Saratoga Lady Panthers head to state after regional playoffs

The Lady Panthers fight to fourth position, move on to State

The Lady Panthers faced Burlington's Lady Huskies first and won 3-0. They never let the Huskies get more than 13 points in any of the three matches, showing their determination. The Riverside Lady Rebels topped the Panthers during the second game with 3-0 win. The Panthers faced Meeteetse's Lady Longhorns and the battle was on. The Panthers won 3-2, but it was a hard win. The first match score was 28-26 giving the Longhorns a hard fought for win. The next match was close as well with the Longhorns taking 25 and Saratoga digging in for 22. The next three matches the Panthers left nothing on the court, taking the matches with 25-18, 26-14 and 15-3. This took Saratoga to 20-10 for the year. They faced off once again with their southern neighbors, Little Snake River's Lady Rattlers. This matchup left the Panthers with a lost, but only after fighting through five matches. The Lady Rattlers nudged Saratoga into fourth place.

"The girls started out the tournament with a nice win over Burlington.  A good team that hung with us to start, but as the match got going our girls played well defensively and were able to win in 3. Riverside was our semifinal match and they are a very good team. We didn't play bad, but we also didn't get our block like we had in previous matches. When our girls were swinging in the front row we seemed to gain some momentum and do some really good things", said Coach Shayley Love. "We played Meeteetse Saturday morning to punch our ticket to state. This was probably the best game of the tournament.  We lost the first 2 sets and it was a moment to re-evaluate why we were there.  The girls came out and won the last 3 sets which is rarely heard of.  They started to utilize our offense and play solid on defense to get the win to make it to the state tournament.  Our final match against Baggs was another hard fought match that went 5 sets.  We played well, but I know our legs were shot and the girls were a bit tired from the previous game a couple hours before.  Overall a good tournament for us.  This week our focus is on Southeast and figuring out how to compete to our highest potential come Thursday night.  They are a very good team, but I know our girls are very capable of putting together a solid match against them", said Coach Love. 

 

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