The Star Valley Lady Braves volleyball team picked up a pair of home wins that may help down the road this past weekend. The local spikers defeated #5 Cody 3-1 on Friday afternoon and then followed that up with a 3-0 sweep of Riverton on Saturday afternoon. While the two cross-quad games will not necessarily come into play in the standings, they could help the Lady Braves in tie breaking procedures down the stretch of the season. They also served as good confidence boosters as they take on teams such as Evanston, Jackson and Green River in Southwest play.

“We definitely wanted a second shot at Cody when they beat us at our home invite,” stated head coach Kalin Schwab. “But after we played them we formulated a game plan and the girls executed it very well.”

The Fillies have been led by standout Grace Hayes who is one of the top hitters in the state.

“We were trying to lower her efficiency at the net,” Schwab explained. “It speaks volumes to the blocks that were in front of her and they did a really good job in following the game plan and slowing her down.”

The wins have helped the Lady Braves stack up some victories as they have now won 11 of their last 14 matches.

“Were on a bit of a roll and forming our identity as a team,” he noted. “The girls are finding their roles and it’s coming together pretty nicely.”

• Jackson: 0  Star Valley: 3 (25-13, 25-19, 25-20)

The Lady Braves opened up 4A Southwest District play on Tuesday night with a 3-0 sweep of visiting Jackson. The Star Valley girls got some big hits from Charlee Neuenschwander and Avery England as well as Ruby and Kate Gaskell. The service game in particular kept the Lady Broncs off rhythm all night long as the home team picked up a number of aces.

• Casper Invite

This weekend the team will try and take whatever momentum they can as the hit the road for the Casper Invite. The big match on the schedule in the Oil City is a rematch of the #1 Kelly Walsh Trojans who defeated Star Valley at the Evanston Border Wars earlier this month.

“I feel like we’re a different team than the last time we played them,” Schwab said. “I’d like to see where we stack up since the lat time we played them. I’d like to show people what Star Valley volleyball can do.”

In addition to the challenge of facing the Trojans, the girls will also face Worland and Cheyenne South. On paper those may seem like lighter challenges, but Schwab believes that overlooking either of them would be a mistake.

“A team like Cheyenne South, some people might write them off, but they took East to five sets,” he explained. “Then we haven’t played Worland in a long time and they are in our pool and they’ve played well. And you just never know what to expect.”

After playing those three teams in pool play, the Lady Braves will then be assigned to Saturday’s bracket play based on their wins and losses.

Star Valley’s next home match will be on October 3, as they host Green River. Pink Night will be on October 13, when the Lady Braves host Evanston. Fans can order Pink Night shirts through the program until October 1.

Win vs Cody (3-1)

(25-21, 22-25, 25-21, 25-21)

Win vs Riverton (3-0)

(25-23, 25013, 25-19)