Lady Cats headed to Lander for 3A regional tourney

by Karissa Nichols

The regular season ended on a high note for the Lady Cats as they took on the Glenrock Herders for senior night and Dazlynn Hunt, Ina King, Brooklynn Williams, Sydney Shaffer and manager Maggie Landon saw their final game on the volleyball court at home.

Lady Cats beat the Herders in three games posting scores of 25-17, 28-26, 25-18. The previous night, the Cats traveled to Worland to take

on the Lady Warriors. Unfortunately, they came up just short of a win but they took them to five games and made them fear the Bobcats and the ability and potential that they possess.

Scores of the Worland game were 20-25, 28-26, 18-25, 25-22, 12-15.

When asked for her comments on the week of volleyball, Coach Shannon Hill stated “What a great weekend of volleyball. Our Worland match was the best I’ve seen our girls play and they played well consistently. Our serving, passing and hitting stats were the best we’ve had with very few unforced errors and everyone hitting in the positives. Unfortunately, in game 5 we got down 0-5 and fought our way back but gave them too many to begin with causing us to fall short. We still need to take care of calming the chaos and making plays on the easy stuff that’s given to us.”

She said about the Glenrock game, “We came out confident and started out really well (which we have been working on) and played very consistently and then let it slip a little in game 2 and down 19-24 but were able to come back and tie it up. The girls really focused and were able to pull off the

second game. They were determined not to let that happen again in game 3 and we stayed on top the whole game. I was super proud of the girls this weekend, even though we really needed that win vs Worland, they proved to themselves and the fans that we are headed in the right direction and are playing really good volleyball heading into regionals.”

Hill stated, “Our seniors are a huge part of that and add a huge amount of competitiveness to our team. We still have to go into regionals with this confidence and finally a feeling that other teams should be nervous to play us. We will be the team that will be underestimated at regionals and we will prove everyone wrong.”

Stats against Worland:

Lexi Garrison- 1 Kill, 3 serve aces, 12 digs, 2 blocks

Hanna Hill- 11 kills, 4 serve aces, 21 digs

Brooklynn Williams- 3 kills, 2 serve aces, 4 digs, 1 block

Jayssie Owsley- 8 kills, 9 digs, 2 blocks

Ina King- 8 kills, 1 dig, 3 blocks

Dazlynn Hunt- 23 digs

Kali Simeral- 7 kills, 1 Serve ace, 1 dig, 3 blocks

Stats against Glenrock:

Lexi Garrison- 3 kills, 2 serve aces, 3 digs

Hanna Hill- 5 kills, 18 digs, 1 block

Kali Simeral- 1 kill, 2 serve aces, 2 digs

Brooklynn Williams- 6 kills, 6 serve aces, 16 digs, 1 block

Ina King- 11 kills, 3 digs, 1 block

Dazlynn Hunt- 1 kill, 23 digs

Tensie Verhasselt- 3 kills, 5 digs

Jayssie Owsley- 7 kills, 2 digs, 1 block

The freshman and Junior Varsity Lady Cats ended their season on Saturday with a win.

Freshman coach, Erika Pehringer stated, “This week, the freshman had three games. Against Wyoming Indian, we won 2-0 with scores of 25-13 and

25-14. Against Worland on Friday, we lost 0-2, but you could really see the skills they’ve worked on all season come together. Their season ended against Glenrock with a 2-0 win on Saturday, and I couldn’t be prouder of the progress each athlete has made this season.”

When Junior Varsity coach, Larry Alwin, was asked about the week they had, he said, “The Bobcat Jv squad ended their season in high fashion with a pair of 2 set wins over rival Worland and 3a Glenrock. Friday in Worland, much credit goes to the big net play from our middle Alix Sorenson and Milli Johnson. They dominated the full 30 feet. Consistent outside hitting from Skylar Lippincott and Davdine King kept the Warriors on their heels, unable to find any offensive rhythm. Morgan Jones whacked several good ones from the right side. Of course none of this would be possible with the consistent passing from Layla Epperson and Peyton Green along with the great setting of Maile McCumber. The Bobcats won 25-21 and 25-22.”

He went on to say “ Saturday’s first set against Glenrock saw the Bobcats steam the Herders 25-14. The girls really had the petal to the metal in the first set , but as with anything, when you are doing everything right and on cruise control, you can’t let up, which is what we did in the second set. We stopped focusing on the basics and dug ourselves a 5 point hole. This time I asked the girls ‘ do I need to take a time out or can you find your own way out of this 22-17 deficit?’ They assured me they could, and they did. They took the second set in exciting fashion with a score of 28-26 from the Glenrock Herders. I feel the team is well poised to hit the ground running next August to really dominate in our new 2A ranking. We will have plenty of off season work and AAU club volleyball opportunities for the girls so just because this season is over for JV and Freshman, it doesn’t mean they will stop improving. Look out next year folks, as Alix teases in practice… “FEAR ME!”

Although the season is over for the Freshman and Junior Varsity, the Varsity has this week at 3A regionals to show the state what they are made of. They will travel to Lander on Friday for a double elimination tournament to try to earn a spot at the state tournament.