Herd v-ball season opens at tourney amid new rules

Senior setter Alyssa Collier passes the ball to help set up a spike later in the set during Glenrock’s match against Douglas Saturday afternoon at Douglas High School.

By: 
Joshua Clark

T

he squeaks of the shoes on the hardwood and the sound of the ball thumping to the ground after a hard serve helped ring in the first official weekend of real game play in a season many thought would never happen.

The Lady Herders made their way down to Douglas to compete in a quad-tournament against 3A talent, and although they lost all three of their matches to the bigger schools, they competed and made it interesting in two of the three. 

The team opened up the tournament against Burns with a 3-1 loss, with just a couple plays being the difference. After being defeated handily in the first game, 17-25, the team rallied and lost a tight set 29-31, followed by a 25-16 win. Burns closed Glenrock out with another close contest to take the match. 

Torrington swept Glenrock, but once again the Lady Herders kept the score close and were in each set until the very end, 19-25, 22-25 and 20-25.

“Against Burns and Torrington our girls really did step up,” Glenrock Head Coach Meghan Anderson said. “I’ve got a mixture of some upperclassmen, freshman and sophomores who did some really great things to keep it close and score in the 20s. We were able to compete but had some of the beginning of the season issues as far as serving and communicating. If we clean up some of those things we will be able to hang with anyone.”

Against Douglas the team fell apart a bit, losing 12-24,9-25 and 9-25. Anderson said part of the loss fell on running out of stamina, and team leader Amanda Shillcox said there were some communication problems due to new rotations.

“In the Douglas game, we were trying different groups on the floor and we kind of fell apart in our communication and effort,” Shillcox said. “We will take it game by game and figure out which rotations work best for the team.”

Playing up to the tougher competition is something that will help the girls as they move into their 2A schedule Friday.

“You see girls who can consistently swing hard and block really well in the 3A teams,” Anderson said. “Sundance and Moorcroft can come with that same kind of firepower. It’s good for the six girls who didn’t play varsity last year to get that exposure to how fast-paced the game can be.”

Anderson and Shillcox view Moorcroft and Sundance as two of their top obstacles in their quest for a state championship and see it as an opportunity to see which 12 of the 15 girls the team will bring to the regional and state tournaments later this season. 

“Sundance won state last year and has a lot of returners so they’ll be very competitive,” Anderson said. “Moorcroft didn’t lose much either and were a very tough opponent last year. After watching the film, we saw how explosive they are. They have some really good hitters so we’re working on our blocking and fine tuning our communication.” 

One of the major changes COVID-19 has inflicted on the season is the total number of teams allowed at single tournaments. In seasons past, upwards of eight teams would compete. Now, quads are the biggest gatherings allowed, which means less games, increasing the importance of each match. 

The first weekend for the team is typically six games instead of the three they played, with the biggest change coming in the third weekend of the season when all of 2A usually meet in Big Horn. 

If the season were to be cancelled, it is possible teams could push to hold a regional and state tournament in back-to-back weekends based on the team records at the time. If this ends up being the case, early season games will gain greater importance. 

“We’re grateful to have a season and see the girls excited that they can be out there on the floor even with restrictions,” Anderson said. “Hopefully, we can get to that postseason and get a conclusion, especially for those seniors.”

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