After winning their final two matches of the regular season, the Northwest College volleyball team secured a bye in the first round of the Region IX tournament, which begins this weekend in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.

The Trappers earned the bye by defeating Casper College 3-2 and Western Wyoming 3-1.

NWC 3, Casper College 2

Northwest entered last weekend needing only one victory to clinch their spot as the No. 2 seed in Region IX North. However, the weekend did not start easy for the Trappers (23-5 overall, 7-3 Region IX North) at Casper (13-18 overall, 3-7 Region IX North).

In a match where the Trappers needed to start fast and build an advantage, it instead began with NWC on the wrong side of a back-and-forth contest.

The teams battled to a 14-all tie, but two quick points for the Thunderbirds turned into a lead the hosts would never give up. Casper won the first set 25-21

Coming into the second set, the Trappers continued to trail the T-Birds, falling behind 6-2 early and forcing a timeout by Trapper coach Scott Keister.

However, the Trappers still did not have an answer, as Casper extended its lead to as much as nine points. NWC pulled within four, 23-19, but a hitting error and a block by Casper College ended the set 25-19, putting Northwest down 2-0.

The third set again started close, as they split the first 16 points to an 8-8 score.

Casper appeared to take momentum with a two point lead at 14-12, but the Trappers responded, rattling off four straight points; then Casper went on a 8-5 run. Up by three points, the T-Birds appeared to be heading towards a sweep of the Trappers.

With the Trappers needing an answer, they got one by rallying off six of the last seven points to take the third set, 25-23.

Despite falling behind by four points early in the fourth set, Northwest knew the importance of the match and managed to knot it up at 19. The Trappers then ended the set on a 6-1 run to win 25-20 and force a deciding fifth set.

The final set was all Trappers.

Using the momentum gained from the previous two sets, NWC jumped out to a 6-0 lead and never looked back. The Trappers completed their comeback, winning the final set 15-7 and securing the No. 2 seed in the regional tournament.

With his starting rotation not playing their best, Keister said he owed the victory in the Casper match to his bench who helped the team come back and defeat the T-Birds.

“Our regular lineup did not play their best. The backups came in and played lights out,” Keister said, adding, “It is something we have been training for all year, with both sides pushing each other to be better.”

In the Casper match, Sidney Parker led the way with 14 kills, Shante Falslev finished with 12 and Sayler Larson eight. Falslev also led the Trappers with 25 digs, followed by Paige Weimer with 22 and Karli Steiner with 19.

Jacie Walker continued to lead the way with 57 assists in the match.

NWC 3, Western Wyoming 1

Heading into Saturday’s match with Western Wyoming Community College, the Trappers had secured the No. 2 seed, but they wanted to continue their momentum with another victory ahead of the regional tournament.

“I would not even allow them to talk about Western Wyoming all week; the whole week was about Casper,” Keister said. “We celebrated for all of 10 minutes then hopped on the bus and headed to Western.”

Learning from their slow start the day prior, the Trappers came out swinging against Western Wyoming (6-24 overall, 1-9 Region IX North).

NWC built a 15-9 lead and then a 19-15 lead. With Western looking to make a push, Keister called a timeout to help settle his team down.

Coming out of the timeout, Northwest finished the set on a 6-2 run to win the set 25-17.

The second set, much like the first, was tight early on until the Trappers opened a 14-9 lead. They then pushed the advantage to 22-14 and won the set with that eight-point margin, 25-17.

However, the Mustangs pulled out to a 12-6 lead in the third set and never let the Trappers get any closer than three points back. Western took the third set 25-20 to make the match 2-1.

The fourth set began as a tight contest, with the teams playing to a 12-12 tie, but Northwest went on an 8-0 run to break it open. The Trappers put away the Mustangs by a score of 25-16, finishing the conference schedule with a 7-3 record.

Regional Tournament

The Region IX tournament kicked off Wednesday at Western Nebraska, with the Trappers set to take on the south’s No. 3 seed Otero (11-24 overall, 5-5 Region IX South) at 3 p.m.

A win would pit NWC against the winner of a match between the south’s No. 1 seed, Northeastern Junior College (20-10 overall, 10-0 Region IX South), and the north’s No. 4 seed LCCC or the south’s No. 5 seed Trinidad on Thursday at 6 p.m. in the seminal.

Should the Trappers advance past the semifinal, the final will be played Friday at 4 p.m. with the winner advancing to the national tournament.

If Northwest loses at any point, they will drop into a consolation bracket and have an opportunity to win out and advance to the national tournament; the consolation final will be played at 4 p.m. Saturday.

Two losses will likely end the Trappers season.

Heading into the tournament, Keister knows NWC will need to play its best volleyball of the year — and he said any team can win the regional tournament, regardless of their record.

Links to the regional tournament can be found at wnccathletics.com/information/2021_Region_IX_Volleyball_Tournament.