Coming out competitive

It was a successful week for the Saratoga Lady Panthers, if not a little exhausting, as they hosted two teams during their homecoming week and traveled to the southern end of the Valley during the weekend.

Saratoga hosted the North Park Lady Wildcats (25-13, 25-15, 25-9) on Tuesday and the Rock River Lady Longhorns (25-23, 22-25, 25-15, 25-8) on Thursday. On Saturday, the Lady Panthers were hosted by the Encampment Lady Tigers (25-9, 25-12, 25-18).

"It was a really good week," said Shayley Love, head coach of the Lady Panthers. "I'm not going to lie, I'm kind of glad it's over. You just get so tired and rundown with all the other activities. They did a great job staying strong throughout the week."

Lady Panthers vs.

Lady Wildcats

The first game of the week against the cats from across the border helped the Lady Panthers kick off their homecoming week. Senior Aubrey Berger led the team with 10 kills and was followed by fellow senior Taylor Bennett, who had 5 kills. Sophomore Whitney Bennett contributed 4 kills and senior Jenna Dew had 2 kills.

Berger also led the team in serving against North Park with 5 aces. Senior Tasia Daley scored 3 aces and W. Bennett, Lexi Herring and T. Bennett each scored 2 aces against the Lady Wildcats. With a total of 18 serves, Berger's success rate stood at 94.4 percent. W. Bennett, serving 13 times, Herring, serving 12 times, and T. Bennett, serving 12 times, all had a success rate of 100 percent.

T. Bennett maintained her status as the lead blocker for the Lady Panthers with a total of five solo blocks against North Park. 

Daley was the lead digger for Saratoga, as she dug out the ball a total of 25 times through all three sets. Berger followed with 18 digs and Herring had 10 digs.

Lady Panthers vs.

Lady Longhorns

"Thursday, we really had a good competition against Rock River," Love said. "They're scrappy and they'll swing at you and threw some things at us, so I felt like that competition level made us play up a little bit."

In the game against the Lady Longhorns, Dew would lead Saratoga with 14 kills and was followed by Berger with 12 kills. T. Bennett and W. Bennett each had 10 kills.

T. Bennett was the leader in serving with a total of 7 aces against Rock River and a successful serve rate of 96.4 percent. W. Bennett and Herring each had 3 aces against the Lady Longhorns.

Blocking was a team effort against Rock River, with Dew blocking three times both solo and assisted. T. Bennett followed with 3 solo blocks and 2 assisted blocks and W. Bennett had 2 solo blocks and 1 assisted block.

Berger was the lead digger against the Lady Longhorns with 25 digs. Herring followed with 18 digs and W. Bennett and Dew each had 15 digs.

Lady Panthers vs.

Lady Tigers

To cap off homecoming week, Saratoga was hosted by the Lady Tigers on Saturday.

"We've talked all year 'It's one game at a time' and we knew this game, ultimately, would be important when it comes to seeding, but we have to take care of those other games to get here," said Love.

T. Bennett led the Lady Panthers against Encampment in attacking with 8 kills against the Lady Tigers. W. Bennett followed with 4 kills and Dew had 3 kills.

Berger returned to the top of the pack in serving with 4 aces against Encampment. W. Bennett, Daley and Herring each contributed 2 aces. 

T. Bennett was the lead blocker during the Encampment game with 7 solo blocks and 2 block assists. 

Berger was also the lead digger with 19 digs against the Lady Tigers. Daley followed with 16 digs and W. Bennett had 14 digs.

"I can't complain," Love said. "I feel like these girls are really working hard and coming out competitive every match."

The Lady Panthers are now 7-1 for the season and 1-0 for conference. Saratoga will host two teams this week as they welcome the Little Snake River Valley Lady Rattlers (7-3, 1-0) and the Hanna, Elk Mountain and Medicine Bow Lady Miners.