Lady Miners have 2-1 weekend

Saratoga

The Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) girls volleyball team faced the Saratoga Panthers on their home court on Oct. 1. The Lady Panthers were not fazed by the enthusiastic Miner fans that had come to show support.

The first points were scored by the Lady Miners, but the Lady Panthers roared back with six unanswered points as Lady Panther Aubry Berger served.

The Lady Miners broke the run and minutes later the score was 6-7. Saratoga regrouped and got the score up 6-10. The four point lead evaporated as the Lady Miners got some points and the score was 9-11. The Lady Panthers were having none of this comeback and scored seven unanswered points, making the score 9-18. HEM started getting points, but the Panthers were, too. The score was 13-20 and the crowd was quiet. The Lady Miners didn't score any more points this game and Saratoga won 13-25.

The next game started out with an intense long volley that lasted for well over a minute. The score was 4-4 , then when it was 8-4 for the Lady Miners, Saratoga took a time out. It worked and minutes later the score was tied up at 10-10. The Panthers went on to take the lead, 10-12. The Lady Miners stayed competitive and head coach Jackie Jones called a time out when the score reached 11-14. It had some effect, but the Panthers had another win in their sights. The score was 19-24 and the Panthers went in for the kill. The score for the second game was 19-25.

The next game started out with intensity for both teams. The teams were tied 5-5 when the Lady Panthers took advantage of unforced errors that had the Saratoga team up 5-10. The Lady Miners still played hard and got the score to 14-15. After Saratoga took a time out, the Lady Miners scored twice, taking the lead 16-15. The Lady Panthers dug deep and took back the lead 17-18. Then the Lady Panthers pounced and the Lady Miners took a time out when the score reached 17-21. The timeout didn't help, although the Lady Miners did get to 21. The score ended 21-25.

"You don't want to lose, but when you do to this caliber of team, it only improves the team," Jones said. "Also we did a flow chart from past games, where we show how one error leads to another and another, and against a quality team like Saratoga, you can't have that."

Jones said Saratoga is a great volleyball team.

"I think we played great volleyball at spurts," Jones said. "Its just when we have those downhill slides, we have to find it in ourselves to gather up and get it stopped."

Guernsey-Sunrise

The Lady Miners went to Guernsey-Sunrise and got back to their winning ways agains the Lady Vikings.

"Our notorious slow happened in the beginning, but once they put things together, we really took control," Jones said.

The Lady Miners won 25-15, 25-18, 25-8 against the Lady Vikings.

"Charla Widdison played one of her best games of the season," Jones observed. "She was very involved with everything that was happening."

She said in the game, Hannah Christie played extremely well, too.

"Friday night was a total team effort," Jones said. "Once we clicked, we did well, especially after coming off a loss."

Jones said after the loss to Saratoga, she had the team concentrate on team building versus actual volleyball.

"We put volleyballs aside and we did some stuff that built bonds," Jones said. "It was nice, very nice."

It worked, as the Lady Vikings found out.

Encampment

The Lady Miners met the Encampment Tigers in Hanna, but not at the HEM gym. The water was turned off at the high school, so the contest was moved to the Hanna Elementary gym. It was obviously a tighter fit.

The move delayed the start about an hour.

The first point scored was by the Lady Tigers.

Encampment went ahead 1-4 in the beginning, but the Lady Miners settled down and had the score tied 4-4. Taylor Scott had a kill shot that put HEM ahead. The Lady Tigers were not fazed, taking back the lead 6-8. HEM came back and went ahead 9-8. The see-saw battle continued with the Lady Tigers ahead 10-13.

"We have a tendency to start slow," Jones said. "We really do, but once we get in a system, we come back."

The Lady Miners dug in and tied the score at 14-14. The crowd was watching a nail biter. It continued that wasyas Encampment took the lead 15-17. Soon it was tied at 17-17 and then HEM took the lead for the second time in the game at 19-17. The Lady Tigers took a time out when the score was 20-18. It worked and the two teams battled to a 23-23, but the Lady Miners got two points to win the game.

The Lady Miners started out slow again in the second game going down 0-6. Jones called a time out. It worked. The scored became tied at 11-11. The game stayed tight although the Lady Miners took the lead with 15-13. The Lady Miners started to pull away, although Encampment played hard , the score was in favor of HEM 24-15. The Lady Miners won 25-15.

"When a team starts to get momentum on us, we have to stop it," Jones said. "That is why I took the time out when it was 0-6. This is a group of girls that listens."

The last game it was all HEM. The Lady Tigers got within five points at 11-6, but they would not score again until HEM had 17-7. The Lady Tigers were down, but not out. They kept fighting and the score was 20-14. The Lady Miners started to put the game away, scoring four unanswered points. The game ended 25-15 in favor of HEM.

Jones said she was pleased with how all the players did their job against Encampment.

"The Encampment team has come a long ways," Jones said. "They were after everything and I can't say enough what Lizzie James does for her team. She is an excellent player and, as an opposing coach, she is fun to watch."

The Lady Miners have a break coming this week.

"We have a bye coming this week and it comes at a good time," Jones said. "We just played three teams this week and it will be good to rest. The girls deserve it."

The next scheduled game is Oct. 16 in Rock River.