Heading into the final week of the regular season the Northwest College volleyball team needed three wins to keep its season alive. The Trappers did just that, defeating Central Wyoming College 3-1 on Wednesday to finish their three game homestand unbeaten. 

Following results from the weekend, Northwest leapfrogged several teams to become the No. 2 seed out of the north in the Region IX Tournament in Casper this week, securing a postseason berth for the first time since 2022.

“We’re just really proud of the kids. We’ve been talking about focusing on the process all season, so it’s really nice when you can have moments that they can actually step back and measure the success and see the benefits of that,” coach Nicole Buck said.

NORTHWEST 3, CENTRAL WYOMING 1

(25-20, 18-25, 25-16, 25-20)

Needing a victory to essentially lock up a postseason spot, the Trappers (13-14 overall, 5-5 Region IX North) were looking for an important season sweep over the Rustlers (6-18 overall, 5-5 Region IX North).

Northwest took the early lead, when Jaylie Critchfield’s ace gave the Trappers a 12-10 advantage and forced a timeout by the visitors.

Central rallied and claimed the lead late on a block, making it 20-19 and forcing Northwest to talk it over.

Northwest ripped off six straight points to claim the set out of the timeout, capped off by a Torey Parker ace to give the hosts a 25-20 win.

Both teams were tied at 12 in the second, before the Rustlers’ block  created problems, giving the visitors some momentum to the tune of a 19-13 lead and exhausting both timeouts by Northwest.

The Trappers couldn’t close the gap, and Central tied the match after a 25-18 second set win.

Northwest figured out how to hit around the block early in the third set, and built an early 10-7 lead, forcing a visiting timeout.

“We work really hard on teaching them how to make different decisions and see the game differently. So we talked to our back row about helping identify where those blockers were, so that the hitters could know where to find the open spots,” Buck said. “We also just worked with the setters to make sure that they weren’t setting the same person every time to mix it up. Because if the blockers hesitate, if they don’t know who it’s going to go to, if they don’t see the pattern, they’ll slow down.”

That lead only grew to 17-11 before the next break, and the Trappers cruised to a 25-16 set win.

A close start in the fourth set saw Northwest up 11-10 after a Brakkin Larsen block, which sparked a quick run by the Trappers to take a 16-11 lead after a Nevaeh Bell ace.

Northwest held off any comeback attempts, as the Trappers took the 25-20 win.

Parker led Northwest with 15 kills just ahead of Jaylin Mills who had 11.

Critchfield led with 26 assists as Maddie Mills added 12.

Critchfield also tied with Scammon for the team lead in digs at 11, as Jaylin added on 10.

Larsen led with 2.5 blocks, as Ellee Summers had six of Northwest’s 16 aces, with Critchfield tossing in four.

“I did say before the game when we were in the locker room, I was like ‘listen, this is the lineup we’re gonna start with, but we need every single weapon ready to go at a second’s notice,’” Buck said. “I thought they did a good job with that. There’s kids who aren’t seeing the floor right now who are a crucial piece of the success, not just because of what they’re doing in practice, but because maybe they’re just not quite ready on the productive side yet. But their minds see the game really well, and they do a great job of telling the people on the floor where to hit, where not to hit, how many blockers they have up, all those things. So it really is a team effort.”

POSTSEASON TOURNAMENT

For the first time since switching to a top four format, the Trappers are back in the postseason and head to Casper for their first game on Wednesday.

“It’s been awhile. You talk to the kids about the process, focus on the process one step at a time. It’s just such a blessing to be able to have those moments as a team where you can actually see the benefits of it and actually see the progress,” Buck said. “I think it’s cool for them. They set some big goals last year that we just didn’t quite reach, but they understood that they were building a foundation. Then this was the group to hopefully take it a step further. For them to just be able to step back and say that we did it, that we achieved a big goal, it’s such an incredible feeling.”

Northwest got the No. 2 seed after tying Eastern Wyoming and Central on five wins in conference action. Since the Trappers swept of the Rustlers, that meant they had three wins in four games, while Eastern had two and Central only had one.

That first match on Wednesday is against Region IX South No. 3 seed McCook Community College (16-15 overall, 9-5 Region IX South), a team that defeated the Trappers in Nebraska in early September.

If Northwest wins that game, it advances to take on the winner of the south No. 1 seed Northeastern Junior College (25-6 overall, 14-0 Region IX South) and north No. 4 seed Central Wyoming on Thursday.

If the Trappers lose, they will play the loser of that contest on Thursday. Two teams advance from the double-elimination tournament as the Northwest Plains A and B Champions to the NJCAA National Tournament on Nov. 18-21 in Hutchinson, Kansas.

REGION IX TOURNAMENT

(Times not available as of press time)

WEDNESDAY

Game 1: No. 2N Northwest vs. No. 3S McCook CC

Game 2: No. 2S Western Nebraska CC vs. No. 3N Eastern Wyoming

Game 3: No. 1S Northeastern JC vs. No. 4N Central Wyoming

Game 4: No. 1 N Casper College vs. No. 4S Trinidad State College

THURSDAY

Game 5: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 3

Game 6: Loser Game 2 vs. Loser Game 4

Game 7: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 3

Game 8: Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 4

FRIDAY

Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 8

Game 10: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 7

Game 11: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8 (Region IX Championship, Northwest Plains A Champion)

SATURDAY

Game 12: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10

Game 13: Winner Game 12 vs. Loser Game 11 (Northwest Plains B Championship)