The Lady Braves volleyball team saw former conference teams, current classification squads and out of state powerhouses as part of the Evanston Border Wars this past weekend. At the end of two full days of action which included eight matches in a best of three format, the Star Valley girls won four and lost four. 

“They did well,” responded head coach Kalin Schwab. “We competed well with the bigger schools like Bonneville and a couple schools from Utah.”

On day one, the Lady Braves swept past Mountain View and #5 Lander from the 3A classification. Star Valley came up on the short end of a tournament cap in a final set against North Summit and also fell in three to Bonneville out of Idaho Falls. 

On Saturday Lady Braves, ranked #5 along with Cheyenne East in the latest wyopreps.com Coaches and Media Poll, knocked off the Thunderbirds in a hard-fought three sets where they were on top of the score cap. They followed this up with a match against the Bear Lake Bears who won the tournament after winning the Cokeville Invite the previous week. In fact, Star Valley was the only team in the tournament to take a set from the Bears and nearly knocked them off in a 27-26 second set. After a loss to Hillcrest, the girls bounced back with a sweep of Powell to close out the weekend.  

“The girls came out a little fired up for that one against Cheyenne East,” Schwab added. “I’ve been pretty pleased. We have two setters, with Hallie Hokanson and Harlie Hilton; I’ve been impressed with their ability to spread the offense. We have hitters who can all do well and the’ve done a great job finding them. We could’t pull that off without our passers and Camryn Mackey has done a great job there. Avery [England] and Peyton [Hokanson] is helping with that but Camryn is taking a lot of the defensive responsibilities.

• Schedule Change 

This week was originally scheduled for a tournament in Bonneville but has been changed. This week the Lady Braves will be in Preston, Idaho for a match against the Indians on Wednesday. Then the 4A West conference match in Evanston originally scheduled for September 23, will now be played this Thursday, September 11. The Lady Braves will open up their home schedule next week on September 18 as they host the Jackson Lady Broncs and then on September 20 against the Riverton Wolverines. 

“We’ve had a lot of parents show up and we appreciate that,” Schwab added. “I’m really pleased with the girls and their growth. Really looking onward to how we take on conference play.”

• Streaming at Evanston 

The 4A West conference match in Evanston Thursday will be streamed here at svinews.com and also on the SVI Media YouTube channel. Look for the watch link later in the week.

Star Valley at Evanston Border Wars
Won vs Mountain View (25-21, 25-12)
Lost vs North Summit (25-15, 20-25, 14-16)
Won vs Lander (25-14, 25-13)
Lost vs Bonneville (16-25, 27-25, 7-15)
Won vs Cheyenne East (25-20, 18-25, 18-16)
Lost vs Bear Lake (25-18, 26-27, 11-15)
Lost vs Hillcrest (13-25, 20-25)
Won vs Powell (25-11, 25-21)