Lady Bulldogs fall at Powell heading into tournament

The Lovell High School volleyball team played one final match ahead of the regional tournament last week, traveling to Powell Friday to meet the conference leading Powell Lady Panthers.
Powell topped Lovell 25-15, 25-16, 25-14.
“It wasn’t quite the game we wanted to have to gain momentum heading into Regionals,” Lovell head coach Stormy Jameson said. “We adjusted our rotation and had some girls take on more responsibilities than they normally do. Breeah Jones and Chaylee Betancourt really did a good job and made a
positive impact being on the court the whole game and stepped up.
“As a team, a glaring statistic that stood out was that we had 19 kills and 24 hitting errors against Powell. So, we essentially gave Powell a whole set on our hitting mistakes alone. We simply cannot beat any teams with that many unforced errors.
“We did do some fantastic things and made big plays mixed in the sets, but not a majority of the time.”
Jameson reported match statistics as follows:
Chaylee Betancourt -- 3 kills, 1 assist, 2 aces, 14 digs, 3 blocks;
Libby Mickelson -- 5 kills, 5 digs, 2 blocks;
Raegan May -- 5 kills, 1 assist, 4 digs;
Breeah Jones -- 3 assists, 1 ace, 3 digs, 1 block;
Kira Collins - 8 assists, 2 digs;
Kennadee Owens -- 4 kills, 1 assist, 1 dig, 3 blocks;
Summer Teter -- 2 kills, 5 digs, 1 block.
Regional tournament
The Lady Bulldogs, 12-16-1, will travel to Lander this weekend for the 3A West Regional Tournament. As the third seed out of the Northwest at 1-5, Lovell will meet Southwest second seed Lyman at 1 p.m. Friday. If they win, the Lady Bulldogs will meet the winner of the Powell-Lander match Friday at 5:30 p.m. If they fall to Lyman, the Lady Bulldogs will face the Lander-Powell loser Saturday at 10:30 a.m.
“I like where we are at on the bracket,” Jameson said. “I believe that we will match up well against Lyman and some of their weaknesses will play into our strengths. We have been watching film on Lyman, and
we plan on going into the game as prepared as possible to play our hardest and pull off the upset.
“Everything we have or haven’t done all year long is irrelevant at this point. It just takes one good weekend to reach
the state tournament, and I hope my girls want that as much as I do.”
JV teams
The Lovell Junior Varsity 1 team swept Powell Friday 25-16, 25-19.
“These girls toughed out another victory and made a statement against Powell,” coach Jen Hessenthaler said. “No matter what the situation is on the court, this group plays with determination and fight. We got down in the second set, but we made some big plays in big moments to take the momentum back. I am so proud and honored to have been able to coach this group of ladies.”
The JV2 team fell to Powell 25-19, 25-18.
“It wasn’t the note we wanted to end on, but I am very proud of this group and how much they have grown as young women and volleyball players this season,” coach
Angie Hitz said. “I think we continued to build a better foundation of fundamentals and I look forward to watching them grow even more in the future.”