Volleyball team ready to hit the court

The Green River High School Volleyball team is ready to hit the court and play their first game of the season. The Lady Wolves will travel to Cheyenne tomorrow to compete in the Cheyenne Invite that takes place on September 25 and 26.

"We're actually really excited," said Head Coach Jessica Demaret. "We didn't get to go to the Cheyenne Invite last year, so we're excited to see some of the other 4A teams from the other side of the state that we usually don't get to see."

She said it will benefit them to see exactly where they are at and what they need to keep working on to keep moving forward.

The Lady Wolves started their first official practice on August 14. They are hitting the ground running as they have practices in the morning for an hour and a half and then hit the court again after school for two hours.

Coach Demaret is pleased with the number of freshman that have joined the team this year. The young team has two returning seniors, Abigail Fuss and Jayla Braden, and returning juniors Addison Demaret, Eva Murray, Claira Kuball, Taycie Fox, Allyson White, Haidyn Terry and Rylee Rosas, along with a number of sophomores. Coach Demaret feels the young girls are going to get a lot of experience that will help build the team this year and the year after.

The Lady Wolves have been pushed "outside of their boxes" during practices this year and have been doing things they have not done before. Last year they concentrated on fundamentals and team culture as a base, explained Coach Demaret. This year they want to keep moving forward in a direction where they are competing with everybody, winning more volleyball games and pushing themselves.

The athletes had a busy summer of camps and conditioning. The girls had open gyms on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, along with weights and workouts Monday through Thursday. Some of the athletes attended the Idaho State Camp that lasted three days on July 13-15. During this camp, the Lady Wolves had the chance to play a lot of games and made a ton of improvement. They also hosted an Alli Nikont Camp at the Green River High School on July 19-21. Alli Nikont is the current Big Horn High School Coach. For three days, the girls worked on individual fundamentals and team development. On July 28-29, some of the girls also traveled to compete in the Sheridan Summer Volleyball Tournament. This tournament gave them the opportunity to scrimmage teams from around Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. During the off season, some of the girls also participate in the Southwest Wyoming Volleyball Club.