Ladies put up a fight

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The Lady Dogies finally opened up conference play last week, and despite back-to-back losses to Thermopolis and Buffalo, coach Jenny Willard is excited by what she saw from her team over the weekend.
“We were in both matches all the way,” she exclaimed. “We won the first two sets against Buffalo on Saturday, but just couldn’t finish it out to take the overall win.”
Last Thursday, the ladies hosted the Lady Bobcats of Thermopolis in their home opener, Homecoming contest. After having lost to them a week ago in Rawlins, Willard’s squad headed into the match a little more prepared.
Though the Lady Bobcats once again won in three sets, each point was hard fought and ended 22-25, 22-25, 27-29.
“Thermop was a tip game,” Willard explained. “We were playing the deep game, but they kept tipping so we need to continue to work on tip coverage when a team brings that. We have to get better at being quicker and more agile.”
All three sets went back and forth, but in the third the Lady Dogies were dominant with nearly a double digit lead. Then the Lady Bobcats began a run that Newcastle just couldn’t shut down. 
“It was one of those momentum shifts that is so common in volleyball. We just let go of it and let go of too many balls in the run,” Willard sighed. “But we were right there in all three sets that could have gone either way. The girls hung in there and played tough, and even though it was a three and done, there were definite moments that showed what the team is capable of accomplishing.”  
Gaining control of those momentum runs has been the story of the season, according to Willard, and the scenario played itself out again on Saturday as the squad traveled to Buffalo to take on the Lady Bison.
Newcastle stormed onto the court on an obvious mission and took the first two sets 25-22 and 25-19. With the Lady Bison on the ropes, and a conference victory within their grasp, the Lady Dogies began the third set in unfamiliar territory.
“They played hard and came out the first two sets and put together more runs than they have all season. It was good to see and definitely a positive thing to go from so early in the conference season,” Willard smiled. “In the third set, you could see that it looked like they were a little bit drained. It may have been a matter of the realization that they were close to beating Buffalo and were not sure what to do with that.”
Unfortunately, Newcastle was unable to withstand what Buffalo brought to the remaining three sets and ended up on the losing end 18-25, 17-25 and 8-15.
“After having a pretty good weekend of play, I think the girls are starting to gain confidence and understand that they have the skill set to compete,” Willard determined. “They may not have the height and the advantages that come with that, but they have the ability to do just as well as any other team in our conference.”
Willard noted that senior middle hitter/blocker Grace Coy played well on both Thursday and Saturday, and that freshman Hunter McFarland came in clutch on Saturday when starting setter, Isabel Frank tweaked her ankle and had to be sidelined.
“Grace was just really a force for us on the net both nights, and Hunter came in the game in Buffalo and didn’t miss a step,” she nodded. “She was setting in the back row and did some hitting in the front row as well and she just did a really great job with some great poise.”
The Lady Dogies were back home on Tuesday, taking on the Torrington Lady Trailblazers and will travel to Wheatland on Saturday to face off against the Lady Bulldogs, both of which are conference matchups.