Lady Huskies see tough competition in Basin

It was all things volleyball in Basin over the weekend for the 1A Jamboree. The Lady Huskies joined 13 other 1A teams in the tournament. “It was a great weekend of volleyball, there were lots of good matches to play and to watch,” said Coach Erin Bassett. “It was nice to get in the gym with teams we will see in the postseason.”
Burlington played Saratoga on Friday. “It was a little bit of a slow start for us, we couldn’t seem to find any consistency and played two great sets and two poor sets and battled it out in the fifth set,” said Bassett. Saratoga came out on top by just a few points and beat the Lady Huskies in the five sets. “It was a good experience for us. We don’t get many chances to play five sets, so it was really helpful to have to play a longer game (17-25, 25-13, 14-25, 25-23, 12-15).”
The day ended for the Lady Huskies with a match up against Kaycee. “I was a little nervous going into that game because we had played Kaycee at the Big Horn Tournament and struggled with their style, but the girls went right to work and played well to end the day on a good note,” said Bassett. The Lady Huskies pulled off a quick win in just three games (25-6, 25-17, 25-21).
Saturday morning, Burlington finished off Arvada-Clearmont in another quick three games (25-11, 25-13, 25-16) and waited for their game against Upton. “These two games were on pretty opposite ends of the spectrum. Upton is the No. 2 ranked team in the 1A right now, so we knew it was going to be a challenge,” said Bassett. “I was thrilled to see our team rise to the challenge, they worked hard and kept each set very close. Upton was really strong on the net, they hit the ball well and blocked well. Our biggest challenge was working around their middle position. They were very handy with a quick set that my girls haven’t had the opportunity to block much yet. It caught us on our heels a few times, but by the end of the match we were much more successful taking that away.”
The Lady Huskies lost in four close sets (24-26, 25-23, 21-25, 25-28) but Bassett was pleased with her team. “Paxton Philpott had another outstanding performance with 11 kills, 6 aces and 19 digs. Selena Call had 7 kills, 2 aces and 13 digs. Naomi McNiven had 8 kills, 100% serving and 10 digs. Sarah McNiven had 7 kills, 2 aces, and 5 digs. Breanne Walker had 4 kills, 1 ace and 14 digs and Dalley Bassett had 3 kills, 1 ace and 13 digs.”
The Lady Husky will have another busy week with the freshmen and JV playing Wyoming Indian on Tuesday, the JV and varsity playing in Meeteetse on Thursday with games at 5 and 6 p.m. and hosting Riverside on Friday with games at 5 and 6 p.m.