DOUGLAS – The Torrington High School volleyball team broke even at the Douglas Invite on Friday and Saturday with a 3-3 record.

Second-year coach Shaylee Mortimore said it was a promising start to the season.

“This was a great weekend,” she said. “Very promising for the season ahead. I’m excited to see where these amazing girls will take us.”

Torrington picked up wins over Wright, Burns and Southeast, while falling to Buffalo, Alliance, Nebraska and Wheatland.

“The girls played great this weekend. It’s so fun to watch them play. Our setters are doing a fantastic job mixing it up and setting different hitters. This is also the first time in a long time that every girl on the court can hit the ball well,” Mortimore said. “We are very scrappy this year. All the girls read the ball quickly and move their feet to pick it up.”

The Lady Blazers went 2-1 during Friday’s pool matches.

Torrington opened the weekend with a 2-1 (25-15, 22-25, 16-14) win over Wright, the No. 5-ranked team in Class 2A.

Junior Olive Osmera led the Lady Blazers with 10 kills, while senior Alyssa Albaugh and sophomore Brooklyn Asmus had seven each. For the match, Torrington served up five aces, including two each from Osmera and senior Emma Colombini. Osmera also led the team with 11 digs, while sophomore Natalie Long tallied 13 assists.

In game two, Torrington fell to 3A East Regional foe Buffalo, 2-0 (25-13, 25-20).

“We did not play very well against Buffalo,” Mortimore said. “They were the only team we had a bad game for. I think a few nerves got to them and we started out slow. After falling behind to them, the girls worked their butts off to battle back, but we were too far behind to start.”

Osmera and Asmus tallied five kills each, while Colombini had two aces. Albaugh, Asmus and junior Teryn Stokes had one block each, while Osmera tallied nine digs. Long and Colombini had six assists each.

Torrington battled back with a sweep of Class 2A defending state champion Burns, 25-21, 25-20 to end the day Friday.

Stokes had eight kills, while Osmera had six. Junior Jaycee Hurley had six digs, while Long had nine assists.

On Saturday, the Lady Blazers opened bracket play against Alliance, Nebraska, and THS came up short 2-1 (26-24, 14-25, 16-14).

Osmera and Asmus, once again, led the team in kills with eight each. Albaugh added six. Torrington had eight serving aces on the day, led by Colombini with three and Osmera two. Stokes had two blocks, while Hurley had 15 digs. Colombini dished out a team-best 18 assists. 

The loss dropped the Lady Blazers to a match against fellow Goshen County school, Southeast.

Torrington got the best of the Lady Cyclones in a tightly contested match 2-1 (26-24, 22-25, 15-12).

Osmera had eight kills, while Colombini and Asmus had four each. Osmera and Colombini had two aces apiece, while Albaugh had three blocks. Hurley tallied 13 digs while Long dished out 11 assists.

In the final match of the weekend, Torrington came up short against conference foe Wheatland 2-1 (12-25, 25-16, 15-11).

Albaugh and Osmera had eight kills each, while Stokes had three blocks. Hurley and Colombini tallied 15 digs each, while Colombini had 13 assists.

Torrington (3-3) opens the home schedule on Friday, Sept. 1 against Rawlins (1-5). First serve is scheduled for 5 p.m.