Lady Warriors looking to keep it rolling at Rawlins tournament

Lady Warriors looking to keep it rolling at Rawlins tournament

By ALEX KUHN

Sports Editor

WORLAND - A week after an uneven start in Riverton, the Worland Lady Warriors showed how quick a study they are during the Border Wars in Cody on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1.

Going 2-4 during their preseason tournament in Riverton the previous week, the Lady Warriors went 3-1 at the Border Wars beating Glendive 3-2 (25-16, 20-25, 23-25, 25-15, 15-9), Sidney 3-0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-22) and Laurel (25-15, 25-22, 25-12). Their lone loss in Cody came against Billings Central 3-0 (25-20, 25-14, 25-23).

The difference in results between Riverton and the Border Wars for the Lady Warriors was their serving and passing. At the Border Wars, the Lady Warriors served at 92 percent and passed at 79 percent. Considering how hard they worked during the practices leading up to the tournament, WHS volleyball Brittany Miller was very pleased with her team.

"Our serving and passing was a lot better than the weekend before. We served over 90 percent at 92 percent and we finished passing at 79 percent, I still want that above an 80 but that's leaps and bounds ahead of where we were the weekend before," said Miller.

"We're still trying a lot of different things. A lot of girls got some opportunities on the court and varsity experience that was very encouraging. We go to Rawlins this week and we'll have to split again. Because of where our numbers are, a lot of our sophomores and juniors have to play JV. It was encouraging to see all those girls get a lot of court time."

Added Miller about how mentally tough her team played all tournament long, "They all did really well. We're battling some injuries and sat two seniors Friday and only played them Saturday. So for the girls to get as many different lineups as I gave them and to step on the court and do it, just says a lot about their character."

While the Lady Warriors had plenty of positives to build on from the Border Wars, they did lose a key player to the team. Senior starter McKenna Butte was lost for the season with a torn ACL.

During the early part of the season, Miller and her staff have tried out plenty of rotations and lineups to see what works best. Now with Butte and her talents no longer available that job becomes a little tougher.

"Unfortunately, we suffered the loss of McKenna Butte. It makes me sad for her on her senior year," said Miller. "We're going to be working on filling her spot too now. With so many people getting court time we have a lot of options and gives me the confidence to sub if needed.

"Internal competition can be really hard and wear you down but the girls are keeping great attitudes and keeping hard. As long as they keep competing hard we're going to keep getting better every day."

Today and tomorrow, the Lady Warriors are in Rawlins competing in the Rawlins Invitational. The Rawlins tournament is sort of an early preview to the 3A State tournament as many of 3A's best make the trek for the tourney. Success at the tournament can put a team in the title contention status, while struggling shows the work needed to be among 3A's best.

The Lady Warriors want to be among 3A's best and for Rawlins they're going to keep the focus serving, passing and communication.

"We have to talk and communicate better on the court. That will help us across the board and we have to continue to be consistent, the serves coming at us this weekend are going to be the most aggressive we've seen yet.

"Keeping our statistical numbers above 80 and 90 percent for serving and passing against tougher teams is going to give us the best chance at winning. We can reach those goals even with our competition getting tougher this weekend," said Miller.

FRESHMEN

The Lady Warriors freshmen team kept their hot streak going, winning another tournament in Buffalo on Sept. 1.

"She's won those tournaments for the last six years, Katherine is just good," said Miller when talking about freshmen volleyball coach Katherine Stuckey. "Went undefeated and beat Kaycee in the championship. Kaycee had match-point and our girls were down six points but they came back and won. That's pretty incredible."