The region 19 second place lady Pirates attended the state volleyball tournament for the second time in a row this past weekend but weren’t able to hang around for very long. The lady Pirates met the number two seed from region 20, the lady Bobcats of Panguitch and though they didn’t get blown out of the water, the lady Pirates just didn’t seem to have the energy necessary to give the Cats a good game until the third set. In the third set, things started clicking for the lady Pirates as the ball seemed to bounce more their way. The girls had fire in their bellies and they seemed to move quicker on the floor. Behind 24 – 21 and at the brink of elimination, the lady Pirates fought hard and tied the score up at 24 before losing the next two points and losing the match. Not all was lost just yet as the girls had another game against the fourth seeded region 20 team, the lady Badgers of Wayne High School. This is was the first meeting of the two teams this year and the lady Pirates came out swinging. They won the first set 25 – 23 and the second set 25 – 17 and there was excitement in the eyes of each player. The third set started off slower for the lady Pirates and as the game was tied at 12 a piece two lady Badgers collided into each other sending one gal to the floor with a nasty cut over her right eye. It took some time for medical personnel to attend to the injured player allowing for each team to cool down. This didn’t play well into the game plan for the lady Pirates. The lady Pirates jumped to a quick three point lead and then the lady Badgers tied it up again at 16 each at which point the Pirates just couldn’t get it back. The fourth set followed suit which put the momentum squarely in the court of the lady Badgers who took the set by a score of 25 – 20. The fifth and final set had the Badgers jump out to a quick five point lead before the lady Pirates answered back to bring the score a bit closer – 3 to 6 and 5 to 8. But they just couldn’t close the gap as the lady Badgers could feel the win moving closer and the lady Pirates could feel it slipping away. With the score 7 – 13 in favor of the Wayne lady Badgers, there were tears beginning to form in the eyes of some of the lady Pirates as their long and successful season was coming to an early end. The final score of 15 – 10 showed that the lady Pirates never gave up and battled to the end but they lost some momentum on the long time out and just never got back into the groove.
Lady Pirates state volleyball action
"The 2012 Green River Lady Pirates volleyball team. Back row: Feleisha Antillon, Dallice Johnson, Mikayla Shaffer and Hannah Manalili. Front row: Taylor Johnson, Michaela Hughes, Jamie Johnson and Sidney Thayn. The lady Pirates went into the state tournament with a record of 20-5 as the second seed out region 19. Congratulations to the lady Pirates on a great season."