlman, who never thought his team’s spirit would succumb.
The Trappers responded Saturday in a way Pohlman said the team of a few weeks ago would have been incapable of, proving it has made serious in-season strides.
“I think the old team, I would have been (worried),” Pohlman said. “The one that’s been building and that’s been developing, I wasn’t worried (about).”
Horstmann had 14 kills, a season high, and only three errors in 28 attempts. Her .393 kill percentage was a game-high.
The Trappers’ defense had a banner day along the net, recording 14 total team blocks. When the block didn’t directly come up with a point, Northwest was able to keep the ball alive and transition into its offense more often than not.
Northwest totaled 41 playable blocks and was tooled (had an attack deflect off a block for a Casper point) just 18 times. Pohlman said the 41-to-18 ratio was phenomenal, as the numbers are often reversed.
“That’s an amazing feat and gives us an indication of where we’re at,” Pohlman said.
The attention to setting the block and covering beneath it to extend the play is something Northwest has been working at.
“Everything we’re accomplishing right now has been the result of a practice,” Pohlman said.
Sophomore Nicoleta Titonea led the front row with seven block assists and a solo block. Horstmann had six block assists and freshman Krystalyn Sloan chipped in with five block assists.
Northwest nearly swept the T-Birds but couldn’t hold on in set 2, in which they held 7-2, 12-6, 18-8, 19-9 and 24-18 leads.
Northwest hit a snag late in the set that Pohlman attributed to a lack of focus by his team, and a winner’s mentality by the T-Birds.
“Casper just has that, ‘We’re not going to quit’ mentality, and we’re still trying to figure that out,” Pohlman said.
The coach said his team needs to be more consistent with its own drive to succeed.
“We would say, ‘OK, we’re going to fight,’ and then we would drop off and be like, ‘OK we’re not going to fight anymore,’” Pohlman said. “If you really look at Casper, they’re going no-questions-asked for every ball.”
Up 22-15, the Trappers called their first timeout, but Casper’s momentum was not to be shaken. The Thunderbirds continued their comeback with a 7-2 run that cut the lead to 24-22 and prompted Northwest to try to regroup with its second timeout.
Casper reached set point, 26-25, but two quick points, including a kill by Horstmann, put the Trappers back on top 27-26. It would be the last points, however, Northwest would score as the T-Birds scored three straight for the win.
The Trappers played with more urgency in the third set, scored the first three points and never looked back as they cruised to a 13-point triumph.
Sophomre Ana Jakovljevic helped ensure there would be no Casper comeback by serving eight straight points that extended Northwest’s lead from 8-4 to 16-4. The sophomore had three aces on the night.
Jakovljevic led the Trappers with 16 kills, but had seven errors on 36 attempts. She also contributed 11 digs for a double-double.
After their third-set blowout, the Trappers found themselves in a hard-fought fourth set in which Casper never trailed by more than five points and came back to tie it at 18.
Northwest setter Mikaela Heble, who had 42 assists, set a perfect ball for freshman middle Krystalyn Sloan, who sent the ball past a lone Casper blocker for the kill and a lead the Trappers would take to the end of the match.
Northwest trailed the T-Birds for the first half of the opening set but came back from a 10-6 deficit to tie it up at 14, after which the Trappers never trailed.
Blocks by Horstmann, freshman middle Jamila Biglow and sophomore Felicity Zegarelli stifled the Casper offense and propelled the Trappers to the 10-point win. Libero Elisa Brooks led the team with 17 digs.
Heble had three serving aces to tie Jakovljevic for the team high.
The Trappers’ busy week began Monday night (after press time) against the University of Great Falls JV-A, and will continue at 2 p.m. today (Tuesday) against the University of Great Falls JV-B.
Northwest will get two days rest before completing a four-games-in-six-nights stretch at No. 5 Western Wyoming 7 p.m. Friday and at Central Wyoming 3 p.m. Saturday.
Western Wyoming is 7-0 in conference play, including a 3-1 win over the Trappers Sept. 3 in Powell. Northwest took the first set 25-16 but then dropped three straight, including a 24-26 third set.
Northwest prevailed against Central Wyoming (10-15, 2-5) in another four-set match in Powell Sept. 10. Northwest lost set 1 21-25 but rallied 25-22, 25-12, 25-15 for the victory.
Pohlman likes how his team is playing as the regional tournament nears.
“If our team can keep a hard focus towards what we practiced here as of late, I think we’re going to be in a good spot,” he said.