LINGLE – After being swept by the Southeast Lady Cyclones last Thursday, the Lingle-Fort Laramie High School volleyball team rebounded with a road win over the Niobrara County Lady Tigers to end the regular season on Saturday.
The Lady Doggers turned around on Monday to defeat the Guernsey-Sunrise Lady Vikings in a 1A East Regional Tournament play-in match to keep their state tournament hopes alive.
On Saturday in Lusk, LFL grabbed an early 4-0 lead en route to a 25-13, 25-9, 25-20 sweep of the Lady Tigers on their Senior Night.
LFL senior Tiah Meyer led the team with six kills, while juniors Baylee Skinner and Hailey Smith and sophomore Natalie Speckner added four apiece. The Lady Doggers served up 11 aces in the match, including four from Smith and two each from Speckner, senior M’Lynn Hill and Skinner. Skinner also had 15 assists.
On the defensive side of the net, Speckner led the team with two blocks and 13 digs. Freshman Brenly Shipp also had 13 digs, while Hill had 11.
On Monday, the Lady Doggers hosted a winless Guernsey team in a winner-advances-to-regionals match.
LFL cruised past the Lady Vikings 25-5, 25-5, 25-16 to move on to the 1A East Regional Tournament in Buffalo this weekend.
Tied at three apiece in the opening set, Smith served up back-to-back aces, sparking a 20-0 run by Lingle. Smith tallied six aces during the run.
Guernsey didn’t score again until the LFL lead reached 21-3.
In the second set, it was much the same. Lingle raced out to a 12-2 lead and never looked back.
In the third set, the Lady Doggers jumped out to a 6-1 lead, reaching as many as 14-4, forcing Guernsey to use a timeout.
Coming out of the break, the Lady Vikings chipped away at the double-digit deficit, cutting it to 18-14 before LFL pulled away late for the sweep.
In all, Lingle served up 22 aces in the match, including 12 from Smith. Meyer led the team with six kills, while Speckner added four. Meyer and Shipp recorded three blocks each, while Skinner had 13 digs and 17 assists.
The Lady Doggers (10-15) plays top-seeded Kaycee (24-4) at 9 a.m. at Buffalo High School in the first round of the 1A East Regional Tournament on Friday.
