Print
E-mail
|
By RYAN LUCAS
Boomerang Sports Writer
The Lady Plainsmen kept up their hopes last Saturday after a loss.
By Monday, an aspiration four years in the making turned into reality, energizing the Laramie High School volleyball team like it put down a spike for match point.
For the first time since 2005, LHS qualified for state.
And the Lady Plainsmen earned the berth in style, finishing second in the 4A East Conference by way of a tiebreaker to receive automatic admission at the season’s defining event.
Regardless of how Laramie (16-14 overall, 5-5 East) fares during this weekend’s regional tournament at Plainsman Gym, the squad is heading to Casper due to its league sweep of rival Cheyenne Central (5-5 East).
“We got the official word on Monday (from the Wyoming High School Activities Association), and we just sent a text to all the girls saying, ‘Congratulations,’” LHS head coach Trisha Witkop said.
A short but fulfilling celebration ensued. Only four of the 12 4A teams know for sure right now they will compete for the title.
“We all gave hugs to each other at school,” senior co-captain and outside hitter Trenna Terrill said. “It’s a thrill to be able to do this our senior year.”
“It was just cool to be like, ‘We did that, we earned it and we’re going to state,’” senior co-captain and setter Alyssa Schmidt said. “That’s what we wanted from day one; it’s cool that we got an automatic bid.”
Still, plenty of regional work awaits Laramie come Saturday at noon.
While the opponent is as of yet undetermined — LHS plays the bottom bracket winner, with the Lady Indians (No. 3 seed), Cheyenne East (No. 4), Gillette (No.5) and Sheridan (No. 6) scrapping for the conference’s last two state berths — the goal is unchanging.
The Lady Plainsmen — who, along with No. 1 seed Casper Kelly Walsh, received a bye today — want to set an aggressive tone on their home floor before taking the big stage.
“We just really want to be that competitive, consistent team we know we can be,” Witkop said. “That’s our goal for the weekend, is to be consistent and play competitive, and if we do that, we’ll do well.”
“We have an extra day to mentally prepare and physically prepare, and I think it’s great,” senior co-captain and middle blocker Kylee Anderson said. “We can’t take anything for granted, so we have to start our momentum Saturday and build for next weekend.”
From the three leaders to the other major contributors, Laramie is raring to go.
Beyond the trio of Anderson (2.6 kills, .6 blocks per set), Terrill (2.7 digs) and Schmidt (4.1 assists), fellow senior Kayla McCollum (2.9 kills, 2.8 digs) continues to pace a versatile group on the floor from her outside hitter spot.
Senior Hannah Knight (MB/RS), juniors Jewel Bromley (MB/RS) and Kelsey Rauer (S) and sophomore Laurel Austin also chip in valuable efforts at the net.
Together, all the athletes on the LHS roster are anticipating solid play come Saturday.
“We’ve beaten everybody in our conference, so expectations are pretty high,” Terrill said. “If we play and peak at the right time, we can win this.
“We should become regional champs on our home court.”
“It’s the end of the year, and we want to win,” Schmidt said. “We might as well start this week.”
While the Lady Trojans (24-8 overall, 8-0 East, the defending 4A champions) swept their way through the 2009 league schedule, Laramie is undeterred. The Lady Plainsmen are looking to defend their gym to the best of their abilities.
“We’re all nervous for state,” Anderson said of all the teams heading to town. “We all want to win and we all can beat each other because it’s kind of an even playing field, so whoever brings it will pull it off.”
A raucous contingent of fans in maroon and white couldn’t hurt, either.
“I’m hoping we have a big crowd because we seem to do better with one, but even if we don’t, we’re at home, we’ve done well so far and we want to make Laramie proud,” Anderson said. “I think it’ll be great.”
Ryan Lucas’ e-mail address is lbedit3@laramieboomerang.com
By Monday, an aspiration four years in the making turned into reality, energizing the Laramie High School volleyball team like it put down a spike for match point.
For the first time since 2005, LHS qualified for state.
And the Lady Plainsmen earned the berth in style, finishing second in the 4A East Conference by way of a tiebreaker to receive automatic admission at the season’s defining event.
Regardless of how Laramie (16-14 overall, 5-5 East) fares during this weekend’s regional tournament at Plainsman Gym, the squad is heading to Casper due to its league sweep of rival Cheyenne Central (5-5 East).
“We got the official word on Monday (from the Wyoming High School Activities Association), and we just sent a text to all the girls saying, ‘Congratulations,’” LHS head coach Trisha Witkop said.
A short but fulfilling celebration ensued. Only four of the 12 4A teams know for sure right now they will compete for the title.
“We all gave hugs to each other at school,” senior co-captain and outside hitter Trenna Terrill said. “It’s a thrill to be able to do this our senior year.”
“It was just cool to be like, ‘We did that, we earned it and we’re going to state,’” senior co-captain and setter Alyssa Schmidt said. “That’s what we wanted from day one; it’s cool that we got an automatic bid.”
Still, plenty of regional work awaits Laramie come Saturday at noon.
While the opponent is as of yet undetermined — LHS plays the bottom bracket winner, with the Lady Indians (No. 3 seed), Cheyenne East (No. 4), Gillette (No.5) and Sheridan (No. 6) scrapping for the conference’s last two state berths — the goal is unchanging.
The Lady Plainsmen — who, along with No. 1 seed Casper Kelly Walsh, received a bye today — want to set an aggressive tone on their home floor before taking the big stage.
“We just really want to be that competitive, consistent team we know we can be,” Witkop said. “That’s our goal for the weekend, is to be consistent and play competitive, and if we do that, we’ll do well.”
“We have an extra day to mentally prepare and physically prepare, and I think it’s great,” senior co-captain and middle blocker Kylee Anderson said. “We can’t take anything for granted, so we have to start our momentum Saturday and build for next weekend.”
From the three leaders to the other major contributors, Laramie is raring to go.
Beyond the trio of Anderson (2.6 kills, .6 blocks per set), Terrill (2.7 digs) and Schmidt (4.1 assists), fellow senior Kayla McCollum (2.9 kills, 2.8 digs) continues to pace a versatile group on the floor from her outside hitter spot.
Senior Hannah Knight (MB/RS), juniors Jewel Bromley (MB/RS) and Kelsey Rauer (S) and sophomore Laurel Austin also chip in valuable efforts at the net.
Together, all the athletes on the LHS roster are anticipating solid play come Saturday.
“We’ve beaten everybody in our conference, so expectations are pretty high,” Terrill said. “If we play and peak at the right time, we can win this.
“We should become regional champs on our home court.”
“It’s the end of the year, and we want to win,” Schmidt said. “We might as well start this week.”
While the Lady Trojans (24-8 overall, 8-0 East, the defending 4A champions) swept their way through the 2009 league schedule, Laramie is undeterred. The Lady Plainsmen are looking to defend their gym to the best of their abilities.
“We’re all nervous for state,” Anderson said of all the teams heading to town. “We all want to win and we all can beat each other because it’s kind of an even playing field, so whoever brings it will pull it off.”
A raucous contingent of fans in maroon and white couldn’t hurt, either.
“I’m hoping we have a big crowd because we seem to do better with one, but even if we don’t, we’re at home, we’ve done well so far and we want to make Laramie proud,” Anderson said. “I think it’ll be great.”
Ryan Lucas’ e-mail address is lbedit3@laramieboomerang.com
