Rocky Mountain closes season with 1-2 performance at state

 The Rocky Mountain girls volleyball team went 1-2 at the state tourney, ending their season competing against the best teams in Wyoming.
“We talked a lot about playing our good core game and while not being selfish, playing our own best games,” head coach Stephanie Ames said. “That seemed to light a little fire under the girls and they came out and played well.”
The Lady Grizz began their stay at the state tournament with a contest against Tongue River. The Lady Grizz rushed to a 14-11 lead in the first set, but quickly lost traction as they lost discipline, Ames said.
“We spent a good bit of time during practice making some adjustments to give us an edge over Tongue River,” Ames said. “We made some changes both offensively and defensively and right out of the gate it seemed to be paying off as we executed it well and ran up some points on them.  Unfortunately, we didn’t do the things we usually do well.”
Tongue River pulled out ahead in the first set to win 25-18 before taking the second set 25-13 and the third 25-17 to win the match in a 3-0 sweep.
“Tongue River has the ability to find holes and they really picked ours out,” Ames said. “We didn’t hit a lot, and it ultimately stung us.”
MacKelle Moss led the team offensively with five kills. Lauren Bassett had four kills in the match, Brittly Boettcher recorded two.
Shelby Wambeke recorded four assists, and Rylee Winland had three.
Boettcher had the only ace in the game for the Lady Grizz.
Bassett and Wambeke led the team with six digs each. Kaitey Christensen and Keylee Christiansen both had five digs. Boettcher, Winland and Layla Gardner had four digs.
Christensen was a defensive force in the match, recording five solo blocks. Moss had two solo blocks.
Bounced into the consolation bracket, the Lady Grizz bounced back against the Big Piney Punchers
The Lady Grizz got a sweep of their own against Big Piney, taking the first set 25-16, the second set 25-12 and the third set 25-20.
“We were swinging a lot more and consequently had a really good hitting game. When we hit well, we usually win,” Ames said.  “The stats were spread out among the girls, and they all had good games. They had fun and played a solid team game.”
Ames said making it to Saturday play was an important goal for the team.
“It was a great feeling to win and secure a place in a Saturday game,” Ames said.
Moss had 11 kills in the match. Christensen and Boettcher had nine. Bassett and Wambeke both recorded six.
Gardner, Christiansen and Wambeke all recorded an ace in the matchup. Christiansen, Boettcher and Wambeke all had a 100 percent serving percentage.
Moss also led the team in digs with 14. Wambeke, Boettcher and Gardner recorded 11 digs, Bassett had 10.
Christensen had one solo block and two block assists.
The Lady Grizz ended their season with a progressively competitive match against Pine Bluffs.
“We came out excited for this match, hadn’t seen a lot of them as they are so far from us other than a set or two at State. We didn’t really know what to be looking for,”
Ames said. “We were able to play them pretty tough, and I thought we were going to be able to get them a couple times. That third set was really tight.”
After dropping the first set 25-19, the Lady Grizz started closing in, dropping the second set 25-21 and then battling in a back-and-forth showdown in the third set, only dropping it in the final moments. The final set of the season ended with the Grizz on the losing end of a 25-23 tug-of-war.
“The girls did lots of things well and it was one of those matches that didn’t necessarily feel like a loss even though the score said it was,” Ames said.
Moss, Christensen and Boettcher all led the team in kills with seven each. Wambeke had three kills in the match.
Wambeke had 13 assists in the match. Christiansen had five. Boettcher and Winland had two.
Bassett had two aces in the contest. Boettcher, Wambeke and Gardner all had one.
Bassett had 11 digs in the contest, and Boettcher recorded nine. Gardner and Moss had eight. Wambeke had seven. Christensen six.
Moss had two solo blocks and one assisted block. Christiansen and Tarynn Schoening both had one block assist each.
The Rocky Mountain volleyball team ended the season with an 11-15-3 record and were runners-up in the regional tournament.
Moss, Winand, Lily Mader, Kassidy Brimhall, Brooklynn Jenkins and Christensen will all
be graduating as seniors this year.