The Torrington Lady Trailblazers reached the 3A State Tournament for the first time since 2012, but their time in Casper was shorter than they would have hoped, going 0-2.
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CASPER – The Torrington Lady Trailblazers reached the 3A State Tournament for the first time since 2012, but their time in Casper was shorter than they would have hoped, going 0-2.
As the fourth seed from the east, the Lady Blazers took on Riverton, the top seed from the west, who Torrington beat in five sets earlier this season. Despite the regular season win, Torrington could not replicate that result in the postseason.
The Lady Blazers scored the first two points of the first set, but Riverton went on a 11-2 run to build up an 11-4 lead, forcing a Torrington timeout. Coming back to the court, the Lady Blazers went on a run themselves, trimming the Lady Outlaws’ lead to three points on three different occasions, including an Adia Sherbeyn kill that put the score at 15-12.
Three points was as close as Torrington could get, eventually falling behind by nine. With the score at 23-14, Torrington rattled off five points in a row, capped off by another Sherbeyn kill, but the Lady Blazers lost the first set 25-20.
In the second set, Riverton picked up where they left off, recording the wire-to-wire win. 3-2 was the closest that Torrington could get after the first point. The Lady Outlaws ballooned their lead to seven points (11-4) and later nine points (14-5). Two Lady Blazer points in a row, including an ace from Logan Murphy cut the disadvantage to 14-7, but then Riverton ran away, scoring four-straight and cruising to a 25-11 win.
Similar to the second set, Riverton rushed out to an early lead, scoring the first five points of the set. Torrington cut the lead to four on several occasions, including an ace by Adia Sherbeyn, which put the score at 11-7. Down four, Torrington scored four in a row, including a kill by Murphy and ace by Dani Masterson, which tied the score at 11.
Riverton managed to add some separation, holding Torrington at 11 points while scoring five of their own. A kill my Murphy momentarily stopped the skid, but the Lady Outlaws continued a steady lead and went on to win 25-17.
Sherbeyn and Murphy both accounted for two aces in the loss, while Masterson kicked in one of her own. Murphy led the way in kills, with 10, while accounting for nine digs. Sherbeyn was narrowly edged out in kills, tallying nine, but she topped the stat sheet with 11 digs.
Brooklyn Tucker paced Torrington in assists with 11 in the game, with Katelynn Wright chipping in another nine. The two also combined for six digs. Brielle Bivens stepped into the libero position to replace the injured Taylor Walsh and finished the match with four digs.
Paige Miller, Ona Albaugh, Nakalyn Garner and Ashley Schlagel all combined for five digs in the loss.
The loss against Riverton dropped the Lady Blazers to the consolation bracket, where they faced Lyman, who lost to Rawlins in four sets in the top bracket the day before. Although Torrington lost two sets against Lyman by wide margins, the match went five sets.
The Lady Eagles came out hot in the first set, rushing out to a 19-8 lead and closing the deal for a 25-11 set win. Torrington came back swinging in the second set and although Lyman kept the score tight, the Lady Blazers knotted things up at a set apiece, winning the second game 25-22.
The Lady Eagles apparently didn’t like losing the second set because they charged out to a 10-2 lead in the third set. They continually grew their lead, winning the second 25-11. In the back-and-forth action, the Lady Blazers rallied in the fourth set, holding a slight lead at 17-14. Torrington closed out the set and grew their lead by two, winning 25-20 to force a fifth set.
The winner of the fifth set advanced in the consolation bracket and the loser’s season was over. Neither team wanted their season to come to a close in the normally 15-point set. The score was locked at 14 apiece, before Lyman strung together two in a row to pick up the 16-14 win, ending Torrington’s season.
Murphy and Sherbeyn against stepped up to the plate at the service line, accounting for seven aces. Garner and Bivens also kicked in an ace apiece. At the net, Murphy led the way with 17 kills, while Sherbeyn finished with 16. the also both had two blocks apiece. Sherbeyn paced Torrington in digs, with 24, and Murphy was second with 23. Bivens was third in the digging department, accounting for 19.
Garner also had a big game at the net, tallying seven kills and a team-high four blocks to go along with two digs. Miller chipped in two kills, a block and two digs in the loss. Schlagel finished teh game with three blocks, an assist and three digs. Tucker, Masterson and Wright each ahd one kills. Masterson tallied two blocks and three digs, while Wright and Tucker combined for nine digs. Tucker was credited with 19 assists and Wright had 17.
Douglas won the 3A title, beating Rawlins in five sets. Lyman went on to finish third in the tournament with a win over Riverton in the third-place match. The Lady Blazers finished the year with a 13-15 record.
