Lady Cats regroup to battle Kemmerer

The Hot Springs County High School Lady Bobcats fell to Shoshoni in straight sets on Friday and Riverside in five sets on Saturday during the team's annual Senior Night celebration.

"We just weren't completely prepared for this match. Shoshoni is a really good team and our girls weren't mentally there," said coach Shannon Hill. "We did step up and play them well in the 3rd game, however it was too little too late."

During the Shoshoni game, Maggie Ryan had 19 digs and Korey Smith had four kills and one ace.

The team then came home to face Riverside for Senior Night, losing to the Lady Rebels in five close sets.

Hill noted that her team's lineup was shaken up Saturday because of the senior night celebrations. "I moved our lineup around so that all 6 seniors could start and I think that threw us off a little bit in the first game," she said. "Our senior night matches always seem to be the most difficult."

Hill put in the regular starters later in the game, but said that the team simply could not regain the ground they lost early in the match, saying her team, "just couldn't get enough momentum to carry through to win each of the next games."

"We had a lot of hitting errors and serving errors which did not help us at all," Hill said of her team's Saturday loss. "As a team we did have 21 aces, which is impressive, and we passed well. We just couldn't get it done at the net."

Maggie Ryan had another strong performance with 35 digs and six aces. Korey Smith also had a stellar performance with nine kills and eight aces.

"I was disappointed in both our losses this weekend, however, I hope it helps fuel their [the Lady Cats] fire for regionals," Hill said.

The Lady Cats will travel to Lander this Friday to take on Kemmerer in the first match of regionals. The match is slated to take place at 2:30 p.m.