Lady Cats host Bobcat invite

by Karissa Nichols

The Lady Cats had a goal of winning the gold bracket in their home Bobcat Invitational this past weekend to finish off Homecoming week.  While they did achieve the goal of making it to the gold bracket, they fell to Little Snake River in the first match of bracket play on Saturday to end their weekend short of the championship game with scores of 20-25 and 26-27.  

In the first round of pool play on Friday, which consisted of two games to 21, the Lady Cats met up with Shoshoni, Farson Eden and Encampment. The Lady Cats split with Shoshoni with scores of 16-21 and 21-19 and Farson Eden posting scores of 21-10 and 20-21.  The Lady Cats walked away with a late night win against Encampment winning both games with scores of 21-19 and 21-11. 

When asked, coach Shannon Hill said about the weekend. “ We went 4-2 in pool play, dropped one to Shoshoni and one to Farson Eden.  I was a little concerned with our energy levels during the tournament with it being homecoming week, but was very proud of how they finished their match against Encampment on Friday night with it being late and after the football game.  The girls played super consistent and finished a long day with some intensity!  We were seeded third in the gold bracket and got matched up against a tough Little Snake River team.  It took us a little bit to get going in game one and we fell short 20-25 but then in game two we started to get on some runs and created a little cushion for ourselves at 20-17 but then let them back in and went point for point until the cap at 27.  We ended up losing 27-26.” 

Coach Hill added “We really are just lacking consistency on the little things and we need to turn the corner this week.  We have the athletes to get the job done, we just need to mesh a little more as a team and turn this corner together.” 

Coach Hill also mentioned “Our freshmen play at home on Tuesday and then in Lander on Thursday and our JV/Varsity have conference duals in Powell on Friday and Saturday.”

Stats for the weekend overall include the following:

Lexi Garrison- 4 kills, 62 Assists, 4 Serve Aces, 1 block, 9 Digs

Hanna Hill- 22 Kills, 2 assists, 5 Serve Aces, 25 Digs

Kali Simeral- 4 kills, 1 Serve Ace, 1 block, 6 digs

Brooklynn Williams- 10 Kills, 3 serve aces, 4 digs

Ina King- 29 Kills, 2 serve aces, 1 block, 19 digs

Tensie Verhasselt- 1 kill, 1 serve ace, 6 digs

Dazlynn Hunt- 1 kill, 14 digs

Jayssie Owsley- 1 kill, 1 assist, 5 digs

The Lady JV Lady Cats dominated the Bobcat Invitational with nothing but wins on Friday and Saturday. 

A very proud coach, Larry Alwin stated, “The JV squad was cranking on all cylinders for the Bobcat Invite. They came prepared and ready to dominate.  We dominated the competition by doing the basic things, getting a good pass to the setter, good set to the hitter and putting the ball down on the floor on the other side of the floor.  The crowd loves to cheer for a hard killed ball, but I cheer for a well passed ball. If we don’t start with the basics first, there will be nothing for the crowd to cheer for in the end.” 

Coach Alwin reported that “My JV Lady Cats won all four of their matches, each one in just two sets. Our most dominant win was a 21-6 over Wind River thanks to the powerful serving of Maile McCumber and dominant hitting of Davdine King.  Our closest match was a 21-17 win over Big Piney where we let our basic passing slip, which meant we sent a lot of free balls to the opponent which they took advantage of.”

Coach Alwin stated that looking forward to the week ahead, “They will spend this week hammering the basics in preparation for conference duals in Powell this Friday and Saturday where we will show the other teams what our varsity will look like next year and they better look out.”

The JV and Varsity Lady Cats will head to Powell Friday for two days of competitive volleyball against Powell, Lander, Lovell, Lyman, Mountain View, Pinedale and Worland.