4 I LHS Volleyball Champions I The Lovell Chronicle I November 8, 2012
1997
By David Peck
Championship teams
are forged in different ways
from talent and coaching to
grit and determination, but
all have one thing in com-
mon: they somehow come up
with a special mix of all the
key ingredients that propels
them to the top.
Lovell High School's
1997 state championship
volleyball team - until
now Lovell's only state ti-
tle team in the sport - had
a number of things in com-
mon with this year's squad
that won it all, even though
15 years separate the two
championships.
One of the prime ingre-
dients both teams possessed
was a determined mind-
set born both from their
coach and from the players
themselves.
"Our seniors came to us
and really wanted a cham-
pionship," said 1997 set-
ter Becky Walker Rael of
then seniors Jamie Walk-
er May and Lynn Gibbons
Neuenschwander.
"¢¢e knew we had the
talent to do it, we just came
together that weekend. We
had a whole different atti-
tude than other teams I've
seen at State. We wanted to
do it and knew we could do
it. We just happened to work
really well together and just
jelled that weekend."
Like this year's team, a
title was anything but a for-
gone conclusion for the '97
Lady Bulldogs, who first had
to battle their way out of the
2A West Regional Tourna-
ment in Riverton. Match-
es in those days were best
two out of three to 15 points,
with points only scored when
a team had the serve.
Lovell beat Saratoga 2-0
in the first match but fell to
Greybull 2-1 in the second
round. In a loser-out match,
the Lady Bulldogs lost the
first game to Rocky Moun-
tain Saturday morning 15-5
but rallied to top the Lady
Grizzlies 15-8, 15-2 to earn a
trip to State.
"I distinctly remember a
now-or-never speech in the
locker room, and they decid-
ed it was now," head coach
Mike Greenlee said.
The Bulldogs swept
Pinedale 2-0 to earn the
third seed coming out of the
west, but unlike the current
format, where both sides of
the state hold regional tour-
naments, the east at that
time held two district tour-
naments, with two teams ad-
vancing from each district.
Thus, the Lady Bulldogs, as
a three seed, had to meet the
top seed from the Northeast,
the Hulett Red Devils.
Having earned a trip
to State, which was held in
Cody that year, the Lady
Bulldogs were determined to
give it everything they had.
"I remember that week
in practice, and I remember
being late for a practice, but
the girls were so motivat-
ed that they were running
2 012
Sophomore Dana Fowler keeps her eye on the
ball as she readies to spike the ball against Lusk i
in the championship match of the Class 2A State
Volleyball Tournament in Cody Teammates Jarnie
Walker (21), Janis Bea/ (10), Becky Walker (15)
and Kan link move into defensive position.
/(aria Pomeroy photo (1997)
" The Chronicle regrets not being able to locate the
championship team negative. Other team members
were Kee/a Coffins, Lynn Gibbons, Jane//Schul-
thess, Shelby Phelps, Jackie
petts and Teri Hyde. They were coached by I
Greenlee, /m
were Renae Padi/la and Nina Mayes.
laps when I got to the gym,"
Greenlee said. '131ey had a
goal in mind and were pretty
intent on accomplishing it."
"We wanted it. We
worked really hard and had
the team that could do it,"
Gibbons Neuenschwander
said. "Both coaches (Green-
lee and Ina Hubbell) were
awesome. Hats off to them.
A lot of us hadn't won a
championship, so that was
special.
"They brought us togeth-
er. Girls are hard to coach
because they're nit-picky,
but they made us a team."
The team - seniors (us-
ing maiden names) Lynn
Gibbons and Jamie Walker,
juniors Kari Fink and Shel-
by Phelps, sophomores Dana
Fowler, Teri Hyde, Jackie
Tippetts, Julie Tippetts and
Becky Walker and freshmen
Janis Beat, Keela Collins
and Janell Schulthes - came
together at State. (Betsy
Wardell was the freshman
coach on the team, and man-
agers were Renae Padilla
and Nina Mayes.)
Lovell beat Hulett 2-1 in
the opening round in Cody,
8-15, 15-9, 15-4, thanks, in
part, to strong play at the
net by Gibbons and Fowler,
who finished the match with
eight blocks.
"Once we won that first
game...I remember sitting
on the bus and couldn't be-
lieve we had won," Jamie
Walker May said. "It was an
upset. It gave us the ambi-
tion we needed."
The Lady Bulldogs then
met Riverside, who had dis-
patched Lingle in the first
round. Lovell lost the first
game of the semifinals to
the Lady Rebels I5-9 but re-
bounded to win 15-10, 15-
12 and advance to the title
match.
Gibbons had 11 kills in
the semifinal, Jamie Walker
10 and Fowler seven. Lovell
trailed 8-2 in game three but
rallied, closing the gap to 8-7
then reeling off six straight
points off the service of
Fowler to lead 13-8. River-
side closed to 13-11, but late
kills by Gibbons and Walk-
er finished off the match for
Lovell.
In the finale, Lovell met
Lusk, who had defeated
Pinedale and Tongue Riv-
er to advance to the finals.
Lovell edged Lusk 17-15 in
a barnburner of an open-
ing game, then fell 15-11 in
game two. That set up the
decisive game three, and
Lovell won 15-5 to claim the
title.
Lovell controlled the
third game from the get-
go, leading 8-1 early. After
Lusk cut into the lead at
9-4, freshman Beal served
five straight winners to put
Lovell at championship
point, 14-4. Lusk cut the
lead to 14-5, then thwarted
Lovell twice on match point
before Becky Walker finally
ua8 in attituSe, teamwork
served the game winner.
