Lady Cats volleyball players enter final week of regular season

The Lady Cats volleyball team faced off with Shoshoni (8-18-1, 0-5) this past Friday in Shoshoni, and then played at home against 1st place Greybull (17-10-3, 4-1) on Saturday. Both matches were conference games. The Lady Cats had defeated Shoshoni earlier in the season, and had fallen previously to Greybull by two games to one.

In a near repeat of the earlier contest, the Lady Cats, again dominated Shoshoni – going 3 and 0 (25-13, 25-18 and 25-15). Shannon Hill coach said, “The games in Shoshoni were good for us. We found some consistency in our play, that carried into the games against Greybull.”

Against Greybull, the Lady Cats dropped a close first game by three points (25-21), and then proceeded to top Greybull in the next two games, by scores of 25-22 and 26-24, respectfully. Game 4 saw the Lady Cats lose focus a bit, and ended in favor Greybull by a score of 25-13. Not to be deterred, however, the Lady Cats came roaring back, and took the final game 15-12. Commenting on the match, coach Hill stated: “We are working on improving the tempo of our offense, and it is beginning to show improvement. It was really nice to see the team finish games. We got behind in the third game, but didn’t let that affect our play. We lost focus in the 4th game, but again, that did not affect the approach to game five. The wins over Shoshoni and Greybull were a total team effort.”

The Lady Cats have five seniors playing in their final season this year including Kali Simeral, Aspen Brooks, Tensie Verhasselt, Hanna Hill and Lexi Garrison. All of those Lady Cats have contributed mightily to the success of the volleyball program at Hot Springs High School.

The Lady Cats now sit in a two-way tie for 2nd place in the 2A Northwest, with a record of 12-13, 3-2. Rocky Mountain stands at 12-13-3, 3-2. 1st place Greybull has a record of 17-10-3, 4-1.

In the final week of regular season matchups, the Lady Cats will play away at Rocky Mountain on Friday, October 25 with a chance to pull ahead in the conference. The team will then face the #3 ranked team from Wright at home on Saturday to finish out the season.

Regionals will be in Lander on November 1, with the state championships in Casper on November 8.