Lady Miners split weekend

The Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) Lady Miners started their weekend on Friday facing the Encampment Lady Tigers.

The first game of the season had the Lady Miners meet the Lady Tigers on their home turf where Encampment came out on top after playing five sets.

It was hoped the Lady Miners would get revenge on their home field. It did not happen with the team losing 3-1.

The 1st set was close at 17-17 before the Lady Tigers made a run to go ahead and stayed there, winning 25-21. The next set was hard fought also, but it was the Lady Miners who prevailed in a barn burner 29-27. The 3rd set it appeared the Lady Miners were going to win with the score 24-19. The Lady Tigers rallied to win 26-24. Maybe disheartened after the loss, the Lady Miners fell far behind in the last set and could not catch up, losing to the Lady Tigers 25-14.

Head coach Tiera Scott took the loss with grace.

"Friday, we played a team that we played close our first game of the season," Scott said. "Encampment has some good players and our girls played well with them the first three sets. The girls then let the 4th set get away from them early and were never able to recover. We as a team have to learn to finish those difficult games with mental toughness in order to come out with the win."

The team did recover some of their composure when they went on a road trip where they faced Lingle, Lusk, Guernsey and Pine Bluffs all on Saturday. The Lady Miners beat all the teams with the exception of Pine Bluffs.

They beat Guernsey in two sets with scores of 25-16 twice.

Lusk gave the Lady Miners more trouble. They lost the 1st set 24-21, but came back and won the next set 25-24. The final set the Lady Miners crushed the Lady Tigers 15-2.

Lingle/Ft. Laramie was another game that had the Lady Miners lose the first set 25-20. Then the Lady Miners took the next set from the Lady Doggers 25-23. The last set went to the Lady Miners 15-9.

Pine Bluffs won the game against HEM 25-15 and 25-19.

Scott was happy with the team's efforts.

"We played four good teams and we went 3-1 that day," Scott said. "The girls were able to come together to finish the first two games on top of Lingle and Lusk. We had some great serving and some good hustle plays that allowed us to be victorious."

Scott had praise for many of her players.

"I thought Avery (Scott) and Charla (Widdison) served well for us while Rainey (Wilson) did a good job communicating with her teammates on the floor," Scott said. "T'lyssa (Solaas) is learning her role as libero and does a good job communicating with teammates on the floor also."

In practice this week, Scott said there is work to do.

"This week we will head back into the gym and continue to work at the net as well as retrieving balls that are near the or in the net," Scott said. "We will also continue to work on defense and coverage on the floor as well."

The Lady Miners are 8-7 and first in the Southeast Conference. They will meet Guernsey-Sunrise at home on October 1.