The Northwest College Trapper volleyball team roared out to a big first set win and swept the Rocky Mountain College JV team despite a ragged performance in the closing set Wednesday night.

“We had a quick start, a medium middle and a terrible finish,” head coach Shaun Pohlman said of his team’s performance after the game. “I wasn’t super pleased with the end.”

Set one opened with the teams trading points until, with the game tied at seven, Rocky Mountain gave up the serve on a sideout and put the ball in the hands of NWC freshman Maliyah Tela. The Trappers scored 12 straight points off Tela’s serve, and freshman Reilley Baty subbed in and served for three more before Rocky finally gained a sideout. The teams traded the next two points before Rocky Mountain hit a Trapper return into the net to give NWC the set, 25-9. Big hits from Aleksandra Djordjevic and Teodora Tepavac were the deciding factor in the set.

NWC again broke away from Rocky with a run in the second set, this time behind the serve of Emily Herrera. Herrera rotated into the serve position with the Trappers leading 5-3, and when Rocky finally scored a sideout, the Bears were down 12-4. Tepavac’s attacks from the outside highlighted the Trappers’ run.

The Bears scored eight points through the next five rotations, but the Trappers matched them point for point, and appeared to have the match well in hand with the score 20-12. But then the Bears ran off a string of four points and closed the gap to 20-16. They crept a little closer after a missed Trapper serve, but a sideout put the NWC lead back to four, 22-18, and put Tepavac at the server’s line. The Trappers ended the set with four unanswered points.

Rocky battled hard in the third set in an effort to avoid a sweep, and the Trappers’ game seemed to have run out of energy at times. NWC built small leads throughout the set, but in contrast to the first two sets, Trapper points came just one or two at a time, and Rocky was able to stay with them, foiling Trapper attacks with blocks. The Trappers led early, but Rocky erased the lead and took a 14-13 lead. The teams traded points through two rotations until the Bears scored twice and went up by two, 19-17. After a NWC timeout, the Trappers forced a sideout to cut the lead to one before scoring three times off serves by NWC freshman Kelsey Marchant.

But the Bears wouldn’t go away, and as the Trappers neared match point, Rocky scored three straight. A sideout gave the Trappers another shot at match point, but Rocky stopped them again, and the set was tied at 25. The Trappers finally ended the match when Baty served for two straight points.

After the match, Pohlman said he didn’t like the slow ending after a quick start.

“I’d rather have it the other way around,” he said. “I’d rather have them start a little slower and end strong.”

Pohlman blamed laziness on the part of the Trappers for Rocky Mountain’s success in blocking during the final set, and said it was a sign of immaturity. 

“This team has got to grow mentally,” he said. “They are too immature, and that has to change.”

Pohlman singled out Baty for playing well, and said that might lead to a change in the lineup. 

“She’s listed as our third setter, but she was our best setter tonight,” he said. “Maybe she should be starting.”

He added that Marchant also played well off the bench.

Pohlman substituted freely during the match, especially in the third set, but that won’t always be the case.

Pohlman added that Marchant had played well, too.

Eventually, eight or nine players will play regularly, Pohlman said, but there will be days when “it’s just not working,” and  others may be called upon.

After the match, Marchant said it felt good to play at home. She said she had some supporters in attendance and was a little nervous before the match.

“Playing got rid of the nerves, though,” she said.

The Trappers traveled to Salt Lake City over the weekend for another round with top-ranked teams. They were scheduled to play two foes from last week, College of Southern Idaho and Snow College, as well as the highly ranked Salt Lake City Community College. Results from the SLCC tournament will be in Thursday’s Tribune.

Northwest’s next home action will be Sept. 25-26, when they entertain Central Wyoming College and Western Wyoming Community College.