TORRINGTON – The Torrington High School volleyball team hadn’t won a match since Friday, Sept. 9 when they beat Lovell. Since that match, the Lady Blazers had lost six straight matches.
Last Thursday, THS battled back from a 2-1 deficit, winning the fourth and fifth sets to knock off the Glenrock Lady Herders 3-2 (25-15, 14-25, 23-25, 25-22, 15-5).
“We had thrown in a few girls who hadn’t been on the varsity floor yet,” coach Shaylee Mortimore said. “It was a chance to see what would happen. I was nervous to see if they would jell together and work as one to get it done.”
She knew this would be a good chance to play with the lineup and see what happens since Torrington already had two wins against Glenrock this season.
“They finally started working together,” Mortimore said. “It was just good to get a win.”
In the opening set, Torrington trailed 7-4 before the Lady Blazers rattled off 10 of the next 12 points to take a 14-9 lead, forcing the visitors to use a timeout.
An attack error tied the set at seven, and senior Marissa Moorehouse served up an ace to put the Lady Blazers in front.
In sets two and three, Glenrock jumped out to early leads, and Torrington was never able to recover in either set.
In the second, the Lady Herders scored the first four points, and in the third, they scored the first two points.
Glenrock kept the momentum rolling into the fourth set, racing out to a 4-1 lead.
Torrington chipped away at the deficit, and junior Alyssa Albaugh tied the set at six with an ace.
However, it wasn’t until back-to-back kills from senior Avey Jespersen put the Lady Blazers in front.
The set was tied on three more occasions before senior Kayla Dreiling put away Glenrock in the fourth, forcing a fifth set.
In the fifth, it was all Torrington.
The Lady Blazers took a commanding 10-3 lead and never looked back behind strong hitting from Jespersen and strong serving from Moorehouse.
“Avey has come a long away with her hits. She’s becoming much more confident, realizing she has a powerful arm and can jump,” Mortimore said. “Marissa struggled at the beginning of the season, and she’s started serving very well.”
Mortimore said the win would help the team move forward into the always tough tournament in Nebraska.
“It helps them trust each other for one, trust in themselves because they were losing a little bit of confidence. You could tell this was something to help bring it back,” Mortimore said. “You can only tell them so much before they truly start believing it. This was one of those things that will help with that.
“We have some massive teams that we are going to face. Hopefully, they can carry this sprint and go.”
On Friday and Saturday, Torrington took part in the Twin Cities Invite, hosted by Scottsbluff (Nebraska) High School.
The Lady Blazers went 0-6 over the two days.
Torrington opened the weekend with a 25-16, 25-13 loss to Ogallala, Nebraska. The Lady Blazers also fell to St. Thomas More out of Rapid City, South Dakota 25-19, 18-25, 25-15. THS capped off the day with a 25-20, 25-10 loss to Gering, Nebraska.
On Saturday, the Lady Blazers opened the day with a 25-11, 25-19 loss to Alliance, Nebraska. Torrington then faced Rapid City Central, falling 25-22, 25-14. In the final match of the weekend, they played St. Thomas More again, losing 25-17, 25-16.
The Lady Blazers are back in action Friday at Newcastle. First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m.
