Lady Panthers take down Lady Pronghorns

The Saratoga Lady Panthers appear to still be finding their feet this season as they went 1-1 against two conference foes last week. On Thursday, they hosted the Farson-Eden Lady Pronghorns (6-4, 2-2) and were hosted by the Encampment Lady Tigers (4-5, 1-3) on Friday. Both matches were a battle for Saratoga as they went across four sets on Thursday and five sets on Friday.

Lady Panthers vs.

Lady Pronghorns

When Farson-Eden hosted the Lady Panthers just a week before, Saratoga sunk their claws into the Lady Pronghorns to come away with a conference win across three sets. Despite only a week between matches for the two conference rivals, the Lady Pronghorns put up a fight for Saratoga on Thursday.

In the first set, the Lady Pronghorns took an early lead in the first few minutes of the game as they scored 5 points to Saratoga's 1 point. Farson-Eden would take advantage of errors by the Lady Panthers to gain a sizable lead, but Saratoga would eventually catch up to the Lady Pronghorns and tie the score at 17-17. As the two teams went point-for-point, they would go beyond the normal set-ending score of 25 to tie 26-26. The Lady Pronghorns would then throw two more points on the board to end the first set 26-28.

The second set was much of the same, though it was the Lady Panthers who were on top. It appeared that the blocking from Farson-Eden made Saratoga rethink their strategy against the Lady Pronghorns. Though the two teams tied early in the set, 8-8, Saratoga would maintain a lead throughout most of it. As they approached the game point, however, Farson-Eden closed the gap. Again going beyond 25 points, the second set saw Saratoga win 29-27.

The next two sets saw Saratoga regain their composure and prevent the Lady Pronghorns from winning another set. The Lady Panthers, in fact, would take the 3rd and 4th sets with 3 point and 5 point leads, respectively.

"I really like how some of the girls who have been a bit quiet on the floor stepped up and helped us get the win," said Shayley Love, head coach of the Lady Panthers. "Defensively, we managed to shut down their best player on the outside pretty well. I think the one thing that really slowed the momentum was our serving. We had too many errors in that department and it's something we really need to be more consistent with."

Senior Savannah Wells led Saratoga in attacking the net with 14 kills and was followed by sophomore Whitney Bennett with 12 kills. Sophomore Olivia Everett had 9 kills against the Lady Pronghorns and sophomore Shelby Knotwell had 6 kills.

Senior Lexi Herring served 3 aces against Farson-Eden and had 100 percent serve success across 22 serves. Senior Sam Duke served 2 aces and Wells served 1 ace. Bennett, while not serving any aces, did have 100 percent success over 16 serves.

Senior Tasia Daley in her role as libero led the Lady Panthers in hitting the floor as she had 32 digs against Farson-Eden. Wells followed with 22 digs, Bennett had 17 digs and Herring had 15 digs.

Saratoga secured their second win against Farson-Eden in four sets, going 3-1, as they went 26-28, 29-27, 25-22, 25-20.

"We know that Farson has some very strong players and a couple of inexperienced players, so we tried to take advantage when they were on the court," Love said. "Overall, I was proud of the girls for the way they rallied and put a solid match together."

Lady Panthers vs.

Lady Tigers

A day after their win agaist Farson-Eden, the Lady Panthers traveled to Encampment to face the Lady Tigers. When Saratoga hosted Encampment in September, the Lady Panthers took care of their Valley and conference rivals in three sets. This time, however, the Lady Tigers would manage to steal a win from Saratoga for the first time in three years.

"On Saturday, we were definitely challenged on the court," said Love. "We played really great defense and served much better, we just needed to put the ball away when we had the chance."

The 1st set appeared to set the tone for the rest of the match as Encampment and Saratoga went point-for-point and exchanged the lead multiple times. While the Lady Panthers managed to secure a small lead in the later part of the set, they would tie 23-23 and return to the point-for-point play before winning the set 30-28. In the 2nd set, Encampment was quick to score first against the Lady Panthers, but Saratoga worked to tie the score and then push forward to lead through most of the set. Near the end of the set, however, the Lady Tigers secured a lead and took the set 25-27.

The 3rd set was the only one that ended at 25, with the Lady Panthers taking the win at 25-19. Saratoga, however, would then end up falling in the 4th and 5th set. The Lady Panthers, however, would not make it easy for the Encampment as the 4th set ended 24-26 and the 5th set ended 18-16.

Saratoga fell 2-3 to the Lady Tigers and suffered their third conference loss. 

"We got to game point numerous times and needed to finish in order to get the win," Love said. "We knew after the first match we played them this year that we needed to be ready for them to serve and attack the ball better than they did the first time. They did do that and we just didn't stop the momentum like we needed to."

Bennett led the attack against the Lady Tigers with 13 kills and was followed by Wells with 10 kills. Everett attacked the net for 6 kills and Knotwell had 5 kills. When it came to serving, Duke was the leader with 4 aces and was followed by Wells with 3 aces. Daley and Bennett each served 2 aces against Encampment.

Bennett was the lead digger for Saratoga with 42 digs and was followed by Daley with 28 digs and Wells with 24 digs. Duke and Herring, meanwhile, had 19 and 14 digs, respectively. 

"Once we put all aspects of our game together, it'll be fun to watch what these girls accomplish," said Love. "I'm still proud of their efforts and we'll regroup and be prepared for this coming weekend."

After their 1-1 week, the Lady Panthers are now 6-6 for the season and 3-3 for conference play. This week, Saratoga has two games as they face the Southeast Lady Cyclones and the Lingle-Fort Laramie Lady Doggers.

The Saratoga Lady Panthers will host the Lady Cyclones at noon and the Lady Doggers at 3 p.m. on October 10 in the Panther Den.