Lady Buffs lock up conference title

The Greybull Lady Buffs head into the final weekend of the regular season needing only a win over Shoshoni to finish unbeaten in conference play.

The conference title and a No. 1 seed for the upcoming Class 2A West Regional in Riverton were secured Saturday afternoon, when the girls clipped Wind River 25-10, 13-25, 25-8, 27-25 to improve to 21-6-2.

“Up and down” is how Coach Sara Schlattmann described her team’s play.

“We had some really great hustle moments and then some moments where we seemed to lose focus,” she said. “I was  proud that we pulled it out in the end, but  as we head into this weekend, regionals and state, we will need to do a better job of managing the match.”

Greybull served well, misfiring on only two to finish at 97%.  Everyone topped 90%.

“Our right-side defenders (Chaise Benasky, Josselyn Jara, and Ashley Gomez) did a great job of adjusting and played great defense,” said Schlattmann. 

Benasky and Jara finished with 7 and 6 digs, respectively.  Caroline Boyer led in that category with 11 as part of “a great night of passing and defending,” said her coach.

Offensively, Kelsie McColloch led with 15 kills, Aleksey McColloch had 11 kills, Kennedy Craft had 8 kills, Perla Rodriguez had 4, and Ashley Gomez had 2.  

Aleksey McColloch had 5 blocks.  

Benasky was credited with more than 30 assists. 

This week

The Lady Buffs play at Shoshoni Friday night, with matches at 4 and 5 p.m., before returning home to host 1 and 2 p.m. matches with Big Horn on Saturday.  The latter will be Senior Night as the program honors the contributions of Ashley Gomez, Kennedy Craft, Caroline Boyer, Kelsie McColloch, Josselyn Jara and Chaise Benasky.

“ I just can’t say enough about how fun it has been to coach these girls,” said Schlattmann, adding that as a group, they’ve been committed to the program both during the season and in the offseason. 

“I also am blessed with Julia Blazquez who is helping to manage our team,” she added. “She is a bright spot for sure and I have enjoyed getting to know her more.”

On to regionals

The Class 1A/2A West Regional is Oct. 27-28 in Riverton.   Lander has hosted the tournament in the past, but gets the 3A West Regional this year.  As the top seed from the Northwest, the Lady Buffs are lined up to play the No. 4 from the Southwest.

Schlattmann said she wants to see her team play well this weekend.

“As any coach would say, we need to be playing our best ball as we head into the end of the season,” she said. “We are going to work hard to shore up our skills this week.  Defense and playing a clean match will be a primary factor to winning against both Shoshoni and Big Horn.”

JV also wins

It took three sets, but the Greybull JV squad also earned a homecoming win, beating the Cougars 25-16, 23-25, 25-16.

“The girls played well and worked hard as a team,” said Christine Armel, who coaches the squad. “Fatima Chavez and Julie Lopez led the team with serving as well as defensive passing. We had a hard time switching sides on the second game and couldn’t quite pull ahead. They came out in the third game fired up and attacking and came out with the win. “