The Torrington High School Lady Blazers battled back to earn the championship in the silver bracket at the Rawlins Tournament.
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RAWLINS – The Torrington High School Lady Blazers volleyball team rallied from a tough opening day at the Sandy Jebens Invitational hosted by Rawlins to capture the championship in the silver bracket on Saturday, September 14.
Torrington defeated Lander in pool play on Friday, September 13, but fell to both Lovell and Douglas. The Lady Blazers’ 1-2 record in pool play advanced the team to the silver bracket on Saturday.
Digging deep, the Lady Blazers pulled out all the stops in bracket play, defeating both Newcastle and Buffalo, 2-0.
Torrington’s undefeated record in the silver bracket placed the Lady Blazers in the title match against Lander on Saturday afternoon. Torrington battled Lander through three close sets to triumph, 2-1, and secure the bracket championship.
“We didn’t play our best on Friday and our focus didn’t seem to be in the right place at times,” coach Shaylee Mortimore said. “As for Saturday, we had the first game that morning (against Newcastle) and the girls didn’t let that bother them. We came out strong and battled for the rest of the day. I’m so proud of them for not letting Friday have an effect on their play on Saturday. You could see them come together as a team and focus on the goals ahead.”
Match results
Torrington came up short in the opening match against Lovell, 21-17 and 21-16.
Squaring off against Douglas in the second match, Torrington fell, 2-0. The Lady Outlaws won the first set, 21-10, followed by a 21-15 win in the second set.
Determined to end the day on a high note, the Lady Blazers turned the tables in the third match against Lander. Torrington won both sets, 21-17, to post a 2-0 victory against the Lady Tigers.
Leaving it all on the court early Saturday morning, the Lady Blazers defeated Newcastle in two sets, 21-12 and 21-18.
The second match in the silver bracket pitted Torrington against Buffalo. The Lady Blazers won the first set, 21-17, before going on to trounce the Lady Bison in the second, 21-8.
Torrington found itself taking on Lander again in the match for the championship of the silver bracket.
The Lady Blazers scored a 21-15 win in the first set. Lander responded in the second set to best Torrington, 21-14. Rallying in the tiebreaker third set, the Lady Blazers pulled head by a 15-10 margin to secure the championship.
Weekend stats
Senior Olive Osmera led the Lady Blazers offensively throughout the weekend, collecting 30 kills against six opponents.
Junior Brooklyn Asmus and sophomore Zoe Wilson both tallied 22 kills for the weekend. Junior Trishell Pontarolo collected 18 kills, followed by senior Teryn Stokes with eight and junior Natalie Long with seven.
Senior Jaycee Hurley and junior Natalie Hawes rounded out the weekend kill total with three and one, respectively.
On the service line, Osmera aced nine serves during six games. Hurley served up seven aces, Asmus four, Stokes two and Pontarolo one.
On defense, five Lady Blazers contributed blocks throughout the weekend. Pontarolo led the effort with six blocks. Stokes totaled four blocks, followed by Long and Asmus with three apiece and Wilson with two.
Hurley covered the floor as Torrington’s libero for most of the weekend, tallying 46 digs. Long served as the Lady Blazers’ setter during the weekend and collected 74 assists.