Middle school volleyball season ends

The volleyball season at Greybull Middle School ended last weekend as the sixth and seventh graders competed at jamborees in Shoshoni and Burlington, respectively, while the eighth graders hosted their conference tournament.

Seventh grade

The seventh grade (aka B) team lost its final regular season match to Lovell, 13-25, 18-25, 8-15) on Tuesday, Oct. 8 and split its two matches at Saturday’s jamboree in Burlington. The girls lost for the third time this season to the Huskies, 22-25, 21-25, but bounced back nicely with a win over Thermopolis, 25-19, 21-25, 15-13.

Coach Chelsey Craw credited Julie Garcia for a run of five good serves and Josey Whaley and Mia Aguilar, with two kills apiece, for their play in the first set of the Burlington match. Kimberly Diaz-Rios and Selena Mendez each had two aces in the second set.

The girls finished on a high note, winning the rubber game of their season series with the Bobcats. They split their two regular season matches and the first two sets before the young Lady Buffs surged to take the deciding game.  A run of six straight good serves from Diaz-Rios, with four of them being aces, sparked the rally.

“Our girls wanted it bad and covered the court well,” said Craw, adding, “Gracelyn Thon made the final point with an exciting dig. An emotional, well-fought victory. Congratulations, team, on a wonderful season.”

Sixth graders

The sixth-grade team split its final four contests, beating Lovell 25-16, 25-18, 15-6 in their regular season capper and easily dispatching Ten Sleep, 25-9, 25-10, in their jamboree opener before falling to Shoshoni, 23-25, 25-16, 10-15 and Burlington 12-25, 25-21, 15-17.

Coach Jamie Keisel said her girls improved significantly from the service line this season and played well in all phases against Ten Sleep, but struggled on serve receive and eventually fatigue in the losses to Shoshoni and Burlington. 

“Overall the sixth-grade girls were so much fun to coach this year and they grew a lot as people and athletes,” she said. “They were very coachable and just a lot of fun.  I am very proud of how they handled their first season at GMS. They have a bright future and I hope they stick with it and go to camps to grow more throughout the year.”

EIGHTH GRADE

Scores and stats from the eighth-grade tourney were not available this week and will be published next week.