LCCC rallies past Northwest for five-set win

Oct. 16—CHEYENNE — The Laramie County Community College volleyball team overcame a four-point deficit and then fought off match point to beat Northwest College 25-22, 16-25, 21-25, 25-20, 16-14 on Saturday afternoon at Storey Gym.

The Golden Eagles (13-10 overall) fell behind 13-9 in the deciding set before cutting Northwest's lead to 13-12. Trappers' right side hitter Kimberly Pannell was blocked wide to give her team match point.

Freshman Demi Stauffenberg posted a kill off the block to keep LCCC's hopes alive. Nicoly Weiwanko knotted the score 14-14 when she blocked an overpass. Rigan McInerney added a kill for a 15-14 lead, and Northwest's Brooke Palmer hit the ball into the net to finish the match.

"That was a battle," first-year LCCC coach Zach Shaver said. "We were a little too caught up on being in a fifth game, and I had to tell the kids to relax and play it one point at a time instead of trying to win the match with one swing.

"Once they started doing that, we were fine. We applied a lot of pressure and made (Northwest) annoyed and desperate at times, which led to mistakes that helped us."

The Eagles won a back-and-forth opening set that saw nine ties and four lead changes. The second set was shaping up to be more of the same with five ties and three lead changes and the score tied 10-10. Northwest outside hitter Megan Pannell recorded consecutive points to give her team a lead it never relinquished during a 25-16 win.

LCCC struggled to start the third set, falling behind by seven points on three separate occasions. A Northwest hitting error followed by a kill from McInerney and blocks from McInerney and McKenzie Earl cut the Trappers' lead to 16-13.

Northwest called timeout before Palmer hit a ball out of bounds off the antennae. A double touch capped LCCC's 6-0 run that closed the gap to 16-15. The Trappers rebuilt their lead to 22-17 before LCCC clawed back with a 4-0 run. Even though the Eagles didn't win the set, it was crucial for momentum heading into the fourth set.

"We got some momentum going into the fourth set by focusing on playing consistent," said LCCC sophomore setter Brooke Parker, who dished out 40 assists to go with 14 digs. "We had to focus on playing good volleyball on our side of the net and not worry so much about what was going on on the other side of the net.

"Even though we weren't able to win, it gave us momentum going into the fourth. That gave us confidence. Everyone was confident, calm, relaxed and just playing. We weren't frantic like we were before."

The Eagles never trailed in the fourth set. They took the lead for good when McInerney was tipped long. LCCC built its lead to eight points twice in the set.

"Five-set matches are so much fun, those are the games I live for," said Stauffenberg, who paced LCCC with 19 kills and 11 digs. "The intensity is so high, but it's important to play calm the whole time. That's what we did."

Earl added 14 kills and 14 digs, while McInerney had 11 kills and 17 digs. Libero Sadie Christiansen added a team-high 18 digs.

Weiwanko had seven blocks, matching her season high.

"I really like blocking, so this was a really big game for me," Weiwanko said. "The balls were outside a lot, and I was able to read them more without thinking."

Jeremiah Johnke is the WyoSports editor. He can be reached at jjohnke@wyosports.net or 307-633-3137. Follow him on Twitter at @jjohnke.