CHR
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September 13, 2012 I The Lovell Chronicle 17
Bulldogs fall at Thermop but rock Big Horn Tourney
BY PATTI CARPENTER
The Lady Bulldogs started their
week with an away game in Ther-
mopolis on Thursday. They won the
first match 25-18, but fell to Ther-
mop 26-24, 25-22 and 26-24, ending
the day with a disappointing loss in
this early season conference game.
'We get another chance to play
them at home and I think that we
will beat them then," said Coach
Stormy Jameson.
Jameson said the team had
practiced passing all week after
a disappointing performance the
weekend before at the Wyoming/
Montana Duals in Billings.
"All we worked on last week is
getting good passes to our setter,"
said Jameson, 'cause if you can't
get a good pass, you can't get a set
and therefore can't get a good hit. So
we really worked on that to be our
main focus going into the game with
Thermop and I feel we met our goal
as far as passing is concerned. I was
really happy with our serve/receive
and I think we did a good job with
it."
Jameson thought the team
played well and had good stats.
Thermop played well, too.
"I can't say there was one thing
we should have done," said Jame-
son. "They just found a way at the
end of the game to play a little bet-
ter. Other than that we were trading
points back and forth with them and
the games were close. Even though
we lost, it was the best game we've
played this year."
Senior Bonnie Rodriguez had
five kills and five blocks. Senior
Chelsey Ellis had 15 kills, 28 digs
and two aces. Sophomore Emilee
Reasch was the team leader in kills
with 17 and topped off her perfor-
mance with 12 blocks, 19 digs, as
well as serving 100 percent. Junior
Mercedes Haney had a performance
of note as an outside hitter with four
kills, 13 digs and four aces.
Out of 75 passes made by the
team Ellis and Reasch made 59 of
JoE SOVA
Maddie Baxendale and Emilee Reasch block a hit sent over by a Thermopolis player on
Thursday, Sept 6, while Megan McClure and Mercedes Haney ready themselves to provide
backup if needed.
Clure had 31 assists, 21 digs and
four aces. The previous weekend
McClure was named to the seven
player all-tournament team from
the Wyoming/Montana Border Wars
tournament.
"I'm really proud of the fact that
the other coaches noticed her and
named her for this honor, especially
with so many players at that tour-
nament," said Jameson. "This is her
third year as setter and she is really
owning that position. It is hard for
her to get noticed often, but she deft-
nitely deserves it."
BIG HORN INVITATIONAL
TOURNAMENT
them. ..... The gizls travelled to participate
As the team's setter, Megan Mc- in the Big Horn Invitational in Big
"Horn on Saturday. The team played
in the gold bracket with teams from
Wright, Tongue River, Kaycee and
Wind River.
The girls got off to a slow start,
falling to Tongue River in both sets
25-19 and a very close 26-25. Jame-
son noted that Tongue River was
clearly one of the stronger teams in
the tournament.
Next up, Lovell played Wind
River, taking them easily in two
games with wins of 25-6 and 25-15.
The Lady Bulldogs continued
to warm up with two wins against
Kaycee, 25-16 and 25-10. Jameson
didn't consider this any great con-
quest against a 1A team.
The next challenge was Wright,
the team that beat them last year at
the state championships. Jameson
said Wright lost several team mem-
bers from last years winning team
but they still fought hard. Lovell
won the first game at 25-20, but lost
to Wright the second go-around at
25-20.
The team showed off their
strength winning all three games
played in the final bracket, giving
them the gold bracket championship.
They took Upton in the first
game 21-12 and 21-15, Kaycee in
the second game 21-17 and 21-7 and
Burns in the third game 21-5 and
22-20.
At the tournament, Reasch had
41 kills, 21 blocks, 45 digs and 11
aces. Ellis had 46 kills, 12 blocks,
68 digs and five aces. McClure fin-
ished with 16 kills, three blocks, 97
assists, eight aces and 25 digs. Lau-
ren Hinckley played outside hitter
at the tournament and finished with
14 kills. Baxendale played right side
hitter and had 12 kills, five blocks
and five aces.
Senior Cheyanne Dickey made
three kills, three blocks and six digs.
Dickey has been struggling with a
shoulder issue.
Shyann Wilske had 57 digs and
three aces as the team's libero.
