Tigers leap onward to state

If the Encampment Lady Tigers play at state like they did at regionals, they will be coming home with a first place trophy.

The Lady Tigers easily beat St. Stephens Friday morning 25-8, 25-10, 25-9. Friday night they played Cokeville, a team they are familiar with. They lost the first set 21-25, but followed up with three wins 25-20, 25-18, 25-17, for the match.

Saturday afternoon, the Lady Tigers squashed Little Snake River Valley in the championship game 25-13, 25-12, 25-18.

"I don't even have words," Encampment's Head Coach Robin O'Leary said of her pride in the girls and their play over the weekend.

"They played consistently through the whole tournament and they were playing their ball," O'Leary said.

O'Leary was especially proud of the way the team supports each other – as they get more excited when their teammates have successes on the court. "That is success," O'Leary said.

The Encampment Tigers will play their first game at state Thursday at 6 p.m., which will give them a chance to see how the teams they have not played fare against teams they are familiar with.

The KayCee Buckaroos play at 1 p.m. Thursday against Farson/Eden Pronghorns. KayCee has been ranked No. 1 in the state up until last week by WyoPreps votes when Encampment took the lead with a unanimous vote.

For the seniors, it was their fourth time to compete at regionals – their third time to qualify for state and their first time at being No. 1. Senior Cassidy Little said the support from the team has helped them throughout the season. She also credited the crowd with making a huge difference in their play.

"We always have a backup," Little said. They never want to let their supporters down, so when they are down in a game and supporters start cheering for them, it brings the team back together.

Little said it is really nice to have a support team – Encampment had quite a few fans at regionals.

"Our support has grown over the years as we have grown," Little said.

Little also credited the bench for their spirit. "The bench helps us a lot. We all come together."

The Upton Bobcats gtake on the Little Snake River Valley Rattlers at 2:30 p.m., with the Cokeville Panthers going up against Lingle/Fort Laramie.

Encampment goes up against No. 4 east conference seed Rock River.

The Lady Tigers came away with some impressive statistics during all their games having more than 90 percent successful serves.

Against the St. Stephens Eagles, they had 31 kills of 71 attempts. Sophomore Hailey Barkhurst led the Tigers with eight kills, while freshman Paige Powell, senior Alyssa Barkhurst and junior McKenzie Powell had five each. Junior varsity player and freshman Lauren Buford had two kills. Each JV player got experience during the match. O'Leary was thrilled with the performance of her junior varsity players who all had a chance to play against St. Stephens.

Little had two kills, while sophomore Cheyanne Jordan had one kill.

M. Powell and H. Barkhurst led the blocks with three while A. Barkhurst, Lauren Buford and Paige Powell came away with one each.

Junior Sierra Loftice was ready at the net with 19 of the 22 assists the team had during the game.

A. Barkhurst had 16 of the 48 digs, while M. Powell had 8 digs. The most impressive dig of the game was by Little, when she made a dive to save a ball and keep the Tigers in play.

The team scored 12 aces against St. Stephens.

The match against Cokeville proved to be the toughest for the Lady Tigers. They lost the first set and they were not about to lose another.

That was evident in the 54 kills out of 153 attempts. H. Barkhurst and P. Powell were playing hard at the net as they had 40 and 41 attempts at kills respectively. P. Powell scored with 18 of her kills, while the Barkhurst girls had 11 kills each.

A. Barkhurst worked the back row with 33 digs, while M. Powell had 18 and H. Powell had 16 digs.

The team had a total of 88 digs during the Cokeville game.

After losing the first two sets to Encampment, the Little Snake River Valley supporters started chanting "We want blood." They did not get it.

The Lady Tigers served their best set of the weekend against the Rattlers, with a nearly 96 percent serving average. While they had less kills, they were more successful with 106 attempts producing 40 kills. Sierra Loftice put in 30 assists to make sure that the Rattlers kill attempts did not get past her. A. Barkhurst had 20 digs while P. Powell had 17.

When the girls missed defensively, they shook it off and made sure they did not make the same mistake again.

The closest Snake River got to competing at Encampment's level was in the third set when they scored 18 points.

The last time Encampment won regionals was in 2004 when Alysia Kraft was a senior. O'Leary was coaching then, too.

"These girls are amazing people and athletes. It's an honor for me to a be a part of their team," O'Leary said.