Lady Tigers bring home fourth place trophy

For the second year in a row, the Encampment Lady Tigers returned from the state volleyball tournament with a fourth place finish.

It's not how the girls wanted to finish their season, but Head Coach Robin O'Leary is pleased with what the girls accomplished.

O'Leary said the girls put everything they had into the game and it ended the way it was supposed to end.

"We get a trophy, and there are 20 other 1A teams that don't," O'Leary said. "We have a lot to be grateful for."

Thursday, the top eight 1A teams in the state met in Casper to play for the state title. Saturday, four teams walked away with trophies. Cokeville took first, Little Snake River took second, Hulett took third and Encampment fourth.

The Encampment Lady Tigers played against Hulett, Thursday and came away with a win after five sets, 25-18, 24-26, 24-26, 25-23, 15-12. Hulett was ranked No. 1 in the state by WyoPreps all season long. After winning the first set, The Lady tigers took an early lead against the Hulett Devils.

The Lady Tigers had a comfortable 9 point lead before Hulett stepped up their defense during several long rallies. The Tigers kept the lead, but eventually, the taller Devils began blocking hits by McKenzie Powell and Alyssa Barkhurst. The Devils closed the gap, but the Lady Tigers were still ahead. The win seemed to be imminent with the Tigers ahead 24-22, but the Hulett Devils scored four points after long rallies and won the set.

Undeterred by the loss, the Lady Tigers took the lead in the fourth set and kept it until the Devils caught up and tied the score at 19. The Lady Tigers took the lead again followed by the Devils catching up again, tying the score at 22. The teams continued to tie the next 2 points. Two long rallies ended with the Tigers hitting the return ball out of bounds giving the win to the Devils.

In the fourth set, Hulett took the early lead. As the Devils were outscoring the Lady Tigers 2 to 1 and were down 8-15. O'Leary called her second timeout to talk to her team. With a few seconds left in the timeout, the girls took a moment on the court to form a circle and refocus. Whether it was what the coach said, or the time they took to focus, it worked. The team was re-invigorated and scored 8 points to Hulett's 1. The teams then had a tug of war with the score as one team scored points and then the other team scored. Long rallies between the teams ended with Encampment winning the points. The Tigers were going to play a fifth set.

The fifth set was a nail biter as two teams that desperately wanted to move into the semifinals were fighting for the win. With the score 13-12, the Lady Tigers once again formed a circle in the middle of the court. Holding hands with their fingers interlinked, the girls bowed their heads. Then they scored 2 more points for the win.

Friday afternoon, the Lady Tigers were matched up with Southeast Conference foe Little Snake River Rattlers in the semifinals, with the winner advancing to the championship game. The Lady Tigers fell to LSRV in four sets – 21-25, 25-18, 23-25, 20-25.

With the loss against Little Snake River, the Encampment Tigers moved into the consolation round and played Lingle/Fort Laramie Saturday. The match resulted in a win for the Lady Tigers in four sets – 25-23, 18-25, 25-13, 25-20.

O'Leary said her team plays better against teams they have not played before. Little Snake River is a conference rival and the teams play each other twice during the regular season.

Encampment's win put them in the game for third and fourth place, against an opponent they had already played earlier in the tournament – Hulett.

Hulett had just come off a win against Kaycee with a three set win. The Lady Devils took the win in three sets against the Tigers, 13-25, 22-25, 11-25. The Lady Tigers had some successes on the court in their sets against Hulett, but the Lady Devils had stepped up their game from Thursday. During the second set, McKenzie Powell sprained her ankle after a hit and was out of the game. O'Leary replaced her in the rotation using Ashlynn Johnson, Kaylyn Herring and Micaiah Pantle, all freshmen players. Despite losing a key player, Encampment continued to battle for the win. With Hulett at 24 points, Encampment held them off and scored 4 points to close the gap, but it wasn't enough to get the win.

O'Leary said she was concerned when Powell sprained her ankle, but was grateful it wasn't her knee. "I put the freshmen in and they got some experience," O'Leary said. "They did the best they could."

In the final game, the Lady Devils maintained a large lead against the Lady Tigers. Despite a 9 point lead by the Lady Devils, the Lady Tigers fought hard to overcome the deficit. The junior varsity players had successes helping the varsity team, but the Lady Devils took advantage of the fact that the Lady Tigers no longer had a tall middle blocker in Powell. The Lady Devils overcame the Lady Tigers 11-25.

O'Leary is looking forward to next year and working toward the state title. With only one senior leaving and two talented incoming freshmen, the rest of her team will be a year older and have a couple of state playoffs under their belts. O'Leary hopes to build an even stronger team.

"I have had a great season and the journey with team has been phenomenal and I wouldn't change a thing," O'Leary said.