Greenlee praised his
front row of Gibbons, Fowl-
er, Hyde, Jamie Walker and
Julie Tippetts as well as
the back-row play of Hyde,
Fowler, Jamie Walker, Fink
and Beal, who gave ace set-
ter Becky Walker good tar-
get passes to set from.
"It was weird, like the
game was in slow motion,"
Walker May said. "After ev-
ery single point everybody
was screaming and hugging
in the middle, like it was the
championship point. It was
very loud."
One thing every member
of the 1997 team appreciated
was the throng of Lovell fans
who made the trip to Cody to
support the Lady Bulldogs.
"I remember looking up
and saying, 'Oh, my God,
there are so many people
here.' There was a sea of
blue everywhere," Walk-
er May said. "We were just
dumb little kids. We said,
'Come on! We can't let all of
those people down.'"
Added Gibbons Neuen-
schwander, "I remember
the whole side packed with
Lovell fans. That was pretty
special. It was pretty neat."
"We went from looking
up in the stands and seeing
just the parents of players
to getting more student sup-
port by Regionals, and by the
time we got to State there
was so much support there,"
Greenlee said. "It was just
incredible. The noise of our
crowd cheering us on was a
big part of our getting over
the hump and winning. It
was really fun."
00uilSin] a
c/campion
Members of the '97
team remember how coach-
es brought the team togeth-
er as a unit and how they
instilled a sense of determi-
nation and a work ethic.
%Ve spent a lot of time
trusting each other and
working together to reach
our goals," said Dana Fowler
Christiansen. "We stepped
up at State."
Christiansen recalled
the powerful hitting of Gib-
bons and Jamie Walker, the
outstanding setting of Becky
Walker and the defense and
passing of Hyde. Looking
back and having been as-
sociated with the game as
a coach in recent years, she
said she prefers the current
rally scoring method with a
point on every serve whether
a team is serving or receiv-
ing, saying she likes the fast-
er pace of the game.
She has plenty of praise
for the 2012 champions, hav-
ing assisted coach Stormy
Jameson during the previ-
ous two seasons, and she
said the two championship
teams are similar.
"There were so many
teams that year (1997) that
could have taken it, but
Lovell is the one that stepped
up - like this year," she said.
"This year's team played
with confidence, played to
win. They weren't playing to
not make mistakes. We did
the same thing."
Jamie Walker May said
the 1997 team took their
cue not only from the deter-
mination of the seniors but
also the determination of
their coach. She said Green-
lee turned up the intensi-
ty that year compared to
her first three years on the
team.
"I keep coming back to...
at the beginning of the sea-
son Mr. Greenlee said it's
never been done (at LHS),
and this could be you. He
had changed. He had kind of
turned into this mean guy.
We were running stair laps,
and there was an increase
in intensity. I think he was
sick and tired of the team
having potential and never
doing anything with it.
"I was resentful at the
time - until we won. Then I
understood. I've learned as
a teacher that kids will re-
spond to high expectations.
That year we kind of did the
impossible."
"He did push us," said
Lynn Gibbons Neuen-
schwander, who now lives
in Affon with her husband,
Scott, and two kids. "He
pushed us a lot. We didn't
have very many seniors
on that team, so our senior
leadership kept everyone go-
ing, too."
Along with the intensi-
ty there was team building,
including team dinners and
a ropes course at Northwot
College where the girls had
to trust each other in order
to make it through.
Greenlee also worked
one-on-one with each play-
er, Walker May said, "to talk
about what each of us could
do to help the team." He put
in special plays to take ad-
vantage of the talents of key
players, she said.
"He looked to focus on
each one of our strengths,"
she added. "It was more
specialized."
Becky Walker Rael
agreed, noting, "That year
we really focused on the
basics. Some people from
Mountain View came in and
did a camp with us. Because
we worked so hard on basics
and plyometrics, it made
special things come easier
to us. Our communication
with each other was really
good. We talked all the time
during that tournament. We
had special hand codes and
Mr. Greenlee had plays on
his board.
"We were very united
as a team that year, and we
had a lot of positive attitude
for that tournament. I don't
ever remember feeling dis-
couragement. We were so
excited it was almost like
you couldn't bring us down."
Greenlee, too, recalls the
efforts to get the most out of
his team.
"Ina and I coached to-
gether, and we talked about
how to get team unity," he
said. Wee had different per-
sonalities and severe gaps in
age."
Noting the ropes course
at NWC, he added, "That
was a terrific idea. They had
to rely on each other to get
through the ropes course. It
was a way to get the team to
trust each other and get on
the same page.
"If you asked them, their
goal was to win State. Our
practices were pretty intense
and challenging. The players
were all business when they
needed to be. What I liked
about that team is they were
willing to work to achieve
those goals. They .had fun,
but when it was time to get
down to business they knew
it and they were all intense
in practice.
"Everyone was ready to
contribute. It didn't matter
who. It didn't matter who
got the balls, they wanted to
win. They were so much fun
to work with."
Greenlee, who has many
of the current title team in
class, said he likes the win-
ning attitude the team has
displayed this season, for in-
stance never wanting a ball
to hit the floor on their side
of the net.
'They just kept getting
better, and it looked like
their teamwork was getting
better," he said. "You would
see them congratulate each
other a lot. They turned into
a good, cohesive team."
Like that 1997 squad.
You set your destination ][ Bulldog strong, all season long!
and put it on cruise to
the state title! [ -
Imnnn, U i, i i i i, i U i U i i i
CONGRATULATIONS,
TO TH E 2012
STATE
CHAMPIONS!
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