• At Evanston Border Wars this weekend

Although the Lady Braves volleyball team has some returning varsity experience, this past weekend’s Cheyenne Invite was the first real varsity action for most of this year’s starting rotation and with that can come growing pains in the win/loss column. Although winning the Cheyenne tournament was not the goal for second-year coach Kalin Schwab who knows his group has a lot of experience but needs a few more matches under their belts.

“It was as tough outing but we found what we were looking for,” Schwab said. “We were looking to be pushed and looking to be challenged and we were.”

The opening day the Lady Braves faced three of last year’s four 4A East state qualifiers including #4 Sheridan and #5 Thunder Basin in the first two matches. Star Valley jumped out early and easily took the opening set against the Sheridan girls but it was the highlight of the morning as they fell in the next two sets. The Bolts swept Star Valley in their second outing, the only time over the weekend the local girls didn’t at least win a set. The team wrapped last Friday with a 2-1 loss to Cheyenne East with three competitive sets.

“I’m looking at scores and Laramie struggled with Natrona,  Green River got beat by Laramie. It seemed like a very unpredictable weekend,” Schwab explained. “It just speaks of the parity in 4A. I thought all the teams looked really good, especially for the first weekend. It also means its going to be such a fun season. You can’t count out anybody. Anybody can show up and perform. This tournament just confirmed that for me.”

On Saturday Star Valley opened up with a match against the Campbell County Camels and again, was very close to victory in a 2-1 loss. The team was able to end the weekend on a high note, sweeping Cheyenne Central to pick up a win before heading back across the state.

Schwab noted the good work the girls are putting in.

“Avery [England] is coming back from that injury and she is leading our team in hitting percentage,” he said. “To do that as an outside hitter is tough. Charlee [Neuenschwander], Avery and Neveah Rainey led us in kills this weekend. Ruby and Kate Gaskell are working on the connections with the hitters and led our team in blocks. Kaelyn [Green] and Harlie [Hilton] ran a clean offense. Macey Schwab led our team in digs. Everybody did their job we just need more experience.”

This week the Lady Braves are much closer to home as they play in the Evanston Border Wars. It will be a very full weekend of matches with a total of eight different opponents in two days. On Friday the girls will see Lander, Hillcrest, Cheyenne East and Layton Christian. On Saturday the schedule will be made up of Kelly Walsh, Pinedale, Bonneville and rock Springs.  Schwab knows there will be teams they have not seen and maybe a few surprises.

“We’ve run into some interesting stuff there,” he added. “We’ve seen some former 3A teams there sometimes. There’s no predicting it. Then the teams out of Utah and Idaho where we only see there. It’s another chance for us to get that experience.”

Cheyenne Invite (Best of 3)

Loss vs #4 Sheridan (25-16, 20-25, 18-25)

Loss vs #5 Thunder Basin (20-25, 19-25)

Loss vs Cheyenne East (20-25, 25-16, 20-25)

Loss vs Campbell County (25-22, 7-25, 23-25)

Win vs Cheyenne Central (25-23, 25-18)