Lady cats first at home tourney

The Lady Bobcat varsity and JV volleyball teams played their home tournament last weekend which included teams from Little Snake River, Farson-Eden, Greybull, Wheatland, Pinedale, Torrington, Big Piney, Shoshoni, Wind River, Meeteetse, Kemmerer, Wyoming Indian and Riverside. 

The JV team went up against all the varsity teams and played many of them very well, but ended 0-12 in pool play which got them seeded into to the Platinum bracket on Saturday. 

The girls ended up losing in the first round against Riverside, and although it was a tough weekend for wins for the JV, the girls got a lot of playing time and touches against teams that were great competition for them.  

The varsity did well in pool play, going 3-3 on Friday against Riverside, Big Piney and Little Snake River. 

The Lady Cats opened Saturday with a win against Shoshoni, but dropped the second match. They dropped both matches to Torrington and split with Wyoming Indian to finish pool play. 

Varsity ended up ranked second in the Bronze bracket on Saturday afternoon with a 5-7 record, which pitted them against Kemmerer. 

The girls played very well against Kemmerer, beating them 25-16 and 26-24. 

"I was very proud of our girls for finishing that second game strong," coach Shannon Hill said. "We came from behind which was a great test for our team." 

Lizzy Lofink and Mary Ryan led the offense with eight and five kills respectively. Emmie Coyne and Lofink also added two aces each, and on defense Maggie Ryan led with five digs and Mary Ryan added two blocks.  

They faced Wind River in the championship game for the Bronze bracket. 

"The girls never let down and played tough the whole match through," Hill said. "Unfortunately we don't have stats on that match."

The Cats beat Wind River in two, 25-14 and 25-21. 

"All in all I was very proud of my team because we had some girls stepping up into different roles on our team due to two of our starters being absent this weekend," Hill said. "The rest of the team stepped up and filled in where they needed to and made some big plays for us. 

"That is the beauty of our team. Any of our players can switch positions when we need them to. All of these girls on varsity are very versatile players, which makes it easier on the coach. 

"I have a lot of great athletes this year and although we still need to work on some things, I have all the faith that we will be where we need to be by the end of the season."

Varsity, JV and freshmen teams will be playing at home against Newcastle this Friday. Matches begin at 3 p.m. in the high school gym.