Lady Buffs come out on top at Wind River

Scores:

   vs. Shoshoni  21-19  21-14; vs. Dubois 12-21 22-20; vs. Big Piney 21-16 21-16; vs Snake River 21-4 21-17; WIHS 21-12 21-13

It’s not often a high school volleyball story starts out with the scores. But what the Lady Buffs accomplished at the Wind River Invitational tournament last weekend was worthy of posting the scores at the very top.

With the exception of 1A Dubois, the field included multiple 2A teams, the majority of whom the Buffs don’t usually see until the regional tournament.

“Overall, it was a very good weekend for us,” said Coach Sara Schlattmann who saw her Buffs take on teams from the southwest conference in the tournament in Wind River last weekend   

The coach had the opportunity to try “different lineups and to help us prepare for next weekend when we travel to Big Horn. I was very proud of the girls for staying focused.” Schlattmann also noted the improved serving from last week in their openers.

The coach said that, due to injuries and some conflicts, they had been working on adding a second setter to the offense, and she was very pleased at how well her athletes adapted.

“I want to highlight Shayne Cheatham who has been stepping up into a setter role and also did a great job serving. Both both she and Wyatt Whaley have been working to improve their setting each week and I see great improvement in their setting. Each week, they are getting more dialed in.

“Offensively, it is senior Aleksey McColloch, who leads the team in kills. Defensively, it is our seniors, Fatima Chavez and Julie Lopez, who are back row specialists and continue to improve their passing game to lead our team.”

Schlattman added that there is tremendous competition on that side of the state and it is good to see how her athletes stack up. 

The Buffs head to Big Horn this weekend for another tournament, which should offer stiff opposition from the other side of the mountain.

The Buffs are on the move and improving every week. Their coach’s drive to get the most out of her athletes, offensively and defensively, seems to be landing on athletes with a great desire to improve, get better and show other conferences they are a team to be reckoned with.