Lady Buffs beat Wind River, lost to TR

After a three-game victory over Wind River, 25-14, 25-20, 25-22 Saturday afternoon, the Lady Buffs lost the second match of the day in their home gym to the Tongue River Eagles in five exciting, hard-fought  games, 27-29, 21-25,  25-21, 25-18, 14-16.

In the opening win, Coach Madison Moody said the athletes played well together and registered some great stats.

Kylin Stephens, the setter, had three kills and 14 assists while Abby Keisel, also a setter, had 12 assists and served two aces.

Outside hitter Shayla Chetham was credited with 12 kills, two aces, and seven solo digs. Libero Kaylyn Burns had nine digs and an ace from the line.

Brie Bensky had 10 kills to go with two solo blocks; Mallory Brown, two aces and two solo digs and Elaina Howe  registered eight kills and had three  digs.

Emerald Jordan had a kill and a solo block; Kaitlynn Briscoe had two kills and one solo block while freshman Kelsie McColloch had a kill and a solo block in her varsity debut.

Tongue River gave the Buffs a tough battle in all five games to hand Greybull its first loss. Coach Moody said her team pushed through fatigue, pain and stress and left everything on the court in the disappointing loss.

“Tongue River had some very good hitters that our girls weren’t always ready for. Toward the end of the sets, our front-row players started to get down their blocks and put some of those balls away.”

Stephens was credited with two kills, 11 assists and three aces.

Cheatham had 12 kills, three solo blocks and three solo digs.

Keisel had one kill and 10 assists.

Burns had seven digs and, according to Moody, "about 40 percent passes from what our stat keepers tracked; that was amazing."

Benasky had eight kills and one block.

Howe had 10 kills and six blocks.

Jordan had three kills and one block.

Briscoe had eight kills and four blocks.

Chloe Harlow had one kill and one block.

“Our girls worked very hard and I was  very pleased with what I saw,” Moody said in summing up Saturday’s split verdict. “They were pretty bummed about losing to Tongue River, but that was a great fight – a fun game to watch and they worked very well together. There are many things they learned in both games, and we will be touching on those lessons this week before we head to Big Horn Friday for a tournament.”

In Big Horn they will get another shot at Tongue River, and will also face Big Horn and Glenrock.

“We are 2-1, and I am very proud of the girls, but I tell them there is always room for improvement so we will be working each week on each skill.”

 Greybull played Burlington Tuesday evening, which gave them an “on the court” practice to hone those skills.

At Friday’s quad meet in Big Horn Greybull will play at 9 a.m., noon and 3 p.m.