GHS netters face toughest tests to date

Back on home court this weekend    

What a difference a week makes.  Last week at the Wind River Invitational, the Greybull Lady Buffs lost just one set in their matches.
This week, playing in an invitational at Big Horn, the Buff athletes ran into some unexpectedly strong teams. They didn’t rack up as many wins, but Coach Sara Schlattmann said, “It was a tough weekend for us as far as the win-loss column, but I also felt like we did some great things along the way.”
In Friday’s play, the Buffs scores were as follows: 13-25, 22-25 against Sundance; 22-25, 26-24, 15-17 versus Wright; 20-25, 18-25 versus Pine Bluffs; 25-17, 15-25, 11-15 versus Moorcroft; 9-25, 22-25 against Tongue River and 25-23, 14-25, 11-15 versus Big Horn.
“We knew going in, it would be the very best teams and we were set to play them all. It is a great tournament as far as high-level competition and is indicative as to who will be vying for places at State.  We have a lot of maturing left to do.”
Coach Schlattmann said she has been shuffling some of the positions around and tone of their starters was gone. “I think the girls did a great job of adapting but our relative inexperience certainly showed.”
The coach describes her team as a “quiet” one and says that must improve. Another area of concern is serving. “We can’t afford to give up serving points.”
“I thought we ended the tournament on a high note,” Schlattmann said. “We came out strong against a very dominant Big Horn team and won the first set. Our defense did a great job of keeping balls alive and I was very proud of them for that. Set two we struggled, but then we fought hard again in set three and it was good to see that they have the ability to play at a high level.”   
Schlattmann said, “Consistency, much greater practice effort and some patience is what we are going to need as we start conference play. It was an eye-opener for sure.”
Greybull’s serving was a high point with Aleksey McColloch at 92% and Perla Rodriguez at 90% while defensively, Fatima Chavez had 32 digs.
This weekend, the Buffs will be playing at home. Greybull and Thermopolis are co-hosting the Western Wyoming Challenge. All the Buffs’ games will be played in Greybull.
Friday the Buffs play Wind River at noon and Kemmerer at 4 p.m.
Saturday, it will be Big Piney at 8 a.m.,  Farson-Eden at noon and Wyoming Indian at  2 p.m.