• Face Kelly Walsh on Thursday night
There were multiple times over the course of the weekend where the Star Valley Lady Braves had to show a lot of heart to extend their season. In the opening match, there were moments against the Natrona Fillies, a team that spent some time being ranked #2 in the 4A classification, that they were in big trouble. However, some timely points and some grit helped turn the tide in a five set thriller that ultimately went to Star Valley.
“Those are two good teams going at it in the opening round,” coach Kalin Schwab noted of the Star Valley and Casper squads. “It was an absolute battle. Natrona came to play and so did we. It was tough. There were two moments where we could have just lost. We were down 23-19 in the fourth and people came up huge. Avery had a couple huge swings and a huge block against a six-foot player to tie it up. We were down 14-13 in the fifth as well, it was intense.”
As intense as the opening battle with the Fillies was, that was not an elimination match and on Saturday the Lady Braves faced just that as they went up against the Rock Springs Tigers, a team that they had split with during the regular season. The first set was not a good one as the Lady Braves committed far too many hitting errors and service errors in a 25-14 loss. The second set was back and forth with the Lady Brave enjoying a small lead for the majority of it, right up to set point. That’s when the Tigers scored three straight to tie and the Lady Braves were facing the very real prospect of being down 0-2 in an elimination match against a team that was putting them on their heels.
Some clutch kills from Avery England, Ruby Gaskill and some big time digs by the back row allowed them to prevail 30-28 and tie things up. From there, the momentum shifted to Star Valley who went on to eliminate the Tigers. It was a bounce-back match for the Lady Braves who had lost Kate Gaskell to injury the night before.
“Ruby Morgan stepped in and she had played in zero sets and we told her she had to block,” said Schwab. I think she stepped up very big and had six of them in four sets. I think that comes out of her love of the team and wanting to help them get to state. Ruby Gaskell and Charlee and Avery led us in kills. They weren’t going to go home.”
The day ended with a defeat to rival Evanston, putting the Star Valley girls into the #4 seed of the 4A West for this week’s state tournament. On the positive side, the program qualified for the culminating event for the 12th consecutive season.
The Cody Fillies outlasted the field as they defeated Green River in the championship 3-1 with three of the four sets going 27-25. The Natrona Fillies were eliminated by the Red Devils in the elimination side of the bracket.
Those looking for a negative need look no further than their match is now against the top rated and undefeated Kelly Walsh Trojans, a team that has rarely dropped a set this season, let alone a match. However, stranger things have happened and if the Lady Braves want to make a run at the podium, they will get their chance by taking a swing at the favorites.
“We pushed them at the Casper Invite,” Schwab added. “We don’t look the same as when we played them before. As the season has progressed, they were exceptionally dominant in the beginning. Then some teams like Thunder Basin and Sheridan have taken some sets. I don’t think anyone is untouchable. We need some belief. I don’t think a team had to fight as much as our girls have to get where we are. Our girls showed some major grit and responding when we were down; there’s some major fight in these girls. We just need to play one point at a time and you never know what can happen. They love each other and their chemistry was very evident. I’m super proud of them.”
A win over the Trojans would advance the Lady Braves to a 6 p.m. semifinals match against either Green River or Sheridan on Friday. A loss would drop them into the consolation bracket for a match against the loser of that contest at 2:30 p.m. Friday.
As a state culminating event, SVI Media is not permitted to stream live video. However, Brandy Taylor and Patience Jenkins will be providing audio and a live scoreboard online at svinews.com, the SVI Media YouTube channel and on the SVI Media app.
4A West Regionals
Won vs Natrona 3-2 (25-14, 22-25, 23-25, 25-23, 16-14)
Lost vs Green River 3-1 (16-25, 23-25, 25-22, 16-25)
Won vs Rock Springs 3-1 (25-16, 30-28, 25-18, 25-15)
Lost vs Evanston 3-0 (13-25, 19-25, 20-25)
4A State Bracket (Thursday at the Ford Wyoming Center)
1W Cody vs
4E Cheyenne Central 1 pm
2E Thunder Basin vs
3W Evanston 2:30 pm
2W Green River vs
3E Sheridan 4:30 pm
1E Kelly Walsh vs
4W Star Valley 6 pm
