Saratoga takes Championship at 1A Jamboree

The Saratoga Lady Panthers ventured to Dubois over the weekend to compete in the 1A Jamboree. It was a success by all accounts as the Lady Panthers would return home with the Championship after dispatching the Rock River Lady Longhorns, the Upton Lady Bobcats, the Ten Sleep Lady Pioneers, the Meeteetse Lady Longhorns and the Kaycee Lady Buckaroos.

“It was a successful weekend for our girls for sure,” said Shayley Love, head coach of the Lady Panthers. “This last week we were playing with some injuries and I was really proud of the girls who had to step into positions they don’t normally play. We saw some good competition in Dubois this past weekend.”

Lady Panthers vs.

Rock River

While the Lady Panthers were originally scheduled to play against the St. Stephen’s Lady Eagles, the Lady Eagles forfeited the game and the first game for Saratoga was against the Lady Longhorns of the Southeast conference.

Senior Aubrey Berger led the team against Rock River with 6 kills and was followed by senior Jenna Dew with 5 kills. Senior Makiyah Johnson, who has been out for most of the season due to injury, returned to the court and delt 4 kills along with senior Taylor Bennett. Juniors Sam Duke and Savannah Wells each had 3 kills.

In serving, junior Lexi Herring served 5 aces across 19 serves with 100 percent successful serves. T. Bennett served 2 aces across 8 serves and Duke served 1 ace over 5 serves with both of them serving at 100 percent.

Johnson and T. Bennett were the lead solo blockers as they each had 2 solo blocks against the Lady Longhorns. Dew had 3 assisted blocks, contributing to the teams total of 8 assisted blocks.

Libero Tasia Daley had 16 digs against Rock River as she kept the ball from landing and was followed by Duke with 10 digs. Herring had 7 digs and Berger had 6 digs.

The Lady Panthers would win across two sets with a score of 25-19, 25-8.

Lady Panthers vs. Lady Bobcats

Following their victory over Rock River, the next match for Saratoga was against the Lady Bobcats. Upton would try to keep up with the Lady Panthers, but Saratoga would eventually win across two sets with a score of 25-18, 25-16.

Dew would be the lead killer with 7 kills against the Lady Bobcats followed by Berger with 5 kills and T. Bennett with 3 kills.

Herring served 4 aces across 10 sets with 100 percent serving success, followed by Berger with 3 aces across 11 sets and 100 percent serving success.

T. Bennett returned to her role as lead blocker with 3 solo blocks against Upton.

Daley was, again, the lead digger with 17 digs and was followed by T. Bennett with 12 digs. Duke and Berger each had 9 digs against the Lady Bobcats.

Lady Panthers vs.

Lady Pioneers

Saratoga was on a roll and little seemed to be able to put it to a stop as they defeated Ten Sleep on Saturday morning.

Dew would again lead in kills with 8 kills against the Lady Pioneers. Berger followed with 5 kills and T. Bennett would have 4 kills.

T. Bennett also served 2 aces across 10 serves and was followed by Duke with 2 aces across 11 serves. Duke would also serve with 100 percent success.

T. Bennett led in blocking as well, with 4 solo blocks.

Daley dug out 18 times against Ten Sleep with Duke digging out 12 times.

The Lady Panthers would end the game 25-17, 25-9.

Lady Panthers vs.

Meeteetse

“The most competitive match up was with Meeteetse. They have some very strong hitters and a scrappy defense. We had to make some adjustments on our end and I think it showed us that we can play at a higher level,” said Love. “I felt like our girls played very focused and showed a lot of determination and character as they finished out with a win.” 

The Lady Panthers game against Meeteetse was the only one to be three sets over the weekend with the Lady Longhorns winning the first match and Saratoga winning the next two.

Berger was the lead killer against Meeteetse with 6 kills and was followed by Dew with 3 kills and Wells with 2 kills.

Herring served 4 aces against the Lady Longhorns over 14 serves with 100 percent success. T. Bennett served 2 aces against Meeteetse.

T. Bennett was the lead blocker with 6 solo blocks while Johnson had 3 assisted blocks.

Berger took the spot of lead digger against the Lady Longhorns with 14 digs, followed by T. Bennett with 10 digs and Daley and Herring with 9 digs.

While Meeteetse won the first set 22-25, Saratoga took the following two with a score of 25-23, 15-11.

Lady Panthers vs.

Lady Buckaroos

While the match against Kaycee was a close one, the Lady Panthers were still able to wrap it up in two sets to claim the championship with a score of 25-21, 25-19.

Dew led in kills with 4 kills and was followed by Wells, Johnson and Berger with 3 kills.

Dew also served 4 aces across 11 serves with 100 percent success. 

Dew, T. Bennett and Berger each had 1 solo block against the Lady Buckaroos. 

Daley returned to her role as lead digger with 16 digs, followed by Berger with 14 digs and Herring with 11 digs.

Following the events of the 1A Jamboree in Dubois, Saratoga is 18-2 for the season and 3-1 for conference. They return to conference play this weekend as they are hosted by the Farson-Eden Lady Pronghorns (4-9-2, 1-4) at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 18 and the Cokeville Lady Panthers (21-5, 4-0) at noon on Oct. 19.

“As we prepare for this weekend it was great to see Farson play because they will give us a more competitive match than the first time we saw them in conference action,” said Love. “I also feel like this tournament helped us to see the things that will help us compete at a higher level. We have some things to tweek and try out, but I feel we will be ready to hit the road over the weekend.”