The Lady Braves volleyball team picked up a pair of road sweeps last week as they traveled to Rock Springs in a rescheduled match and then rolled up to Jackson for a match on Thursday.
The match in Sweetwater County came after Star Valley had illness roll through the program, prompting a postponement. Although the team didn’t get a fast start, they collected a 3-0 sweep.
“Rock Springs is a pretty young squad,” responded head coach Kalin Schwab. “We scouted them out pretty well, I think the girls came out and executed really well and hit their serving targets and kept them out of system. We passed really well. We started off the first set down 7-1 after we had been sick but came back and won that one and then swept them. Charlee [Neuenschwander] and Shayna [Casey] and Peyton [Hokanson] all had really good hitting days. Then we loaded the bus and 12 hours later we got on it again and headed to Jackson.”
With the added energy of a rivalry game inside the 4A Southwest District, the Lady Braves answered again.
“I’m always really impressed just how their coach can get her team going,” Schwab said. “I was a little worried we might overlook them. They played us to like 25-19 in the first set and then we responded after that. We dug our heels in and won in three sets.”
Schwab noted that Neuenschwander had 11 kills while Casey had ten. It was a well-rounded attack with Ady Christiansen finishing with seven. Ruby Hill and Peyton Hokanson finished with five a piece.
This Thursday is the first of three straight days of matches. The first one on Thursday is the final home match of the season with Star Valley hosting rival Evanston for the top seed in the 4A Southwest. The Red Devils defeated Star Valley several weeks ago on their home floor in five sets. After that, the ladies will travel to Casper to face Natrona County on Friday and then come home through Riverton for a Saturday match against the Wolverines.
Schwab mentioned that some things have changed since the last time Star Valley and Evanston met.
“Evanston is good, they’ve played similarly to us in the way we’ve played most teams,” he commented. “We are a different team than when we played them last time. Mostly their outside hitters did the work last time, but we didn’t fully anticipate their left-handed foreign exchange student, so we’ll be ready for her a little more this time. Well try and keep them uncomfortable and work around the defense and see if we can keep in system and use all of our hitters.”
He also added that the three straight matches in three days will hopefully serve as a preview to next week’s 4A West Regionals, also in Casper being hosted by the Fillies.
Friday we then head to Natrona and they are an interesting team,” Schwab said. “Their record isn’t great but they’ve got a pretty tough schedule. We did struggle with them at the Casper Invite so I’m anxious to see how we match up with them again. If we can win out this week, we can take the top southwest seed and we might be matching up with them again.
Senior Night on Thursday against Evanston has a scheduled varsity serve time of 6 p.m. SVI Media will stream the match but all residents are encouraged to attend the match and bring their energy for the seniors in their final time on their home court.
Seniors being honored on Thursday include Camryn Mackey, Shayna Casey, Hallie Hokanson, Adylyn Christiansen, Ruby Hill and Braxton Ware.
Scores
Won at Rock Springs (25-18, 25-12, 25-14)
Won at Jackson (25-19, 25-20, 25-16)
