SCOTTSBLUFF – The Torrington High School Lady Blazers traveled to Scottsbluff and Gering for the Twin Cities Volleyball Invitational on Friday and Saturday, October 3-4.
The first day of the invite featured round-robin matches with teams playing to the best of three sets with a tie-breaker third set if needed.
Torrington fell in the first match to Gering, 2-1. The Lady Blazers won the first set, 25-20. Gering came back to take the second set, 25-17, before defeating Torrington in the third, 25-18.
Rallying in the second match against North Platte, the Lady Blazers scored a 2-1 victory against their rival. Torrington took the first set, 25-20. North Platte responded to win the second set, 25-21.
The third tie-breaker set reached a stalemate at 26. Torrington pulled together to score the two points it needed to win the set, 28-26.
In the third match on Friday, the Lady Blazers fell in three sets to a team from Hill City, South Dakota. Hill City won the first set, 25-20. Torrington turned the tables to take the second set, 25-20. Hill City regrouped to defeat the Lady Blazers in the third set, 25-12.
Saturday featured three matches of bracket play.
Torrington fell to Chadron in two sets, 25-16 and 25-22, in the first match.
Squaring off against North Platte in the second match on Saturday, the Lady Blazers tallied another 2-1 victory. North Platte took the first set, 25-19, before Torrington fired back to win the second and third sets, 25-22 and 25-20, respectively.
The third match featured another showdown between Torrington and Gering with Gering defeating the Lady Blazers in two sets, 25-10 and 25-21.
“This tournament is great for maximizing reps and allowing for more experience,” coach Shaylee Mortimore said. “We are now halfway into the season and are settling into a rotation that fits the team. I’m pleased with how things are going and, even though we didn’t come out of the tournament the way we would have hoped, we still made progress as a team. That is all I can ask for.”
Tournament stats
Junior Zoe Wilson paced the Lady Blazers offense, slamming 43 kills over the course of six matches. Sophomore Ellis Mortimore collected 37 kills on the weekend with 33 by junior Kinley Bluemel and 29 from senior Brooklyn Asmus. Junior Sophia Wilson contributed 11 kills, senior Nakaya Sippel six, senior Natalie Long three, sophomore Logan Dyer two and senior Trishell Pontarolo one.
Mortimore led Torrington on the service line with 16 aces over six matches. Long aced seven serves, Bleumel six, Sophia Wilson four with two apiece by Zoe Wilson and sophomore Kaynie Hackbarth.
Long played setter for the Lady Blazers throughout the weekend, recording an impressive 124 assists.
Pontarolo started as libero and defended the backcourt with 66 digs.
Asmus led the Lady Blazers in defending the net with seven blocks. Bleumel collected six blocks, Zoe Wilson five, Long and Sophia Wilson each three, Sippel two and Mortimore and Dyer one apiece.
