Working towards a win

The Encampment Lady Tigers had another rough weekend as they lost two of their three scheduled games, with those two losses being to conference foes the Farson-Eden Lady Pronghorns (19-25, 23-25, 25-20, 25-20, 6-15) and the Cokeville Lady Panthers (13-25, 17-25, 13-25) on Saturday. The night before, the Lady Tigers traveled to Rock River where they beat the Lady Longhorns in three sets (25-13, 25-20, 25-21).

Despite the two conference losses, the scores do not fully show the progress the young Lady Tigers are making as the younger players begin to find their place on the team.

"We're starting to hone in on a lineup that's really going to work for us," said Robin Brown, head coach of the Encampment Lady Tigers. "The girls played hard, they didn't give in. They had a lot of heart."

Encampment vs.

Rock River

Encampment departed Tiger Nation on Friday to take on the Lady Longhorns at 5 p.m. The Lady Tigers would depart Rock River with a 3-0 victory, a much needed win that boosted the moral of the Encampment team following losses to the Hanna, Elk Mountain and Medicine Bow (HEM) Lady Miners and the Little Snake River Valley Lady Rattlers the week before.

Encampment vs.

Farson-Eden

The Lady Tigers began their Saturday by hosting the first of two conference rivals, Farson-Eden, beginning at 10 a.m. The first two sets saw Encampment bring the score close several times and even looked like they might surpass the Lady Pronghorns. Farson-Eden, however, would take advantage of the Lady Tigers' errors and end the sets with single digit leads.

Seniors Lauren Buford and Noelle Peterson continued to lead the team of young players as they fought for points against Farson-Eden. Sophomore Lindsie Farver was by no means afraid to hit the floor as they attempted to dig the ball out of Tiger territory and send it back to the Lady Pronghorns and Shiann Finney stepped up to the net several times in attack after attack.

In the third set, the Lady Tigers turned the game around. While the girls of Farson-Eden would attempt to surpass Encampment several times the third set ended with a win for Tiger Nation. The same would happen in the fourth set as the Encampment girls and the Lady Pronghorns fought, point-by-point, until the Lady Tigers tied the match with another win and headed into a tie-breaker fifth set.

The momentum that Encampment had found in the third and fourth sets faltered in the fifth set. Despite attempts to keep Farson-Eden from scoring, the Lady Tigers struggled to keep the scores even. The fifth set ended with a win for the Lady Pronghorns, who escaped Tiger Nation with a win, but not without having blood drawn by the young Encampment team.

"If we would have gotten a little bit better start in each set, because we had to fight back from being behind in order to win the sets that we won, I think that if we had started off stronger in each set than it maybe would have gone a different way, but it was definitely a hard fought battle with evenly matched teams," Brown said.

Encampment vs.

Cokeville

Almost immediately following their game against the Farson-Eden, the Lady Panthers arrived in Tiger Nation during the final set of Encampment's game against Lady Pronghorns, the Lady Tigers faced off against Cokeville.

Despite their exhaustion, Encampment fought hard in their second of two matches on Saturday proving that, while they may still be lacking in experience, they are not lacking in heart. Even though the Lady Tigers fought hard, the Lady Panthers were able to end the match in three sets, leaving the Platte Valley with their second win-their first win being against the Saratoga Lady Panthers.

Following their one win and two conference losses, the Lady Tigers are 0-4 for conference and 2-6 for the season. Encampment will head across the border Thursday to take on the North Park Wildcats at 4:30 p.m. before facing off against Valley and conference rivals the Saratoga Lady Panthers (2-1,8-1) at noon on Sept. 22 in Saratoga.