Lady Panthers sitting at No. 2 in conference

The Saratoga Lady Panthers are sitting at the No. 3 spot in the 1A Southwest Conference after going 2-1 last week across three conference matches.

On October 12, Saratoga was hosted by the Encampment Lady TIgers where they went 3-1. The Lady Panthers were then hosted by the Farson-Eden Lady Pronghorns and the Cokeville Lady Panthers on October 14 where they went 1-1 on the road.

“We confidently handled Encampment and Farson, all who stepped onto the court played well,” said Lisa Teichman, head coach of the Saratoga Lady Panthers. “Cokeville was more difficult mentality-wise. I believe we can keep up with teams of that caliber, I just have to get the girls to believe it.”

Lady Panthers vs. Encampment

When Saratoga hosted the Lady Tigers earlier in the season, it took five sets before the Lady Panthers walked away with a win. Venturing into Tiger Nation, Saratoga took down Encampment in just four sets on Thursday evening. The first two sets went in favor of the Lady Panthers, 25-13 and 25-23, before the Encampment took the 3rd set 17-25. Saratoga secured the 4th and final set 25-20 for their first conference win of the weekend.

Makenna King led the team in attacks with 17 kills and was followed by Cassidy Herring with 5 kills. Allie Condict and Josie Little both attacked the net with 4 kills against Encampment. King also led in digging with 22 digs, followed by Gillian Creed with 16 digs and Condict with 12 digs. Libero Madi Johnson had 11 digs.

Lady Panthers vs.

Farson-Eden

After a win against their conference and Valley rivals, the Lady Panthers hit the road and were hosted by Farson-Eden on Saturday. Saratoga sunk their claws into the Lady Pronghorns, dispatching them in three sets: 25-21, 25-22 and 25-17.

King continued to be the lead attacker with 18 kills and the lead digger with 17 digs. Herring has 8 kills and Little had 6 kills. Johnson, meanwhile, had 13 digs, Condict had 8 digs and Little had 6 digs.

Lady Panthers vs. Cokeville

The winning weekend would come to an end in Cokeville, where the orange-and-black Lady Panthers took down those of the purple-and-gold in three sets: 10-25, 23-25, 12-25.

King still led in attacking with 6 kills, followed by Creed with 3 kills and Condict with 2 kills. Creed led in digging with 14 digs, followed by King with 10 digs, Condict with 9 digs and Piper Gray with 7 digs.

After the weekend, the Saratoga Lady Panthers are 15-9-1 for the season and 4-3 in conference play. They will be hosted by the Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) Lady Miners on October 17 at 5 p.m.. They will then host the Little Snake River Valley (LSRV) Lady Rattlers on October 19  at 4 p.m. for their final home game of the season.

“I honestly believe they’ll come out and offer LSRV some competition,” said Teichman.

Their final game of the season will be in Lusk as they face Niobrara County on October 20 at 1 p.m.