Lady Cats take on Douglas

Hot Springs County High School Junior Varsity and Varsity Volleyball teams played in Douglas Friday and Saturday. Freshmen played in Powell.

Junior Varsity began pool play with Buffalo's Junior Varsity and ended up splitting with them 23-21 and 18-21. Varsity began Friday's pool play with a tough Douglas team and ended up dropping both to them.

"Douglas is a very good team with a lot of height and strong hitters," Hot Springs High School Head Volleyball Coach Shannon Hill said. "This was a tough match to open with, but the girls improved over just the two games and continued to do so throughout the tournament."

The teams then played Big Horn. Junior Varsity split with Big Horn's Junior Varsity team and Varsity lost both, but they were tight games with scores of 25-23 and 25-18.

"We finished our day with a match against Newcastle," Hill said. "Junior Varsity split with them and Varsity won both games to create a positive pull into Saturday's tournament."

The team went in Saturday ranked number 8 in the Gold Bracket and played number 1 Wright to begin the day. Wright is the reigning 2A State Champs from last year, so it was a tough match.

"I felt the score didn't reflect how our girls played," Hill said. "Our defense was on point and started to frustrate the Wright hitters. We just needed to clean up our unforced errors on our side."

The team ended up losing both games to Wright with 25-9 and 25-8. Lizzy Lofink and Shaynie Bauer led the team with eight and six digs respectively.

The second match was against Glenrock. The team beat Glenrock in three games, 23-25, 25-33 and 15-9.

"Lizzy Lofink led us in kills with nine and Makayla George followed close with six," Hill said. "Shaynie Bauer added three acres to seal our win."

The last tournament was a match against Southeast.

"Varsity did an amazing job of coming from behind in both of these games to pull off the win," Hill said.

The scores were 25-22 and 25-22.

"I was very proud of our team for being down 15-20 in the second game and rallying to score 10 points to their respective 2 points," Hill said. "Lizzy and Makayla led our offence with six and five kills and Chloe Crosby added five digs and Shaynie Bauer added two acres."

Junior Varsity lost both to Wright and Glenrock and ended with a split to Southeast.

"I was a very proud coach this weekend," Hill said. "Our girls stepped up to 3A and accepted and learned from every challenge they faced this weekend. It was a very fun and positive first tournament, which has set the tone for the rest of the season. Despite some rough patches, we grew this weekend as a team and now know exactly what to focus on in practice. Our theme is 'Why not us? Why not now?' and I believe our girls showed true dedication to that theme in their opening weekend."

The Hot Springs County High School Volleyball roster is as follows:

Head Coach: Shannon Hill

Assistant Coach: Catelyn Deromedi

Varsity: Maggie Ryan, Lizzy Lofink, Shaynie Bauer, Makayla George, Chloe Crosby, Kenna Oliver, Mary Ryan, Haley McDermott, Emmie Coyne and Kelly Johnson

Junior Varsity: Kenna Oliver, Hannah Hurley, Alex Russell, Faith Jensen, Sarina Guyon, Jade Schierkolk, Kelly Johnson, Jolie Nicodemus, Sesi Jensen and Ashley McPhie

Freshmen: Sesi Jensen, Ashley McPhie, Kaylee DeVries, Deanna Becker, Ashley Brawley, Audrey Axtell, Dani Jo Pebbles, Allie Burton and Aspen Jensen

The Thermopolis Middle School roster is as follows:

Head Coach: Cortney O'Connor

Manager: Shila Little

7th grade: Michelle Burgess, Kamery Bowman, Cadence Becher, Ashlynn Harvey, Mirah Brooks, Julie Johnson, Kaitee Barton, Cadence Steadman, Bronwyn Dobbins and Layne Myers

8th grade: Karissa Balstad, Oakley Bowman, Maggie Cable, KyAnn Calhoun, Patricia Capelle, Mya Conrad, Bri DeVries, Sequoia Fishbaugh, Jasmine Jensen, Chloe Payne, Reagan Severance, Elisa Weber, Jocelyn White and Grace Whitt