Lady Huskies’ season ends at regional tourney

The Lady Huskies competed in Lander over the weekend at the Class 1A West Regional, where they lost two games and won one.

 “We knew going into this regionals that it was going to be tough — a lot of the teams, we had split with throughout the year,” said Coach Erin Bassett. “The volleyball was awesomely competitive.”

First up for the Lady Huskies was Encampment. Burlington led for the majority of the first set, but Encampment chipped away at the lead and tied it at 21. With an intense back and forth, the game was tied again at 22, 23, 24 and 25, but the Lady Tigers got the last two points to put away the first set, 25-27. Encampment took the next set with another close score of 22-25. The Lady Huskies won the third set 25-22 but couldn’t find their rhythm in the fourth set and lost it 12-25. 

The loss sent the Lady Huskies into the losing side of the bracket, where they faced Meeteetse in a late-night game Friday. They dispatched the Longhorns in three sets, 25-12, 25-9, 25-20. 

With one final chance to make it to the state tournament, Burlington matched up against Riverside in another close battle. The Lady Huskies took the first set 25-22, but struggled in the next set and ultimately lost the next three by scores of 15-25, 22-25, 26-28. Despite the close scores and the effort from the Lady Huskies, the second loss knocked them out of the running for a bid at the state championship and ended their 2024 season. 

“If we replayed all the games on a different day, they would probably all end differently,” said Bassett. “Every one of our girls had awesome moments — some of them playing at the top of their games. It was disappointing that our season ended when we would have liked to keep competing but I think they can be proud of their efforts, as a coaching staff we were very proud of their growth and efforts.”