Shoshoni came into the West 2-A Regional Tournament in Lander with the second seed out of the Northwest 2-A Conference and moved on to the state tournament with the second seed from the region.
The Lady Blue had little trouble in their first two matches, rolling over Wyoming Indian in the opening round and doing the same with the Southwest Champion Kemmerer Lady Rangers in the semi-finals. Both games went 3-0 in favor of Shoshoni.
In the championship tilt, they met a familiar opponent in the Lady Grizzlies of Rocky Mountain. Rocky won the Northwest with a 5-1 overall conference record, their only loss coming to Shoshoni in five games. They fell the championship match 25-21, 25-12, 23-25, and finally 25-22 in the fourth game.
The Lady Blue finished the regular season 4-2 in league play with a loss to the Lady Grizz at Cowley and another conference loss to Greybull.
Shoshoni had beaten Rocky in tournament play during the season 2-0 as well.
This time the championship tilt went to the Lady Grizzlies in four games.
Rocky won the first game 25-21, then rolled in the second 25-12. Shoshoni regrouped to win game three 25-23 but fell 25-22 in the fourth.
In their opener against Wyoming Indian Shoshoni jumped to a 25-8 first game win behind hard-hitting from Hailey Donelson, and excellent back-row play from sophomore Sway Fike.
The Lady Blue took game two and three 25-15, 25-12 with the Lady Chiefs never having an answer for Shoshoni’s power game.
An example of Shoshoni’s hustling style of play came in the third game when Fike was entangled with a pair of front-row players, with all three girls jumbled together near the net. As Wyoming set up a play, Fike broke loose, scrambled to the back row, and dug out a Lady Chiefs hit. She did it again on three straight plays until Abigail Jennings set up a kill shot for Donelson.
Jennings had a unique moment as well. She blocked a shot, and the ball hung in the air above her. She came down, jumped back up, and pounded the ball over for a point, seemingly defying the law of gravity in the process.
On the final point of the match, Megan Harris ran sideways toward the Shoshoni bench, set a perfect ball just above the net for Brooklyn Schrinar and she hammered it home for the win.
In the semi-finals, Shoshoni played the Lady Rangers, a team they split 2-1 tournament games with before defeating 3-1 late in the season.
The Lady Blue had no trouble with Kemmerer in the semis hammering them 25-19, 25-18, 25-18 in straight sets to advance to the title game with Rocky Mountain.
Shoshoni opens state tournament play this Thursday at 6 p.m. in the Ford Wyoming Center in Casper against Wright. The Lady Blue fell in four games to the Lady Panthers earlier this month.
After the opening round loss to Shoshoni, Wyoming Indian gave Wind River everything they wanted in a five-game donnybrook in the 6 p.m. loser-out game. The Lady Chiefs fell in the first two games to the Lady Cougars in the first two games 25-19, 25-16 but bounced back in games three and four with 25-19, 25-23 wins. Wind River took control in the 15-point fifth game running away with a 15-5 win.
The win over the Lady Chiefs sent Wind River to a Saturday morning state-qualifying match with Greybull. The Lady Buffs took the first game 25-17, but had to go into extra points to take the second 26-24, in the third game the Lady Cougars season came to an end 25-18.