TORRINGTON – The Torrington High School volleyball team overcame a 2-1 deficit Tuesday night to defeat the Gering (Neb.) Lady Bulldogs, 3-2 (25-21, 17-25, 23-25, 25-20, 15-12).
“A win is a win,” THS coach Chelsi Jackson said. “I think it was the first time we’ve beat Gering in five years. We will for sure take it.”
In the first set, neither team held a lead larger than three until the final point.
Gering led 9-6 before a Torrington rally tied the set at 11 following a kill by junior Reece Halley.
The Lady Blazers pushed the lead to 20-17 before the Lady Bulldogs drew back within one.
Coming out of a THS timeout, Torrington scored four of the final five points of the set to grab the early 1-0 lead.
Gering responded by winning the next two sets.
In the second, Torrington let a 6-2 lead slip away, and in the third, the Lady Blazers battled back from a 17-13 deficit to make the score 23-21 after a senior Michaela Moorehouse kill.
The Lady Bulldogs finished the set off with four straight points.
“The girls have to play better,” Jackson said. “We weren’t mentally there, but they still pulled it out.”
In the fourth, junior Sierra Allen’s ace gave the Lady Blazers a 3-1 lead. Gering led only once in the set as Torrington pulled away for the win, forcing a fifth set.
In the final set, Torrington fell behind 3-1, but after back-to-back attack errors by Gering that landed long, Torrington tied the set at four apiece.
Halley gave the Blazers a 7-6 lead with a kill, and later, pushed the lead to 14-12 with an ace serve.
“Reece is going to be one of those determining factors,” Jackson said. “If she can put it down, we’ll win most of our games.”
The game ended with Gering out of rotation, handing the Lady Blazers the victory.
“They wanted to win it more,” Jackson said. “We talked about playing to win and not to lose. They picked it up after that.”
Jackson saw many bright spots in the win.
“We picked up some sloppy balls very well,” Jackson said. “We just didn’t give up on those. Our hitting picked up at the end a little bit.”
Halley led the team with 17 kills, while Moorehouse added eight. Junior Avery West added seven. Torrington tallied a total of 10 serving aces, including four from Allen and Halley three. Bates led the team with 29 assists, while junior Allison Brummell had three blocks.
The Lady Blazers open 3A Southeast Quadrant play Friday in Rawlins. First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m.
“It’ll be a tough game as it always is, but I think if we can stay controlled and not have a lot of errors, it’s a game that we can win,” Jackson said.
