A long trip to southeast Wyoming had the Northwest College women’s volleyball team squaring off with three Region IX opponents. The Trappers defeated the south region’s Otero 3-0 and Eastern Wyoming 3-1, but dropped the final match to Laramie County Community College 3-2.

NORTHWEST 3, OTERO 0

The weekend started out on Thursday in Burns, where Northwest (19-8 overall, 5-2 Region IX North) met Otero (10-22 overall, 3-3 Region IX South) halfway to get a match in that would not affect the region standings.

The Trappers came out strong in the first set, putting away the Rattlers 25-19 behind a strong .278 hitting percentage as a team.

Northwest continued to push along, winning a closer second set 25-21 before finishing the third set with a 25-18 victory.

“I think we had control of the match pretty much the whole time, but they were right there with us and we could never really pull away from them,” coach Scott Keister said.

Keister praised the environment in Burns throughout the night, saying that much of the town came out to cheer, fan excitement was high and he hopes that they will be able make a return trip next year for another match.

Megan Pannell led the way with 12 kills for the Trappers, while Emma Hanson finished with 33 assists.

NORTHWEST 3, EASTERN WYOMING 1

Swinging back into conference play on Friday the Trappers made the short trip north to Torrington to take on Eastern Wyoming (3-18 overall, 2-5 Region IX North).

Northwest came out strong in the first set, pulling ahead for a 25-15 win while holding Eastern Wyoming to a minus-.033 hitting percentage.

In the second set, the Trappers put up their worst hitting percentage of the day and were just edged out by the Lancers 25-23.

“That has kind of been our Achilles’ heel this year,” Keister said. “We back off for a second for two or 10 points and it opens the door for the other team. We are working on it, we are training it and trying to keep the energy up.”

After the second set, Northwest returned to a strong attack — hitting .242 as a team to edge out Eastern Wyoming’s .229 to win the third set 25-19 and take a 2-1 set lead.

In the fourth set the Trappers came out strong and did not look back, putting away the Lancers with a commanding 25-12 victory.

Pannell again led the way in kills with 17 and Hanson finished with 46 assists.

LCCC 3, NORTHWEST 2

Heading into Saturday the Trappers had a third game in three days, while squaring off against LCCC (13-10 overall, 4-3 Region IX North) with a chance to take a huge step towards locking up the No. 2 seed at the Region IX tournament.

“(LCCC) was our fourth day in a row on the road against a good team, good coach and a good crowd,” Keister said. “Our kids were exhausted, they fell asleep after the match in the two minutes to get food before leaving Cheyenne.”

The hosts came out strong early on, only committing three kill errors to eight by Northwest to take the first set 25-22.

In the second set the Trappers took command early, finishing with 16 kills as a team and winning 25-16.

Northwest took control of the match in the third set, finishing with 17 kills to help pull away and win 25-21.

A late push by LCCC in the fourth set allowed the Golden Eagles to force a fifth set, as they won 25-20.

In the fifth set Northwest came out of the gates strong, scoring the first four points.

LCCC rallied, and the two teams battled back and forth until the two were tied 7-7 and switched sides.

Northwest pushed out to a lead once again, and led 14-12 — needing one more to finish off the match. After that point, the Golden Eagles rallied off four straight points and claimed the match 16-14.

“Just that fifth set our stats were good,” Keister said. “If you looked at the stats and say who won I would’ve said us. It was 16-14, both teams had good stats, but we need to get better at stopping the run.”

Pannell continued her strong performances, finishing with 18 kills on a .387 hitting percentage.

Hanson finished with 52 assists and Ellie Thomas had 29 digs.

HOME STAND

After the seven game road swing Northwest will return home for its final three regular season matches.

Those matches kicked off Wednesday night against No. 7-ranked Central Wyoming (17-7 overall, 7-0 Region IX North).

“Central is going to be a fun match but then we have eight days of recovery after that,” Keister said.

The Trappers currently hold the No. 2 seed in the north, and hold a slight edge in tiebreakers over LCCC should they become tied record wise.

Northwest is close to locking up a trip to the Region IX tournament, with no first round bye at stake this year after the play-in games were eliminated in the offseason.

NORTHWEST 3, LAMAR 0

Kills — Megan Pannell 12, Brooke Palmer 8, Sidney Parker 7, Jocelyn Sanders 2, Emma Hanson 1, Elsa Clark 1

Assists — Emma Hanson 33, Sidney Parker 1, Megan Pannell 1

Digs — Sidney Parker 14, Ellie Thomas 8, Megan Pannell 7, Emma Hanson 5, Brooke Palmer 3, Kim Pannell 1, Elsa Clark 1

Aces — Sidney Parker 2, Emma Hanson 1, Ellie Thomas 1, Brooke Palmer 1, Elsa Clark 1, Megan Pannell 1

Blocks — Jocelyn Sanders 3, Sidney Parker 2.5, Elsa Clark 1.5, Megan Pannell 1, Kim Pannell .5, Emma Hanson .5

NORTHWEST 3, EASTERN WYOMING 1

Kills — Megan Pannell 17, Kim Pannell 10, Sidney Parker 10, Jocelyn Sanders 7, Brooke Palmer 2, Emma Hanson 1, Elsa Clark 1

Assists — Emma Hanson 46, Kim Pannell 2

Digs — Ellie Thomas 18, Emma Hanson 15, Megan Pannell 14, Kim Pannell 12, Sidney Parker 6, Jocelyn Sanders 4, Brooke Palmer 3, Elsa Clark 3

Aces — Sidney Parker 4, Emma Hanson 2, Ellie Thomas 2, Kim Pannell 1, Elsa Clark 1

Blocks — Jocelyn Sanders 3, Kim Pannell 2, Megan Pannell 2, Elsa Clark 2, Emma Hanson 1, Brooke Palmer .5, Sidney Parker .5

LCCC 3, NORTHWEST 2

Kills — Megan Pannell 18, Brooke Palmer 13, Sidney Parker 13, Jocelyn Sanders 10, Kim Pannell 8, Mia Sorensen 1, Kamri Hutchings 1

Assists — Emma Hanson 52, Kamri Hutchings 10, Brooke Palmer 1, Ellie Thomas 1

Digs — Ellie Thomas 29, Kim Pannell 19, Megan Pannell 12, Emma Hanson 11, Brooke Palmer 4, Sidney Parker 2, Kamri Hutchings 2

Aces — Brooke Palmer 3, Sidney Parker 2, Emma Hanson 1, Megan Pannell 1

Blocks — Sidney Parker 2.5, Kim Pannell 2, Emma Hanson 1.5, Jocelyn Sander 1, Brooke Palmer .5, Megan Pannell .5