TRAPPER VOLLEYBALL READY FOR SEASON

BY SETH ROMSA TRIBUNE SPORTS WRITER
Courtesy of the Powell Tribune

A number of new faces and a new coach makes for a fresh start for the Northwest College volleyball team, which will tip off the 2025 season on Thursday in Cabre Gym, hosting a pair of scrimmages before hitting the road to start the regular season.

After taking the job in April, the new Trapper coach, former Cody High School coach Nicole Buck, has been busy, recruiting a new team and retaining several players in a short period of time before Northwest hit the court at the beginning of August.

"As far as the coaching aspect I feel like I've settled in great," Buck said. "I love working with the girls, I love running practice and prepping for games." 

The Trappers have been busy practicing over the first three weeks of the season, and Buck said they are ready to step on the court and compete.

"We're really ready to start competing," Buck said. "I feel like practices have been going really well. They've been really competitive, but it's just hard to know where you stand until you start to see other people."

Northwest brings back four sophomores who have had playing experience in the past, including Aidann Mottishaw, Ellianna Baumstarck and Taylee Carlson from last year's team as well as Trinity Frank from the 2023 Trapper squad.

Buck said she feels like those sophomores have taken on a strong leadership role early, helping set the tone for the program overall.

"These sophomores have done such a good job at really determining how they want the culture to look and helping the freshmen understand that," Buck said. "I think they've put in a lot of effort spending time together, building relationships and just understanding one another. They really seem to have a lot of fun on the court. Then when we get together for dinner or any sort of team activity, it's always fun and easy to be around."

While the Trappers do not return a ton of college experience to the court, Buck is hopeful the team will be able to get a good idea of what rotations work during these scrimmages, playing five set matches regardless of the scoreline trying to get athletes on the court.

"My goal for the scrimmages this week is to rotate because sometimes the idea you get stuck on isn't maybe what works the best," Buck said. "So we're gonna experiment with a few different things this week. But we've been narrowing it down as we've gone along the past couple weeks."

The Trapper's first scrimmage will be against Miles Community College at 2 p.m. today (Thursday), a team that Northwest will become familiar with over the season as the Trappers and Pioneers are scheduled to play two additional regular season contests.

With it being the start of the season Buck said she is uncertain what the opposition will bring, but figures they will help push Northwest early in the year.

"I don't know what to expect from Miles. The only thing I personally know about them is that one of our former players is there and I know she's really talented. She's a great leader, she's got a lot of great skills, so if she has a good supporting cast around her, I would imagine that they'll bring a lot to the table and really push us which I'm really excited about," Buck said.

Following the scrimmage Thursday, the Trappers will take on an alumni team at noon on Friday, which will also serve as a red vs. white scrimmage, mixing current Trappers alongside former players.

"It's going to be kind of a combination of alumni and a red-white scrimmage because we don't quite have enough alumni. But they're excited to be here and be a part of the whole weekend," Buck said. "For that, I don't just expect to have fun and make connections with alumni. I do still expect us as coaches to be able to work through various lineups, see who players well next to each other … I think an alumni game will help us figure things out because it will be a little more laid back."

The scrimmages will not count towards the overall season record for the Trappers, but will be the only matches at home until Sept. 12.

Buck is hopeful these matches will help the Trappers realize what they need to focus on more specifically after a hectic start to the year, before the regular season begins at a tournament in Gillette next weekend.

"We're ready to play. I do think it's gonna take some time for us to get up to the speed that I want us to be at in terms of competing in the games, but I do think that the girls are on the right track to get there," Buck said. "I just think this week will be a great start for us to give us a guideline for where to go from here because we've been working on so many things — kind of like drinking through a fire hose. I feel like this will focus us a little bit more and really refine what we need to give more attention to. I'm excited."