Mati Love saves a ball gone rogue by thinking quickly and returning the ball to her team to keep it in play.
McKenzie Powell and Alyssa Barkhurst fake out the Panthers by jumping next to one another to spike, throwing them off the direction the ball.
The Saratoga Lady Panthers (1-1, 7-6 overall) hosted the Encampment Lady Tigers (2-0, 11-1 overall) on Friday night, with the Tigers taking home the win (11-25, 12-25, 8-25).
While both teams arrived energetic, the Lady Panthers lacked defense, according to Lady Panthers Head Coach Shayley Love. On the other hand, Lady Tigers Head Coach Robin O'Leary praised her team's offensive skills, saying they are on the right path for regional and state competitions upcoming.
The rival teams have been known to play hard against one another, but Friday's matches were short and efficient. The Lady Panthers appeared to have a mental block against the powerful Tigers, and despite some communication errors that O'Leary said were quickly resolved, the Tigers brought their A-game.
Paige Powell, Encampment Tigers freshman, took advantage of her height and spent time at the net, earning 12 points for her team during the match. Hailey Barkhurst earned 13 points. Alyssa Barkhurst and Sierra Loftice served 7 aces each. According to O'Leary, the team performs well because of the talented players-and with such athletes, she can coach them through different, more complicated moves that provide flexibility on the court. "I think we're progressing at the right rate of speed we need to in order to start peaking towards regionals and state," O'Leary said.
Although the Lady Panthers lost, individually the girls showed strength. Freshman Mychaela Jackman, who has been playing as libero, showed more energy and confidence in the game against the Tigers, completing more successful digs than usual. Mati Love's athleticism took her through challenging attacks from the Lady Tigers as she showed strength and movement across the court. Ultimately, despite individual improvements and success on the court the Lady Panthers did not play their best weekend.
They played a conference game against Niobrara County on Saturday, losing in four sets. While the scores indicate that they put up a fight, S. Love said that they did not get off the bus in the best condition for playing. They still experienced problems with their defense and despite winning the third set, they fell in the other three.
The Encampment Lady Tigers enter a busy volleyball week, beginning with a game against the North Park Wildcats (4-4, 2-4 overall), of Walden, Colo., on Tuesday. They battle their neighbors to the north, the HEM Miners (8-5 overall), on Thursday and finally face last year's state champions, the Cokeville Panthers (0-0, 9-8 overall; some scores missing), in a conference game. According to O'Leary, they will prepare for the triple block in the middle-a Cokeville favorite-by working with their middles over the next week.
The Saratoga Lady Panthers will play Lingle/Fort Laramie (11-5) at home starting at 3 p.m. on Friday. The Encampment Lady Tigers will play the HEM Miners in Encampment on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. and the Cokeville Panthers on Saturday at noon, also at home.
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