| The Green River front line gets ready for the ball at the state tourney. |
After defeating Tabiona in a play-in game at Green River High School, the Lady Pirates traveled to UVSC last weekend and played in the State 1-A volleyball tournament. In their opener on Friday, Green River defeated Dugway. The Pirates then lost the next two matches, first to Panguitch in the quarterfinals and then to Whitehorse in the consolation bracket.
In the play-in game against Tabiona, Green River took control of the first game 5-1 and then never allowed the Tigers back in as they won 25-18, 25-22 and 25-20. In the second game, Green River found themselves down early 5-8 before they were finally able to tie the score at 20-20 and then get the game. In game three, Tabiona got out to an 8-5 lead before Green River took control at 16-12 and then played out the game for the win.
At UVSC, Green River defeated region champion Dugway team 25-23, 25-16 and 25-14. After a close first game, the Pirates took control and then never faltered to win in three.
On Friday evening against Panguitch, Green River was never able to get anything really going as they lost 25-14, 25-16 and 25-17. The Pirates then lost a heartbreaker on Saturday morning to Whitehorse in five games 25-22, 16-25, 19-25, 25-20 and 13-15.
| The Green River volleyball team: Coach Kacey Fluckey, Leah Swalberg, Heidi Vetere, Adriana Cordova, Whitney Bigelow, Charle Vetere, Aubree Dinkins, Coach Stan Parsons, Skye Preston, Savannah Bayles, McKenzie Spadafora and Crosby Hatt. |
Coach Casey Fluckey felt good about the way the girls played against Panguitch, “Panguitch has such a good program, I feel good that the girls were able to score as well as they did against them.”
After the loss to Whitehorse, coach Fluckey was a little disheartened, “The officiating was questionable in this game, they were so inconsistent. When we finally tied the score at 12 in the fifth set, we had a controversy with the score. We had the momentum, we had the serve and we lost them as we stood around waiting for the officials to decide that the score was right. It might have been different without the wait.”
About going to state for the first time in four years, Coach had this to say, “It was a good experience for us, we had not been there for a couple of years as our seniors were freshmen the last time we went. For our junior girls, this is good for our future and it will be good for our program. It was great to get to play on Saturday.” Sometimes success is measured in little steps.
Looking forward to next year, Coach Fluckey continued, “I was glad for the opportunity to go to state this year and next year we will have higher expectations. We have eight juniors on this team and four of them started for us. We will be better.”