Riverside netters beat Meeteetse, earn top seed for regional meet

Friday was Senior Night and the Riverside Lady Rebels honored teammates Vinaya VanderPloeg and Josie Long for their dedication and contributions to the team with gifts and flowers.  The gym was decked out in black, red, and white.

The Lady Rebels faced Meeteetse Lady Longhorns in their final conference match of the season.  Final scores were 25-5, 25-8, and 25-5. The girls were motivated and focused, but they had a good time.  Their spirits were high and they played well as a team. 

The team served at 94.5% with Varissa Olsen putting 95.8% of her serves over and Josie Long getting 95.5% over the net. Olsen and Long produced nine and eight aces, respectively.

Brooklynn Paxton led in kills with 13 and digs with eight.  VanderPloeg racked up nine kills and provided six digs.  Kennedy Bassett was credited with 25 assists.

With the win over Meeteetse, the Rebels finished 7-1 in conference play, earning the championship and a top seed for this weekend’s Class 1A West Regional in Lander.

“It was great to see a lot of success on the service line.  In set one, we didn’t miss a serve and we ended the match serving 94.5% as a team. The match gave us the opportunity to work on all the attacking options we have been working on this season,” stated Coach Cindi Smith.

Brooklynn Paxton said, “We made the most of our last home game and played to our fullest potential and focused on the things we need to improve on to better us to regionals.” 

Looking ahead to the tournament, Smith said, “We are looking forward to the competition ahead.  The girls are continuing to work hard and fine tuning their skills to perform at their highest potential. It is important for us to pull together as a team and embrace each other’s strengths.  We are going into regionals ready to put forth our best effort.  We will focus on earning one point, one set, one match at a time while trusting in the power of our team.”

The Rebels open tournament play with a 2:30 p.m. game against Saratoga on Friday.

Kennedy Bassett acknowledged that the regionals will be “tough,” citing a number of quality teams in the West. “But if we work hard, communicate and be a team, we’ll do good.”