LINGLE – The Lingle-Fort Laramie High School volleyball team experienced growing pains in the first week of the season.
The Lady Doggers went 1-2 with their lone win coming Tuesday night against the Guernsey-Sunrise Lady Vikings.
Prior to the win, L-FL dropped matches with 1A Southeast Conference foes Hanna-Elk Mountain and Rock River on Friday.
Against Hanna-Elk Mountain, the Lady Miners handed the Lady Doggers a 25-10, 25-10, 25-12 loss to open the season.
H-EM jumped out to an 8-2 lead, forcing Barb Clark to use an early timeout, but the Lady Miners quickly pushed their lead to double-digits.
In the second set, sophomore Baylee Skinner tallied one of her three kills to tie the match at two, as Lingle kept things close until a 14-2 run put the Lady Doggers away.
The third set was much like the second.
L-FL kept things close, trailing 10-9 until a four-hit possession. The Lady Miners went on to score 14 of the next 17 points to secure the sweep over the Lady Doggers.
Junior Tiah Meyer led Lingle with six kills, while Skinner and sophomore Kamryn Rafferty had three each. Junior M’Lynn Hill tallied a team-high 11 digs, while Skinner and Rafferty added nine apiece. Skinner dished out seven assists.
Later that afternoon, Rock River defeated the Lady Doggers, 25-20, 25-17, 25-23.
“I guess we played a little better against Rock River. They don’t have as many big hitters, but we still didn’t play well at all,” Clark said. “We have a hard time remembering our rotations. Our passing was behind the 10-foot line; therefore, we didn’t get great sets to our hitters.”
During the match, L-FL’s lone senior Kaylie Rafferty sprained her ankle against Rock River, missing a set in the loss.
“When one person isn’t right, none of them feel right,” Clark said.
Junior Paige Dennett recorded four kills, while junior Bailey Bennett, Meyer, Skinner and Rafferty had three kills apiece. Skinner also tallied a team-high eight digs and 10 assists.
On Tuesday, L-FL scored its first win of the season over Guernsey, 25-14, 26-24, 25-22.
“It went much better last night,” Clark said. “We had our rotations down. We passed much better.”
Clark added it was a much-needed win for the mentality of the team.
“We needed a little easier team to get ourselves gathered up again. They were pretty sad they lost so bad to both of those teams,” she said. “Guernsey is a hard team to play because they throw a lot of free balls at you. We used most of those free balls to get sets.”
Kaylie Rafferty led the team with seven kills, while Meyer, Hill and Skinner had five each. As a team, the Lady Doggers served up 11 aces, with Bailey Dennett, Hill and Skinner recording three each. Hill tallied eight digs, while Skinner and Dennett had 12 assists each.
The Lady Doggers (1-2) head to Hanna to face H-EM and Little Snake River Friday and will cap off the day in Rock River against the Longhorns.
