Lady Herders go 1–5 in Gillette tournament

Harrison Epstein photos
Sophomore Skylar Reese Harford celebrates after the team won a point against Sheridan High School Sept. 6.

By: 
Harrison Epstein harrison@glenrockind.com

 

It’s better for a sports team to find mistakes early in the season. Mental errors and alignment issues can destroy any team’s chance of winning in the long run. For the Glenrock High School Lady Herders, their time in the Gillette volleyball tournament was just a learning opportunity.
The team played six games over Sept. 6 and 7, snatching only one win in the weekend. More than the wins and losses, the Lady Herders learned about their opponents and, most importantly, themselves.
“We actually did pretty well, we played up to 4A, 3A teams. It was definitely better competition, definitely got us prepared for this coming 2A tournament and we put our work out there and showed the 4A teams what we can do,” senior Jaylee Rowe said.
The first game of the tournament for Glenrock was a three-set loss to the Scottsbluff Bearcats. The Lady Herders won the first set 25–22 before falling in the next two sets. The game was emblematic of the rest of their weekend, coming up close but not being able to quite get the wins, except for their second game.
The second matchup was with the Sheridan Broncs. With a first set win of 25–21 and a 25–23 finish in the second, Glenrock took what turned out to be their only win of the trip. The Lady Herders put everything they had into the Sheridan match, leaving the Stevens High School Raiders enough of a chance to jump out to early leads.
The Raiders won the first set 25–19 and the second 25–10. After that it was time to get back on the bus and head out, except they didn’t need to ride back to Converse County. The team stayed in a hotel in Gillette, cutting down on driving time and giving them more time together to bond and grow even closer.
Senior Mandi Tvedt said that the girls got together and watched the football game as a team on Friday night. As the players on the court, all of the Lady Herders know what they can work on to improve their performances. Rowe said that she wants to see the team improve defensively, Katelyn Cathcart mentioned their mental fortitude and they both said that the team can work on building up their endurance.
“I know we’ll get a really big high on a game, we’ll be so excited and then one thing happens and we’ll get a big low and that’s something we’ll have to work on. We have to keep it at a consistent medium,” Cathcart said.
Day two of the tournament was more of the same, but it was the first chance for Glenrock to adjust to the pace and style of 4A play. Tvedt mentioned that they had to adjust to the sheer number of girls on opposing teams who could use their strength at a high level as opposed to the 2A teams.
The second day was kicked off with a 2–0 loss to Cheyenne Central. The Indians took both sets with a wide margin, the Lady Herders were unable to score more than 16 in a single set in the match.
Their midday matchup was a face-off with the Laramie Plainsmen. The Plainsmen were given a run for their money early on, with GHS barely losing the first set 25–21. The second set was just slightly more lopsided at 25–13. All that was left for the Lady Herders was one more match, this time against the Cheyenne South Bison.
“I know the very, very last game when we were all pumped up and riled up, it really showed our mental capability toward bigger competition,” Cathcart said.
She added that she was surprised to see how well the team played up to Cheyenne South’s level in that last game. While the Bison did take the win, it was the longest match of the weekend for Glenrock. They won the first set 25–23 and lost the second set, this time 23–25. In the decisive third set, the match went into extras as neither squad made it to 25 with the two-point margin. Cheyenne South eked out the win 24–26.
Now the team is back in Glenrock, practicing daily to ready themselves for their next tournament. They’ll be traveling this weekend to Big Horn for a tournament with other 2A schools.
Not only is the opportunity to play against other 2A schools the first time Glenrock will play a significant number of games against other schools on the same tier, it’s a vital learning opportunity. These are some of the schools that they’ll be playing all throughout conference play and could be some of the teams they’ll see in the State Championship tournament in November. 
Their first home game will be on Sept. 20 against Niobara County at 3 p.m. The game will be one of the final events of the homecoming week, with the football game played later that evening.
 

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