TORRINGTON – The Torrington High School volleyball team returned to 3A Southeast Quadrant action over the weekend with matches against Wheatland and Rawlins.
The Lady Blazers split the doubleheader with a win over Wheatland and a loss to Rawlins.
Coming into Friday’s match with the Lady Bulldogs, Torrington wanted to avenge the earlier season road loss to Wheatland, and the Lady Blazers wanted to do it in three sets.
That’s exactly what they did, knocking off the Lady Bulldogs, 26-24, 27-25, 25-20.
“Wheatland was a good game,” THS coach Chelsi Jackson said. “Even when they would get up on us, there was no quit. We wanted to end it.”
Senior Michaela Moorehouse led Torrington with 15 kills, while junior Reece Halley had 13. The duo also served up a pair of aces. Junior Allison Brummell added nine kills and four blocks. Moorehouse tallied 26 digs, and senior Kameron Stitt had 21. Senior Morgan Bates dished out 42 assists.
The next day, it was a different story for the Lady Blazers.
Torrington fell to the No. 5-ranked Rawlins Lady Outlaws in three sets, 25-11, 25-16, 25-15.
“Just nothing fell,” Jackson said. “Nothing. Not our passes. Not our hits. Not our sets.”
However, there was a bright spot in the match.
“We did only miss two serves for once,” Jackson said. “We usually miss five to 10 of those.”
The Lady Blazers opened the match with an 8-4 lead, but Rawlins scored the next four points.
Moorehouse’s kill gave Torrington one more lead at 10-9, and that proved to be the final time the Lady Blazers found themselves in the lead for the remainder of the afternoon.
In the middle stages of the opening set, Brummell came down awkwardly on her ankle sending her to the bench for the remainder of the set, plus the entire second. She returned to the match in the third set.
“The injury itself didn’t make the difference. It was the change of scenery,” Jackson said. “Volleyball is very fickle. If you throw one random thing in, it changes the momentum. I put in another kid equally as talented, but you get used to playing with the same six.”
Brummell made her presence felt with back-to-back kills early in the set. Rawlins followed it up with a double hit, allowing Torrington to draw with in one at 5-4, but the Outlaws scored the next four points to pull away for the sweep.
Moorehouse led the Lady Blazers with six kills, while Brummell had four. Stitt served a team-high three aces and 11 digs, and senior Avery West, Brummell and Moorehouse had one block each. Bates tallied 10 assists.
The Blazers (13-4) host Scottsbluff, Neb. (10-14) for their final home match of the season Thursday before wrapping up the regular season on the road at Burns (7-9). Thursday’s match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m., and Friday’s match is set for 5 p.m.
