Conference play brings out Buffs’ best
The Lady Buffs came off the blocks with a roar last weekend as they scored consecutive conference wins over Rocky Mountain Friday night in Cowley, 25-18, 26-28, 25-23, 24-26, 15-13, and on their home floor Saturday against Thermopolis, 25-27, 26-24, 28-26, 15-24, 16-14.
In what might be called an understatement, Coach Sara Schlattmann said, “We had a great weekend. Two big conference wins. It was a fight to the end for both matches but I was so proud of our girls for their ability to not give up. We have talked a lot about having GRIT and I really thought they showed that they have it.”
Friday’s win came in a match where the Buffs did not serve well as a team. Schlattmann said it was frustrating to have the team miss 21 serves in a match. However, the Buffs overcame that by playing well in other facets of the game.
“I do want to recognize a great serving performance by Wyatt Whaley who was 21 of 21 with four aces as well as Camila Acuna who was 15 of 16 with 2 aces,” said Schlattmann.
Leading the offense was Perla Rodriguez with 18 kills, Acuna had 14 followed by Aleksey McColloch with 12 kills and three blocks. Marlee Henson nine kills and Ellie Holloway had five.
Wyatt Whalaey had 47 assists. Defensively Fatima Chavez did a phenomenal job in the back row with 11 digs and had a strong passing game, according to Coach Schlattmann.
“As a team I felt we were getting more touches of blocks and that is something we have been working to improve,” she said.
Against Thermopolis Saturday, Greybull served much better as a team. The coach praised Whaley for “her great job spreading the offense to her hitters.” McColloch and Rodriguez had 22 kills apiece, Henson had eight, Holloway and Acuna had three. Whaley was credited with 49 assists.
“Our blocking was the highlight with Aleksey getting six blocks, Acuna five and Rodriguez and Holloway getting two each. This included Holloway’s game-winning block in the fifth set,” praised her coach.
Defensively, Chavez led the charge with 11 digs, Rodriguez had six, Julie Lopez and Whaley had 4 each.
Schlattmann said they made some serving adjustments in this match “that I think really paid off for us. We were 90 percent as a team, led by Fatima and Camila at 100 percent; Wyatt and Shayne Cheatham served 95 percent, Perla, 93 percent, and Julie, 90 percent. Good marks from the line.”
The Buffs and Riverside faced off Tuesday in the annual Pink game, always a crowd-pleaser and fun to watch with a gym filled with people garbed in pink.
Then on Friday, they will face another conference foe when they play the Shoshoni Lady Blue.
Saturday is a big day. It’s homecoming and the Tongue River Lady Eagles will be on the court with the Lady Buffs.
“A big week and we will have to be very focused. We are looking for incremental improvement each day.” Schlattmann said.