After playing six of seven matches at home, the Trapper volleyball team started a road trip which will last until the end of the season. On Friday, the Northwest College team traveled to face No. 11 Central Wyoming College in Riverton.

Heading into their contest, the Trappers (21-5 overall, 5-3 Region IX North) were on a five-match winning streak with their only October loss coming at the hands of the Rustlers (19-6 overall, 11-0 Region IX North).

Stepping off the bus, the Trappers were not prepared for the rematch.

“We had not been on the road in three weeks, and that is an adjustment because it is very different when you are on the road,” Trapper coach Scott Keister said.

A long back and forth rally that was won by the Rustlers set the early tone, with Central Wyoming jumping out to a 7-1 lead.

Between errors and strong hitting from the Rustlers, the Trappers were never able to overcome the early set deficit and hit a -.077 for the set, which Central took 25-10.

The Trappers responded from there, however.

“They played better the second and third set and were with them point for point,” Keister said.

With the teams battling in set number two, including an early 7-7 tie, the Rustlers began to create separation at 19-14. It appeared CWC was poised to pull away without a challenge, but the Trappers would not go away.

Behind good serving from Baylee Peterson — along with good movement and blocking at the net from Sabree Adams and Emily Baumstarck — the Trappers ripped off four consecutive points to bring the match to 19-18.

From that point on the two teams would battle point-for-point, but the Trappers were unable to find a momentum-changing play to tie or take the lead. Rustler hitter Ava Rasmussen played a key role in the final points as the Trappers dropped the second set 25-23.

Looking to find a way to win a set, the Trappers again battled in the third set early on, trailing 6-5. However, the Rustlers then went up 11-6 and completed the sweep with a 25-16 victory.

“Everybody has a bad day and I think we all just had a bad day at the same time,” Keister said.

REGULAR SEASON WRAPS UP

The Trappers are again on the road this weekend for their final two regular season matches, as they begin with a match at Casper College Thunderbirds (13-16 overall, 3-5 Region IX North) at 7 p.m. Friday. The Trappers defeated the Thunderbirds in a thrilling match in Powell three weeks ago (25-21, 16-25, 25-20, 18-25, 15-8).

After the match in Casper, the Trappers will head to Rock Springs to take on Western Wyoming (6-22 overall, 1-7 Region IX North) to close out the regular season. The Trappers swept the Mustangs Oct. 9 (25-7, 25-12, 25-18), in a match that Keister said was one of the team’s best of the year.

The coach said he knows Casper and Rock Springs are difficult places to win at, and he’s grateful for where the Trappers sit for regional tournament seeding.

In order for the Trappers to clinch the No. 2 seed and a first round bye in next week’s tournament, they need to win one of their two matches.

If the Trappers lose both contests, they would enter into a tie with the winner of an LCCC and Eastern Wyoming contest — and NWC holds the tiebreaker over both teams. However, if the Trappers lose out and Casper wins its final two matches, it would likely create a three-way tiebreaker between NWC, Casper and the winner of the LCCC/Eastern Wyoming match.