Buffs eye top seed as final homestand begins

By Avery Howe

The Buffs will hope to roll the momentum from their Homecoming win into a clean streak to regionals as their conference record remains perfect halfway through competition. 

The crowd was roaring as the volleyball team took down Wind River in three sets, 25-12, 26-24 and 25-9 on Friday. Offense was led by Perla Rodriguez and Marlee Henson, with 14 and 13 kills, respectively. Ellie Holloway added seven, Camila Acuna four and Caitlyn Hunt two. Setter Wyatt Whaley racked up 39 assists. 

“I felt like we did a good job of passing out of serve-receive and defense, which allowed us to engage our middles more,” coach Sara Schlattmann said. “[Whaley] did a good job of spreading out and taking the pressure off the outside.  [Henson] had a phenomenal night as a middle blocker with a 65% kill percentage.”  

The Buffs served at 84%, led by Hunt, Brooklyn Allen and Fallon Hoffman, who all landed 100%. Schlattmann reported the team has been working on spot serving to increase their aggressiveness and hopefully, aces. 

Shayne Cheatham led on defense with 21 digs, followed by Holloway with 11, Rodriguez with 10 and Whaley with nine. 

After downing Wind River, Greybull is still 3-0 in the Class 2A Northwest Conference, though they can count another win. They will face each team in the Northwest one more time before the regional tournament in Lander Oct. 31 through Nov. 1. The Buffs will have the home court advantage to land themselves No. 1 in the Northwest, with all three games set in Greybull. This week, they face Rocky Mountain and Thermopolis. 

“We match up very well with both of these teams and our previous matches were very close,” Schlattmann said.  “Rocky has some big hitters, one of which is a lefty, that we need to adjust to.  I think cleaning up our serving game and continuing to work on our serve-receive transitions will be critical for us as we approach regionals and finish out the season with three tough conference opponents.” 

On Friday, the Buffs host Rocky Mountain with games at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. 

Saturday, Thermop pays a visit, with games scheduled for noon, 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. 

“We just need to utilize every opportunity to improve and speed up our offense and adjust our defense so that we can be competitive,” Schlattmann said.