"Shyann is working on her pass-
ing and being more consistent," said
Jameson, who also said she expects
'%ig things" from her.
Sophomore Chayli McArthur
had five kills, nine digs, and three
aces. Her sister, Freshman Charri
McArthur, had 21 digs and two aces.
"It's always good to take a look
at teams from the other side of the
state in a tournament like this," said
Jameson. "Normally, we wouldn't
even see those teams until we get to
State. It's good to see that we com-
pare to the other teams this early in
the season and have the potential to
really succeed."
Jameson didn't see any team
dominating the tournament and
thought the win gave the girls confi-
dence that they could excel at State
again this year.
"I think we can play well against
anyone we saw at the tournament,"
she said. "There really wasn't any-
one there who was dominating."
Jameson sounded much more
optimistic than the previous week-
end where the girls had a rough
go against the teams playing at
the duals in Billings. She said the
girls practiced hard all week and it
showed at this tournament.
"It was a positive way to end the
weekend," said Jameson.
Up next, the girls will travel to
Basin to play Riverside on Friday
with games starting at 2, 3 and 4 p.m.
They will also travel to a tour-
nament in Thermopolis on Saturday
where the games will begin at 9 a.m.
Grizz girls gain strong experience at Big Horn Tournament
BY PATTI CARPENTER
The Rocky Mountain High
School volleyball team traveled over
the mountain to participate in the
Big Horn Invitational. Coach Carol
McMillin thought it was a great op= ........ ....
portunity for both the JV and var-
sity teams to gain valuable experi-
ence and to work out the kinks in
their lineups.
JV
The JV team played on Friday,
falling to Big Horn 21-15 and 21-18.
"We had some good perfor-
mances in the game," said Coach
Carol McMillin, referring to kills
by Maddie Crawford,one, Mickay-
la Asay, two, and Mikaela Hocker,
one.
"What was nice about that
game is that every girl had 100 per-
cent serves and we had four aces,"
said McMillin.
The team took on Shoshoni
next. Although the girls were de-
feated 21 -18 and 21-14, McMillin
said she was pleased to see 100 per-
cent serving in both matches and
six aces.
Next the team facedoff with
Riverside, resulting in a win for the
JV girls in the first game 21-18 but
a loss in the second game 21-12.
McMillin was pleased to see them
with 100 percent serving in both
matches.
"The JV team is looking pretty
good, we have some solid attacks,"
said McMillin.
VARSITY
The tourney began with pool
play on Saturday morning and end-
ed with bracket play later in the
day. The Grizz girls were placed
in a pool with Big Horn, Shoshoni,
Riverside and Upton.
The first game was with Big
Horn, who McMillin described with
one word, "tough." The girls fell to
Big Horn 25-14 and 25-16.
Haley Strom had one kill, Ra-
chael Allred, one, and Brianna
Hocker, one. Serves were 100 per-
cent. Strom had two aces, Allred
added two and Shauna Loman had
one. McMillin noted "solid" digs
from Mandee Leonhardt, 7, and Lo-
man, 8.
The next game was with Sho-
shoni with Rocky falling to Shosho-
ni 25-19 and 25-18. Allred had two
aces, Loman, three, Brianna and
Mikaela Hocker and Hannah Win-
land one apiece. Leonhardt had five
digs and Strom had three. Allred
PATTI CARPENTER
Brianna Hocker reaches high to get the ball over the net at an
early season tournament held in Lovell recently.
and Mikaela Hocker had solo blocks
and there was 100 percent serving.
The girls played Riverside next,
winning one game 25-23 but losing
the other 25-21. Brianna Hocker
had five kills, and Strom, two. Win-
land, Allred, Loman and Mikaela
Hocker each had one kill. Strom
and Winland served 100 percent.
Leonhardt and Allred had three
digs each.
"They played really solid and
adjusted well to Riverside tipping
to them," said McMillin.
The girls faced off with Upton
next. The gifts were defeated in
both games by Upton 25-18 and 26-
24. Once again McMillin said she
saw solid serving. Loman had two
aces, Winland, one, and Strom, one.
Leonhardt had 12 digs, Allred, sev-
en, Loman, five. McMillin said she
saw some good blocking from Bri-
anna Hocker and Strom including
some good solo blocks. Allred and
Winland had some good assists.
The girls moved into bracket
play seeded in the gold tournament
with a game against Riverside. Riv-
erside won the first match 21-9,
Rocky won the second match 21-11.
