DOUGLAS – The Torrington High School Lady Blazers volleyball team battled back from a semifinal setback to snag the consolation championship at the 3A East regional tournament in Douglas from November 1-2.

Torrington left it all on the court in the first round on Friday to defeat Newcastle in four close sets, 3-1. Progressing to the semifinals on Friday evening, the Lady Blazers fell to Douglas, 3-0.

Finding themselves in the consolation bracket on Saturday afternoon, Torrington rallied to knock out Buffalo in four sets, 3-1 securing a berth at the 3A state championships in the process.

Torrington wrapped up the tournament with a clean sweep against Rawlins on Saturday evening to clinch the No. 3 seed from the east region and the consolation title.

Lady Blazers setter and junior Natalie Long posted her 1,000th career assist (and counting) at the 3A East regional tournament.

The Lady Blazers open state with a match against the No. 2 seed from the west, Powell, on Thursday, November 7 at 4:30 p.m. in Casper’s Ford Wyoming Center.

Newcastle

The Lady Blazers defeated the Lady Dogies in the first set, 25-17. Newcastle fired back to win a neck-and-neck second set, 28-26.

Digging deep, Torrington won the point-for-point battle in the third set, 26-24. The Lady Blazers came together to win the fourth set, 25-17.

Senior Olive Osmera set the pace for the Torrington offense with 14 kills. Sophomore Zoe Wilson tallied 13 kills, senior Teryn Stokes nine, Long seven, junior Trishell Pontarolo four, junior Brooklyn Asmus three with one apiece by junior Grace Kelly and freshman Ellis Mortimore.

Osmera also led on the serving line with nine aces. Mortimore aced three serves, Long two and Stokes and junior Nakaya Sippel one each.

Long delivered 19 assists as setter.

The Lady Blazers played a tenacious defense with nine total blocks. Asmus reached up for five blocks while Wilson and Stokes both collected four. Osmera totaled three blocks, Long two and Pontarolo one.

Kelly covered the floor with 22 digs, followed by Osmera with 13 and Long at 10.

Douglas

In the semifinal game, Torrington fell in three sets to Douglas, 25-18, 25-21 and 25-15.

Stokes led the Lady Blazers offense with six kills. Wilson contributed five kills with four apiece by Osmera, Asmus and Long and two from Pontarolo.

Osmera and Mortimore both served up one ace. Long passed the ball for 13 assists.

Defensively, Asmus and Stokes each recorded two blocks with one by both Long and Pontarolo. Osmera and senior Jaycee Hurley each contributed seven digs while Kelly and Mortimore both tallied six.

Buffalo

The Lady Blazers returned to the court on Saturday afternoon determined to turn the tide in the consolation bracket and secure a state berth in the match against Buffalo.

Torrington won the first two sets against the Lady Bison by a 25-23 margin. Buffalo responded to prevail in the third set, 25-18. 

The Lady Blazers battled back in the fourth set to more than double Buffalo in scoring, 25-12 and clinch a 3-1 overall victory.

Two Lady Blazers posted double-digit kills against Buffalo, including 17 by Osmera and 11 from Wilson. Long contributed eight kills, Asmus seven, Stokes five, Pontarolo four and Mortimore one.

Osmera, Mortimore and Long each aced three serves while Wilson served up one ace.

Long put in an exceptional performance as setter with 31 assists.

On defense, Stokes totaled four blocks, Osmera three, Wilson and Pontarolo each two and Long one. On the floor, Osmera recorded 21 digs, Long 16, Hurley 12 and Asmus 10.

Consolation championship

Pulling out all the stops in the match for the No. 3 seed from the east region, the Lady Blazers trounced Rawlins in three sets, 25-23, 25-21 and 25-20.

Eight Lady Blazers contributed kills against Rawlins, led by Osmera and Long with six apiece. Wilson contributed four kills, Pontarolo three with two each by Asmus, Mortimore and Stokes and one from sophomore Sophia Wilson.

On the service line, Mortimore aced three serves, Zoe Wilson two, while Osmera, Hurley, Long and Sippel each served one ace.

Long delivered 13 assists against Rawlins. 

Long and Zoe Wilson both recorded two blocks with one apiece by Sophia Wilson and Stokes. Long covered the floor with 13 digs. Osmera contributed seven digs and Hurley four.