RAWLINS – The Torrington High School volleyball team dropped its 3A Southeast Quadrant opener on Friday evening 3-2 to the Rawlins Lady Outlaws.

After winning the opening set 25-20, the home team battled back with wins in the second and third sets 25-13 and 25-17 to take a 2-1 lead.

“After that first set, things were looking really good. We were hitting the ball really well. We were covering really well. The girls made some really nice passes. They passed well all night long,” coach Shaylee Mortimore said. “The second and third set is what bit us. It’s not like we just rolled over and quit playing. We just woke up Rawlins a little bit more. We didn’t have as many shots go our way. We had a few missed digs and a few missed hits. It was a couple things we couldn’t close on in those two sets.”

The Lady Blazers dominated the third set 25-8 to force a fifth and deciding set. 

“The fourth set, it was like holy cow, we woke up again, we are here, and this is what we can do,” Mortimore said. “For some reason, we couldn’t close it out in the fifth set. We had a couple of errors that were back-to-back. I’m proud of the girls for not just giving up when that happened.”

Rawlins finished off Torrington with a 15-8 win in the fifth set.

Senior Marissa Moorehouse led the Lady Blazers with 11 kills, while senior Kayla Dreiling added six. Junior Alyssa Albaugh and senior Avey Jespersen tallied five each. 

As a team, the Lady Blazer served up seven aces, including a team-high two from Albaugh and Moorehouse. Moorehouse also tallied the team’s lone block of the game. Senior Kalissa Reyes recorded a team-best 30 digs. Senior Jade Brothwell dished out 14 assists, while Reyes had 13.

“We are doing a lot of really good things. Our girls have really learned how to stay positive with things,” Mortimore said. “It was crazy highs for the games we won, and really lows when we lost. They are starting to figure it out. It’s better to lose those games now rather than later. Might as well get them out of the way now.”

Torrington returns to Rawlins Friday and Saturday for a weekend tournament. The Lady Blazers are scheduled to play Buffalo at noon, Mountain View at 3 p.m. and Lovell at 5 p.m. on Friday.

“It’s going to be nice to see Buffalo. Their coach is a veteran coach. It’s nice to not only go against her, but even talk to her in between matches, getting some advice because she is such a nice coach and is willing to help others out,” Mortimore said. “I have no idea about Lovell or Mountain View. We’ll have to watch some film and catch up on them.”