Lady Warriors start conference play with 3-0 win over Lovell

WORLAND — After spending the early portion of the season on the road, the Worland High School volleyball team played their first match of the season in front of the Worland faithful Thursday night. The Lady Warriors hosted the Lovell Lady Bulldogs and won 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-14) in a matchup between the two 3A Northwest rivals.

At times during the match, the Lady Warriors looked sharp and dominant against the Lady Bulldogs. Their swings were aggressive and often times put the Lovell defense out of sorts.

As impressive as Worland looked there were a few miscues that kept Lovell within striking distance. Most of those miscues happened at the start of each set before they found their rhythm.

“We haven’t been in this lineup a lot, so we were really rigid, not fluid. Part of that is on me with the lineup. The other part was the lack of communication. The good thing is that that can be improved, so many things we can get better at and everything I mentioned were effort type things not talent type things,” said WHS Brittany Miller.

The killer instinct the Lady Warriors displayed Thursday was among the more notable aspects of their game. After trading punches in the early parts of each game, once they took the lead they held it and sprinted away from the Lady Bulldogs.

In Game 1 Worland had a 20-15 lead after a timeout by Miller. Out of the break, they scored the game’s final five points. In Game 2, Worland held a 19-18 advantage when Lovell called a timeout. After that timeout, Worland went on a 6-0 run to close out that game. And in the match-deciding Game 3, the Lady Warriors went on a 13-7 run to close the match.

Miller credited the Lady Warriors domineering play to their aggressive play.

“We talked about that before the match. To have kills you have to kill and hit it hard. I think the biggest momentum changer was we were hitting our service zones and picked apart their [Lovell] serve receive. So we were getting out of system passes to put the ball away. I was really proud of our serving at the end of the game,” said Miller.

One more area that Miller was proud of her team for wasn’t on the court but the bench. The team has been battling injuries and a few players did not suit up for Thursday’s match. While those players were unable to play they did bring energy to the match that Miller appreciated very much.

“Kudos to our hurt kids because that’s hard,” said Miller. “They started cheers on the bench to get the crowd more involved. Volleyball is such a momentum and enthusiasm game and I really felt like the girls that couldn’t play brought some enthusiasm. And that’s hard and I respect that. When the crowd got more involved, our bench was more involved our court become more alive.”

Worland will get in one practice today before heading to Powell on Saturday for a 6 p.m. match against the No. 5-ranked Lady Panthers. It’s another important 3A Northwest match and Miller knows if they’re going to leave Powell High School with a W, their passing and serving needs to be in top form.

“We need to serve and pass really well. Our setting is all on Kate Wassum right now but we’re going to put some things in our offense to move away from a large block and I think our hitters are athletic enough to do that. With a few things in play for practice, we’ll see what happens,” said Miller.