Lady Rattlers strike twice

The Little Snake River Valley (LSRV) Lady Rattlers came to the Platte Valley twice last week as they faced the Saratoga Lady Panthers on Thursday and the Encampment Lady Tigers on Saturday.

In both cases, the Lady Rattlers came away with a conference win, but not without some resistance from the Platte Valley teams on their home courts.

Lady Rattlers vs. Lady Panthers

The match between LSRV and the Lady Panthers was the first conference game for either team as they faced off in the newly renovated Panther Den. The 1st set saw both teams go point-for-point with Saratoga leading near the end with a score of 22-24. The Lady Rattlers, however, pushed back to extend the 1st set and end it with a score of 28-26.

"Our first set was extremely tough. We ended the game 28-26, at one point we were down 22-24 and instead of the girls panicking and thinking 'Oh, no! We only have one point and we're done' they fought through that and pushed hard and ended up winning that set," said Head Coach Jenny Evans. "I just really think that fired up our girls and that carried on over to the next two sets. I was just really proud of them because they didn't give up."

Though the 1st set was a nail-biter which put fans of both teams on the edge of their seats, the following two sets were clearly in favor of the Lady Rattlers. Though Saratoga was able to secure a lead at times throughout the 2nd and 3rd sets, LSRV wasted little time in passing the Lady Panthers and establishing a lead of their own.

Despite Saratoga tying the score 10-10 in the 2nd set, the Lady Rattlers pushed ahead to end with a score of 25-15. In the 3rd set, the Lady Panthers established an early lead, but LSRV was able to recover and retake the lead. With an error on the part of the Lady Rattlers at match point, Saratoga was given the opportunity to make the set work in their favor. The final set ended, however, with LSRV winning 25-20 and taking all three sets.

"This team is just really working well together and I'm really happy about that. The way we talked on the floor and we were moving Thursday night was probably the best that I've seen them play so far," Evans said. "So, I was pretty proud of them for that."

Skylynn Ready led the Lady Rattlers in attacking the net against Saratoga with 11 kills. Ready was followed by Kinlie Montgomery with 7 kills while Katelynn Englehart and Destre Kaisler each had 4 kills against the Lady Panthers.

Ready also led LSRV in serving with 3 aces, followed by Kylie Evans with 2 aces. Defensively, K. Evans led with 17 digs and was followed by Kasiler with 8 digs and Ready with 6 digs.

Lady Rattlers vs. Lady Tigers

Following their 3-0 win over Saratoga on Thursday, the Lady Rattlers returned to the Platte Valley on Saturday as they were hosted by Encampment. This match ended up being a battle for LSRV as they visited Tiger Nation and played across five sets.

"It was a tough one and, actually, it was really good for my girls because they didn't come with the fire and the intensity that they had against Saratoga. For them to have to fight harder and pull through on some of those matches, it was good," said Evans. "One thing I feel like we struggled with was we missed a lot of serving, which normally is not the case. Our serving was going out of bounds. Encampment has some great servers, so they really pounded our serves received."

In the 1st set, the Lady Rattlers appeared to sink their fangs into Encampment with a score of 25-12. The 2nd set, however, saw the Lady Tigers bite back as they dealt a 21-25 loss to LSRV. The 3rd set went to the Lady Rattlers with a score of 25-15 and the 4th set went to Encampment with a score of 20-25. In the 5th and final set, LSRV managed to secure another conference win as they ended the set with a score of 15-10.

"It was tough and it was fun and I think my girls learned a lot from that match," Evans said. "Our conference is always extremely tough and you never know what's going to happen from game to game and you just have to step up and try to play your best each game and hopefully you are the one that comes out on top. You never know what's going to happen."

In the match against the Lady Tigers, Montgomery led in attacking with 14 kills and was followed by Ready with 8 kills and Cashley Criswell with 7 kills. Ready, meanwhile, led in serving with 4 aces against Encampment and was followed by Mongtomery with 3 aces and Englehart and Catrina Habel, who each served 2 aces against Encampment.

Defensively, K. Evans would lead the team, again, with 21 digs. Kaisler followed with 13 digs and Ready had 10 digs.

Following the two conference wins, the Lady Rattlers are 11-1 for the season and 2-0 for conference play. LSRV has two more games this week as they host the Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) Lady Miners and are hosted by the Cokeville Lady Panthers (9-7, 0-0).

The Lady Rattlers will host HEM at 5:30 p.m. on September 17 and will be hosted by Cokeville at noon on September 18.