Lady Panthers dispatch Lady Doggers

The Saratoga Lady Panthers went 1-1 this weekend as they hosted two non-conference foes; the Southeast Lady Cyclones and the Lingle-Fort Laramie Lady Doggers. While Southeast took out the Lady Panthers in three sets, Saratoga managed to whip the Lady Doggers in four sets.

"The girls put together a pretty good weekend," said Shayley Love, head coach of the Lady Panthers. "The girls played hard and I was still proud of their efforts."

Lady Panthers vs.

Lady Cyclones

Southeast currently sits at No. 2 in the 1A Southeast Conference with a season record of 11-3 and a conference record of 3-0, just under the Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) Lady Miners. While the Lady Cyclones took the 1st set 25-7 from Saratoga, the Lady Panthers sunk their claws into the court and pushed back to go 25-21 and 25-17 in the following sets.

"Southeast put up a bigger block than we are used to and that got us out of our rhythm a little bit," said Love. "I feel we just didn't really get going in that game and played without the energy we needed to really push Southeast. They are a good team and if we were to come against them again I think we will adjust to their style of play a bit better."

Seniors Sam Duke and Savannah Wells attacked the net the most against Southeast with 5 kills each. Sophomore Whitney Bennett followed with 4 kills and Makenna "Mak Attack" King had 3 kills. Duke and Wells also lead in serving with 2 aces each.

Senior Tasia Daley hit the floor the most with 18 digs. Duke followed with 8 digs and Wells had 7 digs.

Lady Panthers vs.

Lady Doggers

After going 3-0 against the Lady Cyclones, who went on to face the Encampment Lady Tigers, Saratoga hosted the Lady Doggers. While Lingle-Fort Laramie had gone five sets with Encampment earlier that day, they didn't appear phased as they faced the Lady Panthers. While the Lady Doggers managed to take one set from Saratoga, the Lady Panthers took the other three.

"Lingle was a different team in that they didn't have as strong of a block and didn't have the caliber of hitters that Southeast showed us," Love said. "We did a better job of playing with energy and got a bit more flow. Our passing was more accurate and we were able to swing at the ball more."

Bennett led Saratoga in attacking the net with 15 kills and was followed by Wells with 11 kills and Everett and King with 6 kills each. In serving, Daley and Everett each served 2 aces while Wells, senior Lexi Herring and Duke all had 1 ace each.

Daley was also the lead digger with 29 digs. Bennett followed with 23 digs and Duke and Herring each had 17 digs.

Saratoga took the 1st set 26-24, the 2nd set 26-24 and the 4th set 25-23. Lingle-Fort Laramie took the 3rd set 23-25.

Following their 1-1 weekend, Saratoga is 7-7 for the season and 3-3 in conference play.

The Lady Panthers return to conference play this week for their homecoming week as they host the Little Snake River Valley (LSRV) Lady Rattlers (7-5, 2-2) on Thursday and the Cokeville Lady Panthers (8-7-1, 4-0) on Saturday.

Saratoga will host the lady Rattlers at 5 p.m. on October 15 for a Pink Out Game. The Lady Panthers will host Cokeville at 1 p.m. on October 17.