Lady Panthers take three more

The Saratoga Lady Panthers continued their run of victories last week as they won against the Hanna, Elk Mountain and Medicine Bow (HEM) Lady Miners on Thursday (25-23, 25-19, 25-15), the Little Snake River Valley (LSRV) Lady Rattlers on Friday (19-25, 25-21, 21-25, 25-16, 15-9) and the Encampment Lady Tigers on Saturday (25-14, 25-18, 25-20). As the Lady Panthers continue their conference wins, with the exception of the Cokeville Lady Panthers during homecoming weekend, they are currently No. 2 in the 1A Southwest Conference.

"I'm just really proud of these girls," said Shayley Love, head coach of the Saratoga Lady Panthers." I think the biggest thing with these girls is just getting to that next play and then figuring out where our strengths are, what their weaknesses may be and capitalizing on some of that."

Saratoga vs. HEM

Thursday night, the Lady Panthers hosted HEM at the Panther Den and dispatched the Lady Miners in three sets. While the ladies of HEM would bring the score close in the first set, Saratoga made sure to keep ahead in the last two sets to win the match 3-0.

"Thursday night we played Hanna and took care of them in three and they're a really scrappy team. I anticipated them to play us a little bit tougher than they did, which they probably will the second time around since they kind of know what to expect from us now," Love said.

Junior Jenna Dew attacked the net repeatedly against HEM, a total of 22 times, and had 10 kills against the Lady Miners. Aubrey Berger followed with 9 kills and Makiya Johnson had 8 kills.

Libero Tasia Daley dug out the ball 30 times in the match against HEM, followed by Berger with 29 and Bauer with 9. Daley also had the most receptions at 15 with Bauer following with 11 and Berger with 7.

Saratoga vs. LSRV

On Friday, Saratoga travelled to Baggs to take on the Lady Rattlers (1-3, 4-8), where they achieved yet another conference win. LSRV, which in the past has been a top contender within the 1A Southwest Conference, would ultimately lose in five sets to the Lady Panthers. While the Lady Rattlers would win the first and third set, Saratoga won the second and fourth set as well as the tie-breaking fifth set.

"They are not the same team they were when they came to our tournament. They played our JV at our tournament and our JV played well against them," said Love. I think the girls kind of looked at it like 'Oh, we got this in the bag' type thing and then after that first set they were like 'They're a lot better than we anticipated.' So we just regrouped and capitalized on their weaknesses and our strengths and took advantage of that."

Love contributes part of the Lady Panthers regrouping to Bennett and her blocking abilities.

"When Taylor's blocking is on, it just gets everyone else so excited and then our passing came right along with it," Love said. "It's almost like it's effortless with her, she just does it and she's just so good at it. I think what's so cool about it is the girls can get excited for her and internally that makes them that much more excited and pumped when they're playing."

Bennett blocked a total of 12 times against the Lady Rattlers (seven solo and five assisted). Dew followed with three total blocks and Johnson with two.

While Dew had been the main attacker against HEM, it was Berger who attacked the net against LSRV with 49 attacks and 11 kills. Bauer had eight kills and Johnson had four.

The Lady Panthers also did well on serving, with Berger and senior Mychaela Jackman serving four aces each.

Saratoga vs. Encampment

Saturday saw the Lady Panthers host Valley and conference rivals Encampment (0-5, 4-8) at the Panther Den. The first time the two teams faced off, in Tiger Nation, Saratoga achieved their first conference win since entering the 1A Southwest Conference. While the Lady Tigers would often run ahead with the score or keep it tied for most of each set, the Lady Panthers were able to gain control of the court and rush past Encampment.

Bennett's blocking was, more often than not, what brought any lead the Lady Tigers had to a near standstill, even though Bennett had a total of four blocks. That, combined with the digging of Tasia Daley and serves from Berger and Makiya Johnson, kept the Lady Panthers moving forward and putting distance between themselves and Encampment.

Daley was the lead in digs against the Lady Tigers with 20 followed by Berger with 13 and Bauer with seven.

Saratoga, again, did well on serving with Berger serving six aces and Johnson serving four. Berger also led the Lady Panthers in attacking with seven kills along with Dew who also had seven kills.

"As much as we have a couple that can rise above at times, I feel, collectively, our team just rises together. I think that that is where so much success is coming from," said Love. Panthers are now 4-1 for conference and 11-1 for the season.

Following three back-to-back-to-back games last week, Saratoga has an easy week ahead of them. While the Lady Panthers JV will play North Park in the Panther Den at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 25, the varsity will not be playing until Friday, Sept. 28 when they host the Rock River Lady Longhorns starting at 5 p.m.