Rocky Mountain netters split matches as season closes

The Rocky Mountain volleyball team pulled out a hotly contested five-set win against Wind River last week, but found themselves unable to recover in time to compete against Tongue River the next day.
The 1-1 week now places the Lady Grizz at 11-15-3 at the end of the regular season.
The Lady Grizz pulled off an impressive road victory against Wind River on Friday.
After dropping the first set 25-18, Rocky rebounded and took the second set by a dominant 25-8 score, before claiming a one-set lead with a 25-17 third set.
Wind River fought back to take the fourth set 25-23, leaving the match to a climatic fifth set. Rocky Mountain just pulled it off 15-13.
“Wind River was hyped and ready to play hard on their senior night, and we dropped the first set. The second set saw us coming in very strong and rolling over them in a much better game where our hitting was on and our blocking was strong,” head coach Stephanie Ames said. “The third set was more our style, as well, and we felt confident going into the fourth, but after building up a very strong lead, we let them come back and dropped that one. The fifth was a little tight for my liking but we got the win.”
Lauren Bassett and MacKelle Moss led the team in kills with nine each. Kaitey Christensen had six kills, Britty Boettcher five. Rylee Winland and Shelby Wambeke had three apiece.
Keylee Christiansen had 14 assists, Wambeke had 11.
Boettcher was the team’s hot hand in serving, scoring six aces. Moss had five for the day, Wambeke two.
Layla Gardner led the team with 15 digs. Boettcher had 14, Wambeke 13. Moss recorded 7.
Moss had a fearsome game in front of the net, recording nine block assists and one solo block. Bassett was just as effective, with eight block assists and a solo block. Christensen had four block assists.
Unfortunately, the hard-fought win did not leave much in the tank for an afternoon matchup against Tongue River the following day. Tongue River swept the Lady Grizz 25-16, 25-16, 25-18.
“We couldn’t really get anything going on Saturday and played a really tough team who won’t allow you to make mistakes. Tongue River’s hitting game was very strong, and they have a quick set that really burned us a lot,” Ames said. “Their whole hitting setup is harder to block as the timing is so much different than most teams. They set low and fast, and the hitters are very accurate at finding holes in coverage. They ended up getting 40 kills on us, and we couldn’t overcome that.”
Bassett, Moss and Christensen led the team in kills with four each. Boettcher had three kills.
Wambeke and Christiansen both had four assists.
Boettcher recorded two aces, leading the team. Wambeke recorded a 100 percent serving rate.
Boettcher also led the team in digs, with 11. Gardner and Christiansen each had seven digs, Moss had six.
Moss had one solo block. Winland recorded two assist blocks.
Now comes the postseason. Rocky Mountain will compete in the 2A West Regionals starting Friday in Riverton. They will first face off against Wyoming Indian in a 2:30 p.m. match. If they win, they will play the winner of Kemmerer and Wind River at 9 p.m. Friday. If they lose, they will square off against the loser of the contest.
Depending on the results of that game, they will either compete at 11 a.m. Saturday for a chance to play in the consolation championship, or they will compete at 2:30 p.m. for the regional championship.
“We are looking forward to getting to Riverton and playing our best at the tournament,” Ames said. “We open with Wyoming Indian on Friday and are hoping to be in the championship game on Saturday.”