Green River faces tough competition in Casper

Last week was a chance for the Green River High School volleyball team to see what it's like to play at the state tournament.

Playing at the Wyoming 4A State Tournament for the first time since 2009, the Lady Wolves were eliminated after losing their first two matches, but head coach Rikki Shantz was elated the girls were able to get the experience playing at the Casper Events Center.

"It was awesome. I'm so proud of the girls. I don't know of many teams that would have fought so hard to get to state when they had only one conference win on the season," she said.

In their first game of the tournament last Thursday in Casper, fourth-seeded Green River dropped a three-set match to top seeded Sheridan (25-16, 25-18, 25-19).

Shantz felt her team played a little nervous and tight against the Lady Broncs.

"They put a lot of pressure on themselves which is awesome because I like them wanting to do good, but I thought we could have relaxed and just played volleyball," Shantz said.

The Lady Wolves were bounced from the tournament Friday after losing Friday to Casper-Natrona (25-14, 25-16, 25-22).

It was the fifth time the Lady Fillies have defeated Green River this season.

Shantz said she felt like the team was peaking at the right time of the year and thought they might be able to beat Natrona for the first time.

She said much like against Sheridan in the first round, the team played nervous and wanted to do to much.

"If we would have just done our little jobs we would have ended up better," Shantz said.