The Lady Braves volleyball team wrapped up the regular season with a Thursday night match in Jackson on the Lady Broncs’ Pink Night. The Star Valley girls came away with a hard-fought sweep with scores of 25-23, 25-21, 25-23. It was win number 19 for Star Valley.
“They’re a good team,” coach Kalin Schwab said of Jackson. “I think they prepared for us pretty well. Their goal was to slow down our hitters and they did good. We’ve changed things up since the last time we played them. Ruby Gaskell had 13 kills against them and that’s her finding her position and playing it well.”
The 4A West Regional Volleyball tournament is this Friday and Saturday at Jackson Hole High School and it promises to be one of the most unpredictable in quite some time. Of the eight teams scheduled to play, just the Riverton Wolverines with a record of (5-23) have fewer than 13 victories on the season. Nearly every team has beaten a team that was ranked higher than they were at the time and have also lost to a team with a lesser ranking. The seedings for the tournament were posted Monday morning and the Lady Braves, who earned the #3 seed from the 4A Southwest, are slated to take on Natrona County, who earned the second seed from the 4A Northwest. These two teams met earlier this month with Star Valley traveling to Casper and sweeping the Fillies. But unlike a lot of seasons, that victory was nice at the time but has no weight in this weekend’s outing. Schwab commented on this weekend’s tournament.
“I had thought that we would play Evanston and Cody but that all changed on the last day,” he said. “The parity hit again and now we’re gearing up for a game against Natrona. They’re a good squad. I’m sure they will make some adjustments. They have a new coach this year and they are senior-heavy. If we can get past that first round you would probably see Green River. It’s going to be a battle. We’d like to earn a high seeding and go into state with some advantages.”
The Southwest District is a prime example of the season-long parity. Star Valley lost to Evanston, who in turn lost to Green River, who in turn lost to Star Valley. Another wild card is an improving Lady Broncs team who are hosting the tournament which generally carries its own momentum.
In the Northwest, the Cody Fillies, a perennial power, came back to the 4A classification this cycle and took the quadrant. Star Valley had a win and a loss this season against the Fillies. They also defeated Natrona which was followed up the next day by a loss at Rock Springs who is the #3 seed from the district.
In other words, the most sure match of the tournament is probably the first one, Green River taking on Riverton on a neutral court. No guarantees of course. But after that, it should be a wild couple of days.
• Regional Schedule
It promises to be a full gymnasium in Jackson as the Lady Broncs host the field of the 4A West, most likely beginning in the second match of Friday morning as the Lady Braves face Natrona County. The following match are the Lady Broncs taking on the Fillies of Cody on the Teton court and wrapping the first round with the Evanston Red Devils taking on Rock Springs.
A Star Valley win would advance the Lady Braves into the semifinals for another Friday match scheduled for 4 p.m. A loss to the NC Fillies would drop Star Valley into a 9 a.m. match on Saturday morning to try and extend their season.
SVI Media will be streaming the Star Valley matches at SVInews.com, the SVI Media YouTube channel and at SVI.media. This is made possible by Aspen Physical Therapy who has graciously agreed to pay for the required post-season fees from the Wyoming High School Activity Association.
• State Streak
Since moving to the Wyoming 4A Class in 2018, the Lady Braves have qualified for the state tournament for all eight of those seasons. Overall the program has qualified for their culminating event 11 straight times dating back to 2014.
FIND THE FULL REGIONAL BRACKETS HERE –
4A West Regionals (@ Jackson)
FRIDAY
#1SW Green River vs
#4NW Riverton 10 a.m.
#2NW Natrona County vs
#3SW Star Valley 11:30 a.m.
#1NW Cody vs
#4SW Jackson 1 p.m.
#2SW Evanston vs
#3NW Rock Springs 2:30 p.m.