In a third match the girls fell to Riv-
erside 15-12 ending their particpa-
tion in the tournament.
Brianna Hocker had four aces,
Loman, five, Allred two kills, Lohm-
an, five kills, Brianna and Mikae-
la Hocker and Strom each had one
kill. Leonhardt served 100 percent.
Brianna Hocker and Leonhardt had
five digs each.
"Though we didn't place in the
tournament, we got to try different
lineups and it was a first time for
Mandee Leonhardt to act as libe-
ro," said McMillin. We made some
other changes like moving Rachael
Allred from setter to right side hit-
ter and tried a 6-2 formation for the
first time."
McMillin explained that a 6-2
formation uses two setters. She
said they also worked on a 5-1 line-
up, which is one setter.
%Ve got to try different lineups
and in the end we benefitted from
the experience," said McMillin.
McMillin thought Leonhardt
"did great" as libero and thought
Allred added so much more to the
team as a hitter. She thought Strom
and Mikeala Hocker improved their
blocking skills playing in the mid-
dle and Loman and Brianna Hock-
er played strong as outside hitters.
She thought Winland performed
well as a setter.
"The win/loss record doesn't re-
ally reflect the improvement the
girls made in this tournament,"
said McMillin.
Senior Kallee Jo Wilson, who is
recovering from back surgery, was
gone but not forgotten. Although
Wilson was not able to cheer the
girls on from the bench at this tour-
nament, she made her support
known by giving each girl a basket
of treats and a personal note of en-
couragement prior to their depar-
ture. She also did the same for all
of the coaches and the bus driver as
well. McMillin said Wilson is han-
dling her recovery from her surgery
well and she looks forward to seeing
her back in action toward the end of
the season.
Next up, the girls will host
Greybull at RMHS on Thursday
night for their second conference
game of the season with games at.
5 and 6 p.m.
On Saturday, the girls will
travel to Thermopolis for a tour-
nament where they will have
even more opportunity to refine
their skills.
2A WEST FOOTBALL
Conf. Overall
Team W L W L
Lovell I 0 2 0
Lyman I 0 2 0
Mtn, View I 0 I I
Thermopolis I 0 I I
Big Piney 0 I I I
Kemmerer 0 I I I
Pinedale 0 . I I I
Greybull 0 I 0 2
RESULTS
Friday, August 31
Lovell 32, Wright 21
Glenrock 40, Thermopolis 8
Big Piney 22, Burlington 12
Big Horn 49, Greybull 6
Pinedale 31, Riverside 0
Kemmerer 12, Wind River 6
Cokeville 45, Mountain View 13
Lyman 56, Tongue River 0
Friday, September 7
Thermopolis 64, Big Piney 12
Lyman 46, Kemmerer 6
Lovell 55, Pinedale 31
Mtn. View 13, Greybull 6
SCHEDULE
Friday, Sept. 14
Mtn. View at Big Piney, 3:30 p.m.
Lovell at Lyrnan, 4 p.m.
Thermop at Greybull, 7 p.m.
Kemmerer at Pinedale, 7 p.m.
1A WEST FOOTBALL
Conf. Overall
Team W L W L
Rocky Mtn. I 0 2 0
Cokeville I 0 2 0
Shoshoni I 0 2 0
Burlington I 0 I I
Riverside 0 I 0 2
Saratoga 0 I 0 2
Wind River 0 I 0 2
Wyo, Indian 0 I 0 2
RESULTS
Friday, August 31
Big Piney 22, Burlington 12
Cokeville 45, Mountain View 13
Pinedale 31, Riverside 0
Rocky 36, NSI 7
Lingle 28, Saratoga 6
Shoshoni 40, Upton/Sund. 6
Kemmerer 12, Wind River 6
Pine Bluffs 49, Wyo. Indian 0
Thursday, Sept. 6
Shoshoni 13, Wind River 9
Friday, September 7
Burlington 29, Saratoga 8
Cokeville 50, Riverside 7
Rocky 52, Wyo. Indian 0
SCHEDULE
Friday, Sept. 14
Saratoga at Cokeville, 2 p.m.
Shoshoni at Burlington, 3 p.m.
Riverside at Rocky, 4 p.m.
Wyo. Indian at Wind River, 7 p.m.
