After a weekend of hosting teams from around Wyoming, the Lady Braves Volleyball team has three road matches highlighted by a Friday night clash with the #4 Cody Fillies (11-0) who have yet to lose so far this season.
Tuesday night was the first of the road trips as Star Valley traveled to Sugar City, Idaho to take on the Lady Diggers of Sugar-Salem. It was a successful outing as the Lady Braves swept the home team 3-0, (25-18, 25-23, 25-22).
The win helped raise Star Valley’s season record to (14-6).
“Overall we’re growing and getting better at a lot of things,” said Head Coach Brian Toomer. “Last night at Sugar was fun. We were down 22-15 in the second set and came back and won that. That type of stuff and seeing the grit; we are getting better at that.”
Toomer appreciates the effort but emphasized the team will need more of it to go into Cody and pull off an upset. Star Valley also faces Riverton on Saturday afternoon.
“It’s good to get the wins but we have a big weekend with Cody; they are very good. And Riverton will be a challenge too as we get into conference type stuff.”
CJ ESKEW AND PAYTON CARRUTH BELIEVE KELLY WALSH IS THE NEW STANDARD FOR WYOMING VOLLEYBALL –
With nothing but tournament matches through the first three weekends of the season there have been different players and scenarios. Now the teams will get a chance for conference tilts. To this point Toomer credits his squad as a group for the success that they’ve had.
“During different matches we’ve have had different kids step up,” he said.”Now we’re trying to do that in every scenario. That’s what we’re to trying to focus on. Getting everyone to do their jobs more consistently. I think the biggest thing is that we are improving each week. I think we are developing into a pretty good volleyball team.”
When asked what the Fillies bring to Friday night’s match in particular, Toomer responded with one word but then followed it with many other adjectives.
“Speed,” he said. “They are very athletic. They are really quick and aggressive. It seems like they are very competitive. They are the same way with their basketball team. They like to compete and they don’t take a lot of plays off. Our level of intensity needs to rise to that level and we need to play hard from first ball to the last.”
The Lady Braves varsity is scheduled to play in Cody at 6 pm Friday night and then at 1 pm on Saturday in Riverton.
