DOUGLAS  – A solid opening weekend for the Torrington High School Lady Blazers volleyball team at the Bearcat Invitational in Douglas culminated in a third-place finish for Torrington at the two-day event from August 30-31.

The action kicked off with pool play on Friday. Torrington set the momentum in the first match, defeating Glenrock, 2-0.

Squaring off against Southeast in the second match, the Lady Blazers won a neck-and-neck battle against the Lady Cyclones, 2-1.

In the third match, Torrington fell to Buffalo following three closely-contested sets, 2-1.

The Lady Blazers’ 2-1 record in pool play advanced Torrington to the gold bracket on Saturday with Torrington squaring off against Southeast once more. The match went into three sets again with the Lady Blazers ultimately scoring the win, 2-1.

Progressing to the semifinals, Torrington came up short against Wheatland, 2-0.

Rallying in the third-place match, Torrington battled Wright through three sets with the Lady Blazers capturing the victory, 2-1.

Pool play – Glenrock

The Lady Blazers trounced Glenrock in the first set, 25-16. Leaving it all on the court in the second set, Torrington defeated Glenrock, 25-13.

The Lady Blazers tallied 19 kills against Glenrock, led by senior Olive Osmera with five. Senior Teryn Stokes and junior Trishell Pontarolo each collected four kills while junior Brooklyn Asmus contributed three.

At the service line, senior Jaycee Hurley and junior Natalie Long both aced three serves.

On defense, Stokes and sophomore Zoe Wilson tallied one block apiece.

Hurley played libero and totaled 12 digs. As setter, Long delivered 12 assists.

Pool play – Southeast

The match between the Lady Blazers and Lady Cyclones came down to the wire. Southeast won the first set by a two-point margin, 25-23.

Turning the tables in the second set, the Lady Blazers controlled the scoreboard to secure a 25-19 victory.

A neck-and-neck tiebreaker set resulted in the Lady Blazers scoring three decisive points to overtake Southeast and win, 15-13.

Pontarolo set the pace on offense with nine kills. Asmus and Stokes each posted six kills with Osmera contributing five.

Long and Wilson both served up two aces. Defensively, Wilson led the Lady Blazers with three blocks. 

Hurley collected 12 digs as libero. Long played setter and totaled 23 assists.

Pool play – Buffalo

The Lady Blazers won a close first set, 25-21. Buffalo rallied in the second set to prevail, 25-20.

A point-for-point battle in the third set resulted in the Lady Blazers coming up short by two points, 16-14.

Torrington posted 28 kills against Buffalo, led by Pontarolo and Stokes with six apiece. Osmera contributed five kills.

Long aced four serves while junior Natalie Hawes posted two aces.

On defense, Wilson and Stokes each collected one block.

As libero, Hurley totaled 14 digs. Long played setter and tallied 19 assists.

Gold bracket – Southeast

The second match between Torrington and Southeast in the gold bracket followed a similar pattern to the match in pool play.

The Lady Blazers and Lady Cyclones battled to a 25-25 deadlock in the first set. Southeast pulled ahead by two points to win, 27-25.

Torrington came back in the second set to trounce Southeast, 25-12. The Lady Blazers controlled the scoreboard in the third set to win, 15-9.

Asmus set the pace for Torrington offensively against Southeast with 10 kills. Osmera contributed nine kills to the tally.

Pontarolo and Stokes both aced three serves while Osmera collected two aces.

Defensively, Wilson and Stokes each tallied three blocks with Osmera and Pontarolo both contributing two.

Hurley provided solid coverage as libero with 12 digs. Long tallied 20 assists.

Gold bracket – Wheatland

Both the Lady Blazers and Lady Bulldogs left it all on the court in a neck-and-neck first set. The point-for-point battle reached a stalemate at 25 points before Wheatland scored two points to win, 27-25.

Wheatland won the second set by a 25-14 margin.

Torrington totaled 21 kills against Wheatland, led by Osmera with seven and Asmus with five.

Osmera and Hurley both served up one ace. 

The Lady Blazers tallied 11 blocks against Wheatland, led by Wilson with four. Long posted three blocks while Pontarolo contributed two.

As libero, Hurley recorded 10 digs. Long served as setter and delivered 16 assists.

Gold bracket – Wright

The Lady Blazers defeated Wright in the first set by a 25-19 margin. Wright responded in the second set to win, 25-22.

Digging deep, Torrington scored two decisive points in the third set to score a 15-13 victory.

Asmus led the Lady Blazers offensively with nine kills. Osmera and Wilson both tallied five kills.

Pontarolo set the momentum on the service line with three aces.

Defensively, Long and Wilson each posted one block.

Hurley played libero and tallied 16 digs. As setter, Long recorded 20 assists.