NHS netters split in quadrant play

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Editor
 
After three weeks of pre-season tournament play, the Lady Dogies hosted the Thermopolis Lady Bobcats in their home and quadrant opener on Friday. The Dogies sent the Bobcats home with their tiny tails between their legs as they took care of them in quick fashion, winning 25-19, 25-23 and 25-19.
“The girls were a little bit nervous, but really excited for their first game in the Dome,” exclaimed acting head coach Andrea Gregory. “I thought they played well, and came out and did some really good things.”
Though Thermopolis is not as tough of an opponent as the Lady Dogies have seen so far this season, Gregory noted that she was proud of her squad for playing their game and putting them away in three straight sets.
Tiernan Stanton’s blocking presence at the net was giving the Lady Bobcats fits early on, so in order to get around the wall she put up, they began to tip over the block and to the setter.
“It was good that we were able to work on defending the tip,” Gregory admitted. “We pulled our double block in the middle since we didn’t need it, and we had Kenz [Rose] covering those tips on the right side instead of our setter.”
The adjustment worked. Thermopolis’ biggest threats were their two middle hitters, so between excellent blocking by Stanton and MacKenzie Conzelman, both became hesitant to swing.
Meanwhile, the Lady Dogies were feeling it on offense and Stanton, Jaylen Ostenson and Hunter McFarland were pretty consistently putting the ball down in their attacks.
“Hunter had a really nice swing going all night,” Gregory stated. “She’s an all-around player. She’s our setter, she’s strong outside and she’s one of our strongest servers and she just really showed that on Friday.”
After playing a dominant first set, the Lady Dogies seemed to struggle just a bit in the second, opening a door for Thermopolis to rally.
“I think they got a little too comfortable after the first set,” Gregory surmised. “It gives Coach Anderson and me some anxiety, but I think they like to keep games close. They are all really competitive so I think they like the excitement.”
The 25-23 win in the second set was a little too close for comfort for Gregory, however, going into set three with a 2-0 advantage was definitely a plus. 
Ostenson and Stanton were in the double digits for kills, and McFarland was close as well. Stanton also had a good block game, and Gregory is confident that their hitters were pretty easy for her to read.
“Our hitters were doing great at the net,” Gregory began. “I could tell in warmups that Jaylen was feeling good, so it was fun to see her dialed in all night.
On Saturday, Newcastle headed north to take on the Lady Bison in Buffalo. The Bison are ranked fourth in the state in 3A, and according to Gregory, they have a pretty solid game. 
“They have a strong outside who plays all the way around,” she explained. “She and Tiernan have been battling since middle school and she hit a really deep cross that we really struggled to defend.”
The Lady Dogies adjusted their defense to have the outside pull back, but still were just a little slow on the block and the dig so she scored quite a few points against Newcastle.
Buffalo came out and stampeded the Dogies in the first two sets, putting them away quickly by winning 25-12 in both. Heading into the third set, it was do or die for Newcastle.
“We had a great mental game against Thermopolis, and then we went to Buffalo where they always have a really good student section, and our mental game was not where it should have been,” Gregory said. “We should have been a lot closer than we were but we were off. We were hitting out and our serve receive wasn’t the greatest. We got a lot of touches on the ball, but we weren’t closing our block so even though our defense was in the right place, the ball was dropping in front of our blockers or really changing direction making it difficult for our passers.”
Newcastle was able to push the match to a fourth set by scratching out a 28-26 win in the third, but then fell by the greatest deficit of the night, 10-25, losing the set and match. 
“I think things started out rough and then it continued to decline throughout the match,” Gregory admitted. “I can’t wait to meet them again when it’s not at their house, because I think we beat ourselves. It should have been a lot closer”
This week is Homecoming at NHS and the Lady Dogies will host the Lady Trailblazers of Torrington on Friday at 4, 5, and 6. On Saturday, the team will go to Wheatland for games at 11 a.m., noon, and 1 p.m.