Lady Cats fall short at state

After finishing regionals as runner-up champs the week before, the Lady Cats volleyball team had punched their ticket to the State Championships in Casper last weekend.

At the Ford Center, in Casper, on Thursday, November 7, the Lady Cats were the West number two seed, and faced off with Pine Bluffs. The Lady Hornets had finished their regular season in third place in the 2A East, and were the East third seed for the State Championships.

After dropping the first game 25-19, the Lady Cats came back against the Lady Hornets, and won game two by a score of 25-20. Unfortunately, the Lady Cats lost the next two games by scores of 25-19 and 25-16, respectively.

Friday, found the Lady Cats were pitted against the Lady Punchers of Big Piney. Having finished their regular season in second place in the 2A Southwest, the Lady Punchers were slotted as the number four Seed from the West, and had lost to the number one East team from Big Horn on Thursday.

The Lady Cats had swept Big Piney during regionals in Lander on November 1. In an equally well-played contest, the Lady Cats eliminated the Lady Punchers by, once again, sweeping Big Piney - by scores of 25-17, 25-13, and 25-17.

On Saturday, with one win, and one loss, in the Tournament, the Lady Cats were relegated to a play-off game against Sundance, for a chance to play in the third place Game. Sundance came into the state tournament as the number four seed from the East. The Lady Bulldogs had beaten Rocky Mountain on Thursday, but had lost to the East Two seeded team from Tongue River on Friday.

After winning the first game by a score of 27-25, the Lady Cats then dropped three straight games to Sundance, who moved on, where they, eventually, defeated Pine Bluffs, to end the state tournament as the third place team.

On Saturday afternoon, the championship game saw Big Horn defeat Tongue River by a score of 3 to 1. Big Horn won back-to-back championships, and finished the year with three championships in the past four years.

With the loss to Sundance, the Lady Cats long and winning season came to an end. With a third place finish in the 2A Northwest, at 15-18 overall, and 3-3 in the quad, the Lady Cats can look back on their season with pride.

Five Seniors will be leaving the team this year: Kali Simeral, Aspen Brooks, Tensie Verhasselt, Hanna Hill and Lexi Garrison. With ten juniors on the team this year, Coach Shannon Hill, will have seasoned competitors to use in next year’s line-ups.

Four Lady Cats received All-Conference honors for 2A Northwest: Lexi Garrison, Hanna Hill, Davdine King and Jayssie Owsley.