Season ends for Lady Warriors after dropping a pair of tough matches

The Worland Lady Warriors fell short of extending their season another week, going 0-2 at the 3A West regional tournament in Powell on Nov. 1-2.

The Lady Warriors nearly pulled the upset of the tournament in their first-round matchup against the 2-seed Powell Lady Panthers.

That first day of the tournament saw plenty of competitive games, putting the tournament behind schedule. Worland and Powell were scheduled to play at 2:30 p.m. but didn't play until around 4:30.

That extra time worked to the Lady Warriors benefit as they warmed up and focused on the task at hand. They pushed Powell to the absolute brink, but ultimately fell 3-2 (25-27, 25-14, 18-25, 25-15, 15-12).

"That delay helped them," said WHS volleyball coach Joanna Peterson. "They need a good hour to get warm, their heart's pumping and some sweat going and we had that. They did awesome and were ready. We had a great week of practice going through different scenarios and pressure. Powell's only loss was to Cody and they're a tough team. They have strong outside hitters and our blocking, which has improved the most this season, was really well."

The key for Worland pushing Powell was their defense. Their block limited Powell's big hitters, and they were digging machines and not giving up any easy kills.

"We did well on defense and digging. We went to our orange rotation. We put Annie on the right side and they were successful. For as young as we are, they still played with everybody. Our passing was really good. At the end of the game Maddie [Robertson] gave a great comment saying that our passing was great and she didn't have to run around crazy. That's always good comment coming from your setter," said Peterson.

In the fifth set, the Lady Warriors had their chances to complete the upset but came up short.

"At the very end, our serve-receive wasn't there and there were some nerves. We missed a couple of hits and when the pressure comes on we can't let those nerves get to us. We can't force a pass and it's all the fundamentals that come into play and we can't miss the mark there," said Peterson.

The top stat getters for Worland vs. Powell were Anna Richardson with 13 kills, Addi Estes with eight blocks, Kalistynn Crippen with 16 digs and Maddie Robertson with 15 digs.

The loss to Powell dropped Worland to the consolation quarterfinals, where they matched up against the Lyman Lady Eagles.

Worland had beaten Lyman twice in the regular season and if they played like they did against Powell, a third win against Lyman was possible.

However, things didn't come together for the Lady Warriors, and while they played as hard as they could to extend the match, they fell 3-0 (25-17, 25-11, 25-13) and were knocked out of the postseason.

"We got there so they could have that hour to warm up again. Things just didn't fall into place for us. It was rough to see and we made some changes to pick things up. They got it going a little bit there during the third game but it wasn't enough," said Peterson.

In the loss to Lyman, Anna Richardson had eight kills, Annie Page had three blocks, and Crippen had 15 digs.

Talking to the team after the loss to Lyman was tough, but Peterson reminded her team how much they've improved this season. They battled every match and showed that Worland volleyball can't be taken lightly.

"It's rough and it was rough for the seniors. There were tears, but like I told the girls, they need to be proud of themselves. From where they started to where they finished, they shocked a lot of teams and proved they could hang with anybody.

"For the girls coming back, we talked about getting ready to go now. If you're a one sport athlete the offseason starts now. If you're a multi-sport athlete that's even better because you're staying active, staying in shape and building that mental toughness," said Peterson.

Look to next week's edition of the Northern Wyoming News for a recap of the Lady Warriors 2024 season.