The Star Valley Lady Braves competed at the 4A West Regional Volleyball tournament in Casper over the weekend as hosted by Natrona County High School. The local spikers earned a trip to this week’s 4A State tournament in Casper at the Ford Wyoming Center beginning on Thursday. It is the 11th straight season in which the SVHS volleyball team has qualified for the culminating event. 

The Lady Braves will face the Thunder Basin Bolts who were swept in the 4A East Regionals by Laramie. The Bolts survived a five-set thriller against Sheridan in the semifinals and swept Cheyenne South to begin the tournament. 

Sheridan earned the #3 seed out of the East with a four set win over Cheyenne East. 

The match against the Bolts is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 6. 

4A West Regionals

The tournament started with a match against the Rock Springs Tigers, a team Star Valley swept during the regular season on the road. The Lady Braves were able to jump on the Sweetwater County squad early, building a 2-0 lead before dropping the third. The team closed out the match in the fourth. 

Facing off against the defending state champs in Kelly Walsh, the Lady Braves went toe to toe with the favorites, winning the first set 28-26 before dropping the next three in a 3-1 loss. It was one of just two sets taken from the Trojans on the weekend. 

This dropped the Lady Braves into an elimination setting where they waited to face the winner of Natrona County and Riverton. The two clubs went a full five sets which may have contributed to a tired NC squad who was routed by the awaiting Lady Braves 3-0. 

Having earned a trip back to the Oil City this week, the ladies then earned the #3 seed with a sweep over rival Evanston. This was the rubber match between the two rivals with the Devils winning in five on their home court early in September and Star Valley winning in four in Afton just two weeks ago. 

State Tournament Trends

As previously stated, it is the 11th straight trip to the State tournament for Lady Braves volleyball. Star Valley will be trying to stop a streak of six straight years beginning with an opening round loss.

Their last win on the first day of the tournament came in 2018 with a victory over Natrona County. That year’s team also picked up wins over Cody and Thunder Basin to earn a third place trophy.

The last hardware for the program came in 2020 when the team overcame an opening round loss to Laramie and then defeated Natrona and Evanston for the consolation trophy.

Star Valley’s last state championship came in 2016 in the 3A classification. They have never advanced to the title match in the 4A classification. The program has qualified for the state tournament 21 times in the last 24 years. The program has nine state championships in its history. 

4A State Quarterfinals

#1E Laramie vs #4W Evanston (1 p.m.)

#2W Green River vs #3E Sheridan (2:30 p.m.)

#2E Thunder Basin vs #3W Star Valley (4:30 p.m.)

#1W Kelly Walsh vs #4E Cheyenne East (6 p.m.)

4A West Results

Won vs Rock Springs 3-1 (25-14, 25-19, 18-25, 25-21)

Lost vs Kelly Walsh 3-1 (28-26, 16-25, 18-25, 22-25)

Won vs Natrona County 3-0 (25-13, 25-14, 25-13)

Won vs Evanston 3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-21)