Tough weekend for Bulldog girls

It was a tough weekend for the Sundance volleyball team who came up short in their home games against the Newcastle Dogies and the Big Horn Rams. 

Opening up play Friday night against the Newcastle Dogies, the Sundance Bulldogs started game one with six unanswered points behind the serving of Zoe Skeens. Newcastle then called a timeout hoping to stop the Bulldog momentum and gain some of their own.

While the timeout did put Skeens' serving on hiatus, it did not stop the Bulldogs from gaining points throughout the rest of their rotation. Trading points back and forth, the Dogies found their way on to the scoreboard but struggled to get a run of points.

Back in the serving position, Skeens and the Bulldogs offense were able to string together another set of serves and increase the Bulldog lead. The Dogies found themselves desperate for points as the Bulldog offense continued to put points on the board and take the 25-21 win.

Game two started a little rocky for both teams as they exchanged points and struggled to gain any momentum. The Bulldogs had a slight advantage, with an 11-7 lead when the Dogies took a timeout, hoping to regroup.

It was the Bulldogs, however, that were able to pull together and get a set of points behind the big hitting of Ty Holloman and the serving of McKaya Gillespie and Briska Johnson. Facing a 9-17 deficit the Dogies took a second timeout, desperate to slow the Bulldog momentum.

Shortly thereafter, Hunter McFarland stepped into the serving spot for the Dogies and helped the Newcastle offense score ten unanswered points for a 25-22 victory.

It was the Newcastle tips that threw the Bulldogs for a loop throughout game three as the Dogies seemed to be able to hit all the open spots on the floor, putting them just out of reach for the Sundance team who found themselves down 14-20 midway through the game. The Bulldogs were able to rally behind some hard hits right down the line, but it was too little too late as Newcastle took game three 21-25.

Heading into game four the Newcastle Dogie offense seemed to be getting in their groove, setting up 6'2" junior Tiernan Stanton to throw down some hard hits. Jumping out to the 11-8 lead, the Dogies front line did not let up.

The Bulldogs, however, did find an answer for Stanton. Ty Holloman and Brook Hofland stepped up to the net with a few big blocks to bring the Bulldogs back within striking distance, but the Dogies reached 25 first and took the victory for the night 25-20.

It was a quick turnaround for the Bulldogs as the Big Horn Rams were in town Saturday. Trading points back and forth to open game one, it looked as though the Bulldogs were stuck in their same slump, struggling to gain momentum on offense. After one full rotation the Bulldogs started coming together and began to add consecutive points to the board. The Rams tried calling a timeout when they were down by 4 (15-19), however the Bulldogs maintained their advantage and took a 25-21 victory. 

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 10-7 lead at the start of game two and were looking to widen the gap but the Rams would not let them out of their reach. With the score 23-22 the Bulldogs took a timeout looking to regroup and push through the next few points. Out of the timeout the Rams seized their opportunity and overtook the Bulldogs 26-24

With a change in personnel to start game three the Bulldogs were hoping to right their ship. But again, the Rams would not let the lead get to be more than a few points.

With the score tied at 14, Big Horn called a timeout to regroup, but the Bulldogs used it to their advantage. Behind the serving of Bariska Johnson, the Bulldog offense was able to come together and make some big plays at the net and string together seven consecutive points.

Unfortunately, the Rams were able to adjust and it was too little too late for the Bulldogs, who fell 21-25. 

The Bulldogs were no match for the serving of Emme Mullinax and the Ram offense in game four. Despite the Bulldogs calling two timeouts, Mullinax was able to help the Ram offense score 10 unanswered points and put them out of reach for the Bulldogs, taking game four 25-14 the set 4-1.

When asked about the weekend play, Coach Blaczyk stated, "We are working on remaining consistent throughout an entire match. We look forward to meeting Big Horn again later in the season. With homecoming next week and big games against Moorcroft and Upton I am planning on trying some new things to help keep the intensity alive."

The Lady Bulldogs will play their homecoming games on Thursday and Friday this week. Thursday they will host an always tough intra-county rival, the Moorcroft Wolves.

Play will begin Thursday night at 5 p.m. with the freshman game followed by JV and Varsity starting at 7 p.m. On Friday the Bulldogs will take on the Upton Bobcats with play beginning at noon for the ninth grade team, 1 p.m. the JV, and varsity will start at 2 p.m.

Stats

SHS vs. Newcastle: 25-21, 22-25, 21-25, 20-25

Lexie Marchant – 3 kills, 1 block

McKaya Gillespie – 5 kills, 1 block

Cana McInerney – 1 kill, 39 assists, 2 blocks, 2 aces

Ty Holloman – 19 kills, 5 blocks, 1 ace, 10 digs

Zoe Skeens – 3 kills, 1 ace

Brook Hofland – 6 kills, 4 blocks

Bailey Hofland – 8 kills, 2 blocks

Briska Johnson – 14 digs

SHS vs. Big Horn: 25-21, 24-26, 21-25, 14-25

Zoe Skeens – 14 digs, 8 kills

Briska Johnson – 2 aces, 13 digs

Cana McInerney – 1 kill, 26 assists, 2 aces, 2 blocks, 10 digs

Ty Holloman – 10 kills, 3 blocks, 11 digs

Brook Hofland – 5 digs, 9 kills, 1 block

Bailey Hofland – 4 kills, 3 blocks

Ella Bifulco – 2 aces, 5 digs

McKaya Gillespie – 2 kills

Lexie Marchant – 1 kill, 2 assists