Five scrimmages on Friday kicked off a quick preseason for the Northwest College volleyball team, as the Trappers learned plenty in Miles City, Montana.

Northwest took on Dawson Community College, Williston State College, Carroll College JV, Dickinson State JV as well as the host Miles Community College.

Using the matches to get plenty of team experience all around, coach Nicole Buck said the Trappers were able to see tons of action in each match.

“Things went really well. One thing that we did was we had a different lineup in almost every single set, so not even every match, but every set, and we were still able to win all of the matches except for one,” Buck said. “That was just very encouraging to know that no matter what we did, and making so many changes, we were still able to find ways to win. That’s pretty hard to do, so that was just really encouraging to see that.”

Coming out of the first contests of the season the Trappers will continue to work on serve-receive as always, as well as the team’s blocking at the net and connecting between the setters and hitters.

“Blocking is a big one, then just connecting with our middles and right sides specifically, their connection with our setters and just kind of finding who connects the best,” Buck said. “Our outsides are doing a pretty good job at connecting or adjusting. Not that the middles and right sides aren’t, it’s just a lot trickier. So we’re just trying to zero in on that a little bit this week.”

She said with the new year, the Trappers are off to a strong start, doing more lifting as well as conditioning than they did last year.

“I do feel like they’re kind of hitting that point where they’re past the super fatigue phase of it, and they’re starting to feel like they’re getting stronger and in better shape,” Buck said. “I did feel like their conditioning was in a good place to start off with, and that’s also very encouraging heading into this next tournament because this is the real deal.”

She said over the few matches the Trappers passers stood out in each one, especially Nevaeh Bell and Ellee Summers, while McKinlee Scammon stood out as a hitter and Saige Kidd adjusted well as a new middle for the team.

“To be honest the reports that I got from (assistant coach) Penny [Gwynn] and from the girls was that everybody had great moments, and that’s kind of what you want to hear,” said Buck, who wasn’t able to make the scrimmages.

The Trappers head on one of their longest road trips to start the year, traveling to Garden City, Kansas.

“We didn’t do this last year, and then of course we have new high school girls who’ve never traveled this far, so it’s going to be hard,” Buck said. “But I’m really excited. A lot of these incoming freshmen and some of our returners, they have big goals of playing on to the next level, so we gotta start getting used to that now. College is just hard, so we’re just gonna have to figure it out. But we are fortunate, we get to break the trip up into two days, and we get to practice down in Cheyenne to break the trip up a little bit … We’ll just have to learn how to be a little bit gritty.”

Northwest starts with the host Garden City Community College at 8 a.m. on Friday, followed by Trinidad State College at 3 p.m.

Games continue again on Saturday at 8 a.m. against Pratt Community College before the Trappers take on NJCAA No. 8 ranked Snow College to end the weekend at 3 p.m.

“I just want our team to start off really aggressive … Last year, we had a little bit of an easier preseason, which was a really good way for us to adjust and get to know each other as a team and kind of phase into it,” Buck said. “But then on the flip side, I just didn’t feel like we were as prepared for our region which is really tough. The thing I’m looking for the most is kids who can adjust, and I just want us to be able to treat this as a really good learning experience, and just be able to better prepare ourselves for region play this year.”

This will be the first regular season game for all teams at the tournament, and Buck is excited for more time with the team.

“The team’s just been really enjoyable,” Buck said.