The Lady Blue of Shoshoni came within four points of a trophy at the Class 2-A state volleyball tournament at the Ford Wyoming Center last weekend. After an opening-round loss to Wright, Shoshoni came back to beat West 2-A regional foe, Kemmerer, before lining up against Tongue River in the consolation semi-finals.
The consolation bracket featured some of the closest contests the Lady Blue had faced throughout the entire season.
In a seesaw battle with the Lady Rangers Friday afternoon Shoshoni took game one 25-21 only to get blown out in the second game 25-12. They returned the favor with a 25-12 win moving up two games to one, but Kemmerer came back to rally in game four 25-22 and force the deciding 15-point fifth game.
Shoshoni won the bumper match 15-7, sending them to a Saturday morning tilt with Tongue River.
Over the years, Tongue River has fielded some of the tallest volleyball and girls’ basketball teams in Class 2-A, this year was no exception.
The Eagles towered over Shoshoni at the net, but creative coaching can compensate for a lack of height, and Shoshoni head coach Christina Mills is one of the best in the business. With the Lady Blue scrambling defensively to dig out hard hits by the Eagles, and setting 5-8 senior Hailey Donelson for kills they lost game one by a close 25-23 score.
The second game was just as close with Shoshoni winning 25-22. Shoshoni dominated in game three to take a 2-1 advantage into the fourth contest.
Shoshoni looked to be on the verge of advancing to the third-place game leading 21-18 in game four, but Tongue River rallied, scoring seven straight points to win 25-21.
Volleyball is a game of momentum, and the seven-point rally in the previous game carried into the final 15-point contest, with the Eagles winning 15-5.
Tongue River advanced to defeat Rocky Mountain in four games for third place.
They finished the season 17-18 overall, with a second-place finish in the Northwest 2-A during the regular season and a runner-up finish at the West 2-A regional, before going 1-2 in state tournament play.
The future is bright for Shoshoni volleyball with Donelson, Sonja Post, and Jerikah Huelle the only graduating seniors.