The Northwest College volleyball team won its only contest last week, a five-set contest in Miles City, as the Trappers overcame two different set deficits to defeat Miles Community College 3-2 on Friday night.

POWELL 3, MILES CC 2

(18-25, 25-10, 17-25, 25-23, 15-6)

Looking to avenge the only loss they suffered the weekend prior at home, the Trappers (8-9) went on the road to take on the Pioneers (11-8).

Stepping into a hostile environment the Trappers fell in the first set 25-18.

“Initially, I didn’t think we responded well right away to the hostile environment,” coach Nicole Buck said. “But eventually, the girls settled in and had a great response in the long run. Even silencing the crowd altogether by the end. It was such a great learning experience for our girls learning how to work through a different kind of tough situation and develop a little bit thicker skin and more mental toughness.”

After the opening set loss the Trappers truly settled in for the second set, as they recovered behind the strength of Powell’s own Saige Kidd who provided a strong spark.

“We all struggled in the first set, I think all but maybe one of our hitters were in the negative. So making a change didn’t make sense because we were all in the same boat,” Buck said. “So we decided to stick with what we had, and that second set Saige just came alive. Not necessarily on offense right away, but she got a few huge blocks in that second set that just completely changed the tone of the whole match and instilled a lot of confidence in our team.”

That spark allowed the Trappers to pull away early and earn a comfortable 25-10 second set win, hitting .364 as a team.

The Trappers fall behind once again in the third, as they lost 25-17 to set up an important fourth set.

Northwest edged ahead late in the fourth frame, earning a 25-23 win in a set that Buck said was key regardless of win or loss.

“Obviously, the fourth set was crucial because we were down 2-1, so that is what kept us alive. But even had we not been down 2-1, that set was so crucial just for building momentum,” Buck said. “The fifth set can really go to anybody who is willing to work and just put forth a little bit more energy into every play. So closing out the fourth on a high note just set us up to start off really strong in the fifth.”

That momentum carried into the fifth, as the Trappers built an early lead and never looked back, not committing a single hitting error in the set with 10 kills and cruising to a 15-6 win.

Torey Parker tied for the team lead in kills alongside McKinlee Scammon with 13, and added five aces with her .265 hitting percentage, which earned Parker the Region IX North Offensive Player of the Week.

Brakkin Larsen added 11 and Jaylin Mills chipped in 10 as four Trappers had double-digit kills, Jaylie Critchfield led with 34 assists, Scammon led with 15 digs ahead of Mills and Critchfield with 13 and 12 respectively.

Larsen, Kidd, Parker and Chaney Reish each recorded two blocks.

REGION IX OPENERS

After the brief road trip north, the Trappers return home this week and begin the Region IX North slate, starting against Gillette College (11-5) at 6 p.m. on Friday.

Northwest follows that with another difficult opponent at 2 p.m. on Saturday with Casper College (7-10).

“This week we are really focusing on continuing to build confidence and consistency in our serves. We worked on that a lot last week and it really helped,” Buck said. “We are also working just to find more steadiness in our offense. I think the way to win some of these conference games that we have coming up will be to spread our offense out and really split the defense. So we are just working really hard to make sure that all of our hitters stay relevant and aggressive in every single play.”

POWELL 3, MILES CC 2

(18-25, 25-10, 17-25, 25-23, 15-6)

Total blocks then solo blocks in ()

Kills — McKinlee Scammon 13, Torey Parker 13, Brakkin Larsen 11, Jaylin Mills 10, Saige Kidd 3, Jaylie Critchfield 1, Chaney Reish 1

Assists — Jaylie Critchfield 34, Maddie Mills 9, Ellee Summers 2, Nevaeh Bell 2, Torey Parker 1, Jaylin Mills 1

Digs — McKinlee Scammon 15, Jaylin Mills 13, Jaylie Critchfield 12, Ellee Summers 7, Torey Parker 5, Maddie Mills 4, Nevaeh Bell 4, Elayna Burrell 1

Blocks — Brakkin Larsen 2 (1), Saige Kidd 2, Torey Parker 2 (1), Chaney Reish 2, Jaylin Mills 1, Jaylie Critchfield .5

Aces — Torey Parker 5, Jaylie Critchfield 2, Jaylin Mills 2, McKinlee Scammon 1, Nevaeh Bell 1