Lady Grizz split pair of conference matches

The Rocky Mountain Lady Grizzlies volleyball team hosted a tough Lady Buffs squad from Greybull on Friday night in Cowley.

The much-anticipated conference match lived up to the hype and proved to be a thriller that came down to the final two points of a fifth set to determine a winner.

The Lady Grizz dropped the first set 25-18 but came back to take the second set 28-26.

The Lady Buffs came out on top again with a 25-23 win in the third set to earn a 2-1 advantage and were only one set away from sealing the victory.

But Rocky Mountain showed a lot of fight and answered back by winning the fourth set, 26-24, and forced the deciding fifth set.

Although the Lady Grizz started the fifth set strong and led the majority of the set, the Lady Buffs found a way to squeak by and clinch the 15-13 victory at the very end.

“It was a real barn burner,” Rocky head coach Stephanie Ames said. “There was lots of scoring on both sides and some great back and forth play.

“I really thought we had it in the fifth set, so it was a bit of a heartbreaker when we lost.”

This was the first time the Lady Grizz had to play more than three sets this year, due to playing short games in early tournaments.

“I think we are in good shape, and the girls didn’t fall off physically, so we were pleased with that,” Ames said. “We will take the lessons learned in this game and build on them going forward.”

Offensively, Brittly Boettcher had an impressive 16 kills in the game, while Lauren Bassett was right behind with 15 kills of her own.

Boettcher also added three aces, 22 digs and three blocks, and Bassett had 12 digs and five blocks.

Shelby Wambeke did a little bit of everything with four aces, four kills, 15 digs, 18 assists and three blocks.

Keylee Christiansen had two aces, two kills, six digs, 14 assists and a block, Tarynn Schoening contributed four kills, seven digs and two blocks, Elliahna Scheeler ended with a kill, four digs and two blocks and Layla Gardner grabbed 10 digs.

SHOSHONI

The Lady Grizzlies got off the bus on Saturday with big plans to execute in Shoshoni.

“We wanted to get out to a really strong start,” Coach Ames said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t quite get that done in the first set.”

Rocky Mountain lost 25-15 in the opening set and struggled getting in sync.

The second set was much different, and the Lady Grizz outscored Shoshoni 25-13 to tie up the game at one set apiece.

During the third set, things went more like they had planned, and the Lady Grizz outplayed Shoshoni big by cruising to a 25-5 win. 

Christiansen did a large amount of the work by serving out most of that set, and the team did almost everything right throughout.

Shoshoni tried to rally back and kept the fourth set a challenge for the Lady Grizz, but they held on to win 25-20 to win the match 3-1.

“We were able to play more loose and comfortable in Shoshoni, and it showed,” Ames said. “I’m proud of the girls for staying tough.”

In the four sets, Bassett had another strong performance with 16 kills, two aces, four blocks and eleven digs.

Both Boettcher and Schoening had one ace, three blocks and seven kills, and Boettcher also had nine digs.

Wambeke chipped in five kills, one block, six digs and 13 assists, and Christiansen had two aces, three kills, one block, five digs and 19 assists as the two shared setting responsibilities.

The libero, Gardner, got six digs on the back row, and Scheeler had 10 digs and three blocks at the net.

UP NEXT

The Lady Grizz will travel to Thermopolis on Friday for a pair of games beginning with the junior varsity at 2 p.m. and the varsity following at 3 p.m.

Rocky Mountain will host Worland during homecoming week on Tuesday with games scheduled to start at 5 and 6 p.m.