Volleyball players are heading to state

The Green River Lady Wolves Volleyball team came in fourth place at regionals and are now focusing on state.

Making it to state was one of the goals the girls set at the beginning of the season and is now something they can check of the list.

Head coach Rikki Shantz said she hopes the team can relax, have fun and enjoy the experience of playing at state. She said the girls have been getting better every day. Before heading to state Thursday, which takes place in Casper, the girls will continue to work on serve and receive passing. This is something they have been working on all season.

Shantz said the girls knew they were heading to state after back-to-back wins at regionals on Friday.

“They were really excited on Friday night. It was a fun feeling,” she said.

During the regional tournament, the Lady Wolves played Jackson first and won in three sets, 25-22, 27-25, 25-22.

“The girls weren’t happy with how they played Jackson,” Shantz said.

The said the girls knew it was going to be hard to beat a team three times in one season, but they defeated Jackson for a third time. This time the set scores were much closer than the last two games.

“Jackson was there to cause an upset,” Shantz said.

Although Jackson played well, they were unable to come up with the upset.

On Friday night, the Lady Wolves also played Evanston. Shantz said throughout the season she always felt Evanston and her team were a close match up. Most of the regular season’s games went into five sets and regionals was no different.

Evanston came out strong and took the first two sets, 25-25, 18-25.

“I’ve never seen these girls get discouraged.” Shantz said. “We’ve been working a lot on not giving up. It’s not over, until it’s over.”

The Lady Wolves fought back hard and beat Evanston in the last three sets, 25-19, 25-23, 15-13. This was the first time the Lady Wolves beat Evanston this season; and it couldn’t come at better time. With this win, the Lady Wolves knew they were headed to state.

On Saturday, the Lady Wolves once again took on Evanston, and this time Evanston came out on top in five sets, 19-25, 25-15, 22-25, 25-21, 15-13.

Shantz was not happy with the outcome because she felt like the Lady Wolves outplayed Evanston. She said the scores don’t reflect how well the girls played. Shantz said in a game where every point counts, she felt a couple of the referee’s calls that didn’t go in their favor really hurt the team.

Shantz said she is hoping they have a chance to play Evanston again, but the first team they will have to play at state is Cheyenne East, which is the No. 1 seed in the east conference. The Lady Wolves are seeded fourth and will have to beat the powerhouse to advance in the bracket.

“We haven’t played them yet,” Shantz said. “I believe they were much better last year than this year.”

Despite this opinion, Cheyenne East has only lost one conference game this season, and Shantz knows the team will have a hard game to play.

“I wished we could have an easier team,” she said.

However, she knows all too well at state “you have to show up for every, single night.”