Lady Panthers take big win from Burns at home

When the Saratoga Lady Panthers (1-0, 7-4 overall) leave a huddle on the court, they all shout "work together," before returning to their positions. They did exactly that last Thursday, defeating Burns in an exciting three set match at home (25-15, 25-18, 25-23).

Saratoga Lady Panthers Head Coach Shayley Love was happy to see that when she reviewed her stats from the match, the netters had fairly even stats across the board. "We didn't have one person that stood out, but we stood out as a team," Love said.

The Lady Panthers were confident throughout the three sets against Burns, though the final set was close. With the whole gym on the edge of their seats, Saratoga secured the win 25-23. The sigh of relief was immediately followed by a cheer from all Saratoga fans in the gym.

Seniors Kylie Theesfeld, Haley Soles, Sierra Schutte and Mati Love each played hard and had a hand in leading the team to victory. Flexibility of play-and not insignificantly, paying attention to Burns' weak spots-largely contributed to their win. Juniors Meredith Lincoln and Shalee Hamann displayed strong skills both in offense and defense. "They got a lot of things up, covered well, we got tips and different things up that we haven't gotten up before," said Love.

"I felt like everybody was playing for each other during that game and not for themselves," Love said.

Mychaela Jackman, freshman, donned a pink jersey indicated her role that night as a libero. Love said that she is not sure whether Jackman will permanently hold that position, as she is still playing around with the best options as a team. "Mychaela definitely did a great job for us as a libero," said Love.

The Lady Panthers took off to Thermopolis Friday for a tournament, for which they entered into the silver bracket, single elimination. They were then defeated by Greybull (8-25, 10-25). The netters won matches against St. Stephens (21-13, 21-9), Wheatland (21-16, 21-20), Rocky Mountain (21-11, 21-12) and Meeteese (21-15, 21-13). "They played (against Wheatland) a lot like they did on Thursday night," said Love of the energetic game.

They fell to Thermopolis (15-21, 6-21) because they were unfamiliar with their team, though Love felt they were even competition. "It's hard when you only play two sets to 21 to really figure out a team and adjust to them," Love said.

The loss to Little Snake River (9-21, 11-21) due to a persistent mental block, according to Love. "Sometimes I wish you could put on a different uniform to them."

The loss to Greybull was not their best game, Love said. "I hate to focus on the last game of the tournament just because the other games they played well, and as a whole for that tournament we played well."

From here on out, Love will focus on playing new teams for the first time and seeing what they do, and making adjustments for their second time around where they will capitalize on what they observe. The Saratoga Lady Panthers will compete against Encampment on Friday at 5:15 p.m. at the Saratoga Middle/High School gym.