Lady Panthers take third in Regionals, head to State

During the weekend, the Saratoga Lady Panthers headed to the 1A West Regionals tournament in Lander for the first time since entering the 1A conference two years ago and continuing an, overall, winning season for the Lady Panthers. While stumbling in the first game against No. 3 Northwest ranked Dubois Lady Rams (25-27, 25-15, 21-25, 27-25, 13-15), Saratoga fought back to claim 3rd place and secure their place at the State Tournament in Casper after defeating the Meeteetse Lady Longhorns (25-10, 25-22, 25-19), Farson-Eden Lady Pronghorns (15-25, 20-25, 25-20, 25-23, 15-13) and the Lady Rams, again (25-6, 25-16, 25-12).

Saratoga vs. Dubois

The last time the Lady Panthers faced off against the Lady Rams (4-4, 12-17-1) was at the Arvada-Clearmont Invite in Buffalo where Saratoga was victorious. When they faced off again, this time at the regional tournament, the Lady Rams were able to use the regular set numbers to their advantage and ended the match 2-3.

Saratoga vs. Meeteetse

Saratoga faced off against Meeteetse (8-0, 18-7-1) following the Lady Longhorns loss to the Little Snake River Valley (LSRV) Lady Rattlers in their first round. Not wanting a repeat of their game against the Lady Rams, the Lady Panthers quickly dispatched Meeteetse in three sets.

Saratoga vs.

Farson-Eden

When the Lady Panthers would face off against Farson-Eden (4-4, 15-8) in the regular season they were able to defeat the Lady Pronghorns in four sets. The only time they were defeated by Farson-Eden was during a non-conference game at the Arvada-Clearmont 1A Tournament. During regionals, however, things can always change.

The Lady Pronghorns forced the match to last five sets as they won the first two against the Lady Panthers, but Saratoga turned it around in the third set to win the match 3-2.

Saratoga vs. Dubois, again

Much like the Arvada-Clearmont Invite, Saratoga took on the Lady Rams twice. The previous day’s loss still fresh in their mind, the Lady Panthers were not about to let Dubois beat them, again. Saratoga ended the game against the Lady Rams in three quick sets.

State Bound

With their victory against the girls of Dubois, the Lady Panthers won not only 3rd place at regionals, but secured their seed as the No. 3 1A West team at the State Championship. The first game for Saratoga will take place at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 1 against the No. 2 East Lingle-Fort Laramie Lady Doggers (2-0, 19-9-1).