Lady Warriors qualify for 3A State tournament

By ALEX KUHN

Sports Editor

The Worland Lady Warriors are returning to the 3A State volleyball tournament after going 2-2 at the 3A West regional tournament in Lander on Oct. 27-28.

Earning the 4-seed out of the West regional, the Lady Warriors opened the regional tournament with a win over Pinedale, 3-1 (25-23, 26-24, 18-25, 25-21).

"We worked all week about being aggressive with our hitting," said WHS volleyball coach Becky Wassum. "Sometimes, when you get tight, your first instinct is to start tipping. We worked all week on being aggressive on our serves and hits. That started paying off, and instead of easing up, they kept going. That keeps you in games against teams that are good at defense. Tipping doesn't work until you get them on their heels because you've been hitting at them."

With the win over Pinedale, the Lady Warriors faced SW 1-seed Mountain View in the semifinals with a state tournament bid and a spot in the regionals championship on the line.

Worland fell to Mountain View 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-10), dropping them to the semifinals in the consolation bracket.

In the first two sets, the Lady Warriors were in position to take the set but could not put the ball down in those situations.

"Maybe they've got some mental block against Mountain View. This week, we're going to put ourselves into some scenarios where it's 20-20. You can't miss serves when you only have five points left. We're going to have some different game-like situations this week and see if we can get over some of those mental blocks," said Wassum.

Facing the Lander Lady Tigers in the consolation semis and knockout game, Worland had to win to extend their season another week.

The Lady Tigers pushed the Lady Warriors, but each time Worland faced adversity, the team rallied and overcame. In the second set, Worland was down 24-21 but ripped off the next five points to take the set 26-24.

Worland won the match 3-0 (25-,13, 26-24, 25-22), clinching a state tournament bid and eliminating Lander from the postseason.

Worland's block was among the key factors against Lander. Ellianna Baumstarck, Amillia Crawford, Elly Julson and Adisyn Rollins were among those players who kept disrupting the Lander hitters with their block.

"Lander gets on rolls. They got a couple of good hitters. I'm not bragging, but I feel we are one of the best blocking teams in the state. If we can block some of those big hitters, it really takes their confidence away from them. We worked a lot on blocking that right side, putting a big block over there and keeping our people fresh over there so that we can put pressure on outside hitters. I'm proud of them. They've worked hard on blocking and being a force over there," said Wassum.

After beating Lander and punching their ticket to state, the Lady Warriors had to switch gears quickly as they faced Lyman in the third-place game.

The match against Lyman was up and down for Worland, and while it ended in a 3-1 (25-14, 23-25, 25-14, 25-26) defeat they showed they can battle with teams like Lyman.

"They had such a big push to get to state. Then it's like, OK, now you have to regroup and play immediately. They found themselves in the game, and I told them they could do this. It's fun to see them play with confidence and realize they can play with anybody, but it's a constant battle to keep that," said Wassum.

It was a true team effort by the Lady Warriors to qualify for the state tournament. Among the standout players was Addi Estes. The junior had some struggles to start the tournament, but by the end of the Pinedale game, she found her rhythm. She was attacking the line with power and pinpoint accuracy for the rest of the tournament.

"It seemed like as the tournament went on, she just started playing. She'd come over on timeouts and say that line is wide open. I was really proud of Addi. She played really well and overcame some things she's been struggling with. I was happy to see that for sure," said Wassum.

Baumstarck had a strong tournament with her blocking and also took over games for stretches.

Anna Richardson has been Worland's top outside hitter this season and has taken on a leadership role, too. In Lander, Richardson showed how she's grown as a leader by shaking off mistakes and attacking the next play.

"Ellianna can really get a team going, for sure. She works really hard, which leads to good things. There's nothing like having that big block up there. I'm proud of her as well.

"Anna played well, too. We've worked a lot with Anna on the ability to lead by example. She kind of gets in her own head at times. But she's been able to leave those things behind and contribute to others by being a leader with your head up," said Wassum. "She stepped up this week, and she talked about taking it one hit at a time, one play at a time and focusing on that. That was a great thing she brought up this weekend as well."

Madelyn Robertson showed plenty of mental toughness as she stepped into the libero position.

Setter Manaia Peterson was all over the floor, helping defend and successfully quarterbacking the offense.

"I'm pretty proud of Maddie Robertson for stepping into that libero position. That is a really difficult position, and she's learning it. She's super hard on herself, but she's not giving up, which is huge.

"Then, of course, I have to brag on Manaia Peterson. It is the hardest position to be the setter. Every ball has to go through you, every good one, every bad one, and you're usually blamed, whether it's good or bad or whatever. She takes a lot of flack from the kids, from me and everybody, but she is a workhorse. I'm proud of her because it's not easy to run every single ball down like she does," said Wassum.

With the 3A State tournament starting today at the Ford Events Center in Casper, the Lady Warriors put most of their focus on defense in their final practices.

If Worland consistently uses their block to throw hitters off, it'll set them up to make a run in Casper.

"The movement, their footwork and knowing where hitters like to go. We're working on sealing the block. We have Amillia Crawford and Elly Julson on that right side and are working on sealing it, so they can't use you on that side. The last little bit of blocking effort is important," said Wassum.

In the quarterfinals, the Lady Warriors face a familiar foe, the Buffalo Lady Bison. Buffalo won the 3A East regional tournament to earn the East 1-seed and is 26-4-3 on the season.

One of Buffalo's four losses this season was to the Lady Warriors 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-22) on Sept. 30 in Worland.

Last season, the Lady Warriors were the 4-seed at state and downed the East regional champion and 1-seed Wheatland 3-2 (20-25, 17-25, 29-27, 25-22, 15-22).

Having beaten Buffalo once this season and the experience from last season, the Lady Warriors are confident but not overconfident.

"It does bring a little confidence. They're going to be thinking about that too. We're going to work a lot on defense with more blocking. That was our bread and butter against them the first time. If we play as a team and are all playing our best, the sky's the limit for us," said Wassum. "We're working as hard as we can every minute, every play. We're not going to focus too much that we've beaten them before. We just have to work hard because that's what volleyball is."